[audioholic]

To add to the rant on bikers, here is one - Smoothly flowing traffic, at a decent pace and this one cant just stop impressing his girlfriend by showing how close they can come to death. This on the day Police made helmet compulsory for pillion riders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eit3ly6tSt0

But yes, as mentioned in the posts above, there is this category of riders I see in the morning who are well geared and ride beautifully. Though sometimes they might be fast, but nothing compared to this idiot in the video. For the Etios coming to my right, this biker will be a surprise and if he is a bit faster, he will run the bike flat within a split second. Then again blame will come on the cabbie saying that he was fast and he will have to bear the brunt.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

... Some touches happen by mistake ...

Shouldn't. Nobody should ever be that close.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by audioholic

To add to the rant on bikers, here is one - Smoothly flowing traffic, at a decent pace and this one cant just stop impressing his girlfriend by showing how close they can come to death. This on the day Police made helmet compulsory for pillion riders

what i don't get is, that the left biker lane is practically empty and riding in that lane, am pretty sure he would be able to keep moving forward steadily without risk.

ah well

[mayankk]

Having had the time of my life owing to a biker recently("is that sarcasm?"), I have started noticing one thing, and I am sure all here can attest to the same.
These "daredevils", who zap through, lean in, brush past, etc - not our genuinely good decent riders- they would be dead if only there own skill was responsible in keeping them safe. In all the instances I have noticed, in the "squeeze through" manoeuvre at medium/high speeds, the only reason the bikers are not on their bum/head is not because they are such good riders that they can gauge the gap correctly. It is because the car guy has had to brake slightly or turn a little bit away.
Unfortunately, till they fall, they will never realize this. But if they fall, its my fault.
Again, this is not to ALL bikers, here or elsewhere. But it is to you if you're the zip-zap-zooming kind. Be a bit more considerate.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by mayankk

These "daredevils", who zap through, lean in, brush past, etc - not our genuinely good decent riders- they would be dead if only there own skill was responsible in keeping them safe.

Exactly. What is so unfair is that other drivers (including other bikers, of course) have to take the responsibility to keep those idiots alive. Well, we can let off steam like this from time to time, but out there on the road, we have no choice.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by mayankk

.....till they fall, they will never realize this.....

Plenty don't realize even after they've had a nasty fall. They just assume it was the guy they tangled with who was the moron, and continue their daredevilry at the next available opportunity, unless their previous attempt secured a meeting with Hades.

[FuelInjector]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Smoothly flowing traffic, at a decent pace and this one cant just stop

Whoa. that's a lot of relative velocity. Unfortunately like many already mentioned, its upto individuals to take two wheeler riding seriously. Infact this kind of riding would cause harm to other sane riders on road (like the etios postulation you had).
Couple of days back before we relocated from Bangalore, was waiting at the BEML gate signal from tipasandra. This smart *** in a white apache coming from vignan nagar side, saw the signal changing red and drove straight through the one way and banged me head on. Cops were at the place and I registered a complaint. After spending 2 hours by the roadside with him begging and pleading I did not withdraw the case. Later the police guy himself said that this is a "petty matter" and would be good to settle between us. Finally after 6 hours I relented when he fixed my fuel tank issues with a mechanic. If this was the US, the guy would have got a ticket or would be in front of a jury by the weekend.
Long story short - its up to individuals to take two wheeler riding safely on Indian roads. Parents/law enforcement/riding gears are all only supplementary vitamins!

[harryputtar]

Went to Singhgad with an old friend sometime back, and noticed something unusual . I made the trip in my Jetta and the way down the ghat was hair raising, with many close calls because of cars parked on the side of the roads taking up precious space. More times than I care to count, I had to squeeze my Jetta in narrow gaps to proceed, many times stopping completely and then moving at a snails pace, giving me the shivers. Thank god for autofolding mirrors, and parking sensors which gave me peace of mind no one was grazing my rear bumper.

My advice to anyone planning to go to Singhgad, avoid weekends!

[hserus]

Originally Posted by audioholic

To add to the rant on bikers, here is one - Smoothly flowing traffic, at a decent pace and this one cant just stop impressing his girlfriend by showing how close they can come to death. This on the day Police made helmet compulsory for pillion riders:

I was doing ~ 110 on the golden quadrilateral bangalore - chennai route today. Just past krishnagiri, when a biker (localite appearing college age man with his girlfriend riding pillion, neither was helmeted) zoomed past me on a pulsar, left me far behind. He must have been doing 130 at least.

Seems to have got lucky, I didn't see signs of a bike accident on my way back home.

[pixantz]

Originally Posted by arch_hornet

I'm sure this has been covered by someone in the 534 pages of this thread, but I thought I'd share it anyway.



People - cars and bikes alike - who simply take the turn from smaller roads to merge onto the main road traffic WITHOUT glancing - forget stopping or even slowing down - even once to see if any incoming traffic is there or not! They simply keep the pace and join - that too sometimes not at the leftmost lane, but right in the thick of things. These kinds are really annoying to say the least!

Yeah. I noticed this breed too. Amazingly stupid. They live in their own kind of dream world it seems. Until they die, that is. Bad thing is someone else also is also always in danger of dying too because of these abominations.

Just as crazy I find also four-wheeler drivers who are so snug and comfy in their air conditioned bubble and so oblivious that they are hogging the middle or right lane on a busy road or even highway at snail speeds like 5-10kph even and don't give two hoots that they are blocking everybody's way while they are either busy on the phone, or entertaining the female beside them, or busy just being cool or some other such stupid antic. When will these crappy drivers learn to just give way! That's what you call bad breeding maybe....

[SS-Traveller]

Overtaking from the left is sometimes unavoidable on certain Indian highways. But then, not watching out for swerving traffic and taking your car off the road - and almost running into pedestrians - is as dangerous as it gets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcmnrPf7uHA

[cruising_rapid]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

But then, not watching out for swerving traffic and taking your car off the road - and almost running into pedestrians - is as dangerous as it gets.

That Figo driver had a narrow escape and I am sure that had there been a pedestrian or a bicycle, this man would have had to face the dilemma of choosing between hitting a person or letting car and the bus make a prolonged handshake.

As I read somewhere in Team-bhp; having a driving licence is not a right, its a privilege given by the state.

[deetjohn]

Kerala Motor Vehicle Dept. gets to the root of accidents – Bad Training!



This is a good start and hope something better comes out of it. As one would expect, there is stiff resistance from All Kerala Motor Driving Schools Association towards this movement.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Kerala Motor Vehicle Dept. gets to the root of accidents – Bad Training!

Bah. What's the use of all that when your so called "driving test" involves starting your car, getting it into gear, driving it a couple of hundred meters down a straight road and maybe doing a u-turn. If on a two wheeler, do a figure of 8 pair of donut turns. That's all the RTO even has time for, given the huge crowds that queue up for a learners license.

Give someone that so called license and let him loose on Indian roads - most likely in a powerful vehicle (daddy's laadla beta deserves only the best bmw suv and hayabusa) rather than underpowered hatchback like an alto. Recipe for disaster.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Again, this is not to ALL bikers, here or elsewhere. But it is to you if you're the zip-zap-zooming kind. Be a bit more considerate.

Is this related to the poor biker guy who became the victim of your carelessly opened RVM and came to the station 5 minutes later fully mummified for whom you have now promised perpetual care & maintenance?

Coming to the considerate part, why would they? Like fields of locusts ravaging the crops their only job is to knock, bump, scrape, excoriate or break anything and everything that dares to block their path to nirvana. As is the law in the largest democracy on earth, all 4 wheelers are acquired of ill-gotten gains while the meek 2 wheeler riders riding Bajaj Avengers, KTM's, even Harleys are just out there trying to survive in this harsh world. They make adequate enhancements to their bikes like 2-foot wide leg protectors using which one locust grazed my car door side without a care in the world and without even looking back, another locust busy checking its Whatsapp, brazenly bumped into the car bumper in the back (at a stop signal might I add), again without so much as a simple hand wave apology. I can also tell of the time 2 weeks back when a locust, part of a online food delivering thingy, came at a decent speed and knocked me down while I was merely walking on the edge of a residential road, the handlebar must've hit my hips while the leg protector while perfectly protecting the locusts legs, tripped me down. Again the locust rode away like I didn't even exist, or perhaps fearing I'll crush him between my palms.

Ah, the elusive lure of justice, who among us can resist its call. Yet justice is about as fictional as the agencies that "uphold" it.