India plans to step up safety on the world's most dangerous roads

This year, the family of Rakesh Pillai, a bank employee, fulfilled a long-held aspiration. After hauling themselves around on bicycles and scooters all their lives, they bought a white Suzuki Wagon R, one of India's best-selling compact cars.

It didn't matter that no family member knew how to drive. Pillai immediately took the car for a spin around his neighborhood in New Delhi. He almost knocked down a couple of pedestrians, scratched a car door on a gate when making a turn, and bumped a wall while trying to reverse.

"In India, the main rule for most drivers is that you don't stop for anyone," said Pillai, 31, who wears frameless glasses and sports a neatly trimmed moustache. "Cars don't stop for walkers, and walkers don't stop for cars."