[selfdrive]

Spotting bad drivers on scooterettes is easy. I see many women ride with both their feet hanging on the side. Trying to balance themselves perhaps. I think they should learn to ride a bicycle before ever thinking of starting a scooterette. Morons.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

I personally know this thirty year old who isn't very rich. Comes from a working-class family and is not the brightest or smartest person I know. But he has something most people lack. Common sense. it's amazing watching him drive. he does the right things at the right time, and that's what is important.

Aah common sense. Something that does not come packaged with education or smartness or a high salary or financial success. You know what comes there instead? Arrogance most of the times with insensitivity and callousness thrown in.

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Another example of exemplary traffic sense, standing on the right and going to the left, atleast he has the left indicator on rather than the right and still going left

Forget the car, look at the scooter in front of it. It is positioned almost perpendicular to traffic. Why do we need any indicators when we can indicate with the whole vehicle?!

[S2!!!]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

you think only men can ride in parallel and chat at the same time? think again

Just two?? That too in the left most lane. Wow. I have see four, five and sometimes even ten bikers form a group and ride together blocking the entire road and give you dirty stares when you honk at them and disturb their important conversations which could not be made anywhere else but in the middle of the road!! Compared to those guys these riders seem to be really a decent lot.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

Just two?? That too in the left most lane. Wow. I have see four, five and sometimes even ten bikers form a group and ride together blocking the entire road and give you dirty stares when you honk at them and disturb their important conversations which could not be made anywhere else but in the middle of the road!! Compared to those guys these riders seem to be really a decent lot.

That has to be on Marine Drive especially on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. They treat the road like its their personal racetrack stopping where and when they want. Cutting wherever they want. And if a car hits them by mistake every biker on the road will gang up against the car.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by amitoj

When i saw this, i was too shocked to react. But if I see him again, I am afraid i will end up doing something about it.

If you see him tell him, i am sure you dont care about your life but we certainly do so please go and buy your kid an xbox kinet with NFS game

[2500cc]

The other day was returning from Tirupathi and at Chitoor spotted a guy aged around 40yrs driving his activa in one hand and drinking tea from the other, can you beat that..!!

[VW2010]

we had a tough discussion if the driver was Bad, learner or just plain stupid. We concluded he has to be stupid as this just needs common sense to not part in three space for a car like spark.

I was so furious and wished i had a forum at work to post this and request the "brilliant" driver to park it properly.

[vishnu.csk]

This guy was trying to squeeze in between that gap. If you see closely there is a small pavement so obviously one can think how small the gap would be. This moron had he gone a bit further would have defenitely scratched the car.

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Well a biker and an educated techie at it, we successfully managed to sandwich him between our car and the tanker after he tried this stunt. He tried to back up and get out, but a cabbie found his way there.

I notice such behavior everyday and wonder if education really "educates" anyone these days. Its discipline that is lacking and the situation is going from bad to worse every day.

I ride to work due to the traffic and on a daily basis i see these educated morons riding on the footpath to beat the queue and be first off the line when the lights change. They have no concern for pedestrians on the footpath and a glaring stare and some grumbling from the pedestrians also has no effect on these people. I dont even stop at the side of the road to answer my phone since it inconveniences the traffic behind me. I ignore the call and return it when i reach home or a by-lane that is safe to stop and not inconveniencing fellow motorists. I find it way too embarrassing to have someone honk at me. If only the others were half as sensitive.

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

you think only men can ride in parallel and chat at the same time? think again

I've had a couple of bikers ride alongside me when i'm on the ninja, to ask the quintessential question like mileage and price and have found it way too difficult to concentrate on the road, irrespective of the traffic conditions (no. of vehicles).

[VW2010]

I dont even stop at the side of the road to answer my phone since it inconveniences the traffic behind me. I ignore the call and return it when i reach home or a by-lane that is safe to stop and not inconveniencing fellow motorists. I find it way too embarrassing to have someone honk at me. If only the others were half as sensitive

You are talking about stopping for taking a call while i see more and more riders using headset to listen to FM or music while riding bike. Utter nonsense and this is spreading to even ladies who are now wearing those face masks(not helmet) and FM blaring head phones and riding at over 70kmph in that dreadful honda activa.

I am driving my jetta at 50-60kmph to just use my fifth gear while i see these headphone riders overtaking at considerable speed.

Its a disaster waiting to happen.

[A350XWB]

Talking about biker antics, I came across one specimen yesterday. I was driving on a busy road and this biker was there in front of me wearing helmet, chin strap fastened; good. But then, all of a sudden, without warning, he took his hand of the accelerator and looking towards a temple on the left, started praying while still on the moving bike on the middle of the road. I had to brake hard. After 20sec of praying, he sped off.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by VW2010

You are talking about stopping for taking a call while i see more and more riders using headset to listen to FM or music while riding bike. Utter nonsense and this is spreading to even ladies who are now wearing those face masks(not helmet) and FM blaring head phones and riding at over 70kmph in that dreadful honda activa.

I am driving my jetta at 50-60kmph to just use my fifth gear while i see these headphone riders overtaking at considerable speed.

Its a disaster waiting to happen.

I do not know if there's a rule that you should not wear a headset/listen to music while riding. Kindly inform me if there's any.

But if there is such a rule, then doesn't listening to radio/music in a car fall under the same?

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

I do not know if there's a rule that you should not wear a headset/listen to music while riding. Kindly inform me if there's any.

But if there is such a rule, then doesn't listening to radio/music in a car fall under the same?

A bad driver need not necessarily be breaking rules. By using ear phones, the driver is essentially blocking all sounds, be it the frantic honks of a truck behind her/him that has its brakes failed, or of an ambulance.

The law permits you to drive a car without left ORVM. But if I spot a car with folded left ORVM, she/he is a bad driver in my book.

Edit: in fact, does the traffic law even have any mention of not permitting 2 bikers riding along while chatting?

I guess common sense distinguishes a good driver from a bad driver :-)

[VW2010]

But if there is such a rule, then doesn't listening to radio/music in a car fall under the same?

Two different scenarios:-

1) In Car the Radio is part of the environment and its not exactly blocking your ear or hearing ability.
2) The inside the ears headphones just block every other sound and you are indirectly deaf about your surroundings.

And if you are expecting a rule to correct a riders common sense we would need few dozen rules to just park a bike let alone ride it.

I did try riding with the ear phones on and i was not comfortable after few kms for i had no sense of what was happening around me. I immediately removed and i know i did the right thing. My common sense took over my nuisance habit and i am till date happy i dont ride with ear phones on.

In my car i listen to music but it has never been a issue impairing my driving skills or having a control over my environment from my point of view.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

A bad driver need not necessarily be breaking rules. By using ear phones, the driver is essentially blocking all sounds, be it the frantic honks of a truck behind her/him that has its brakes failed, or of an ambulance.


I guess common sense distinguishes a good driver from a bad driver :-)

Originally Posted by VW2010

Two different scenarios:-

1) In Car the Radio is part of the environment and its not exactly blocking your ear or hearing ability.
2) The inside the ears headphones just block every other sound and you are indirectly deaf about your surroundings.

And if you are expecting a rule to correct a riders common sense we would need few dozen rules to just park a bike let alone ride it.

I did try riding with the ear phones on and i was not comfortable after few kms for i had no sense of what was happening around me. I immediately removed and i know i did the right thing. My common sense took over my nuisance habit and i am till date happy i dont ride with ear phones on.

In my car i listen to music but it has never been a issue impairing my driving skills or having a control over my environment from my point of view.

Thank you for the common sense lessons there.

1. I think a 2 wheeler rider wearing earphones and listening to radio is equivalent (Or even better) to a car driver listening to music with windows rolled up!

Think it's ridiculous? Try this. Ask a person to stand next to your car and speak. Stay in the car with windows rolled up, AC on and music on in moderate volume.

Try the same wearing normal earphones, music at moderate volume and helmet on. Let me know in which scenario you can hear the person speaking.

2. Every bike rider with earphones on need not be listening to music at blaring volume. I, for example, do keep my earphones on, do listen to music, but not at the cost of my safety. I can surely hear "frantic honks of a truck behind me that has its brakes failed, or of an ambulance" and also I am alert enough to see the same in BOTH of my rear view mirrors.

Also, when I get a phone call, I make sure I pull over in a safe place and receive the call or return the call. Wearing ear phones just saves me the hassle of removing my helmet.

3. We have fools on roads, irrespective of whether they are on 2 wheels or 4. Prejudice against two wheelers (noticed across various threads in the forum) because some (probably most) try to squeeze in the narrow space next to your car, is sheer stupidity. There are sensible, safe riders too!

No offense meant to anybody. Just my two cents.

PS: I use my bike for 3 days in a week and my car for 2.

[rohanjf]

Seems like you took offence there.
I listen to heavy metal and only heavy metal in my car and always drive with all doors closed, but I can still hear the honks. Why? Because the volume is not as high as it would be when I am at home.

In my 10+ years of bike riding, I've never used hands free or ear phones. But I have tried honking at unruly bikers riding with ear phones (which is quite obvious, since hardly any bikers around my village wear helmets), and have noticed that many of them don't respond. Quite likely that they don't hear me, rather than ignoring me.

May be you keep the volume at accepted levels and also keep yourself aware of the surroundings, and that's why you are a BHPian. But more than 99% of the bikers don't care about volume levels or what's happening behind them.