[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

All of have faced drivers who are driving on right lane on empty road. When honked at , they would move to the left - which is good. BUT only by that much to give you space to squeeze past. That too when there is no traffic on left lane.
I actually told a driver once - lane badalne main itni kanjoosi kyon? His face was worth seeing.

Everyone loves to drive through the right side of the road rather than keeping to the left.
Bikers always drive zig zagging in the lane and normally sticks to the line either it is a two lane or four lane road. Bikers, in my view has to follow the path the left wheel of a four wheeler takes within a lane.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Bikers, in my view has to follow the path the left wheel of a four wheeler takes within a lane.

There's no such rule. Actually, a two-wheeler can take the left tyre track, or the right tyre track - respectively the path taken by the left or right wheel of a car. It is accepted practice to switch between these two, IF there's a need to do so, for example, while taking a right left turn, it's better to move to the right-side track, to have a better view ahead.

EDIT:
However this is not going to be practised in India. *Maybe* you can see it happening on the highways, by experienced riders.

[Mik]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Everyone loves to drive through the right side of the road rather than keeping to the left.
Bikers always drive zig zagging in the lane and normally sticks to the line either it is a two lane or four lane road. Bikers, in my view has to follow the path the left wheel of a four wheeler takes within a lane.

I, as a biker, would never ever tail a car on its left wheel. Primarily three reasons for it.

1. The danger of being eased out by some car behind me who would try to get into that space.
2. While riding, i like to have a view of the driver through his right ORVM. This helps me in getting a good view of the driver thus helping me judge whether the driver is busy on the phone, is wearing a seatbelt(that gives away his driving sense too) or is checking into his mirrors (good sign) Any eye contact helps too as he would know that i am behind him.
3. Easier to overtake (give a horn - if the driver checks into his mirrors - you are safe to pass him) As it is, in traffic and when it comes to hatches - newer bikes tend to have better acceleration and speed.

[m_upreti]

Originally Posted by Mik

I, as a biker, would never ever tail a car on its left wheel. Primarily three reasons for it.

1. The danger of being eased out by some car behind me who would try to get into that space.
2. While riding, i like to have a view of the driver through his right ORVM. This helps me in getting a good view of the driver thus helping me judge whether the driver is busy on the phone, is wearing a seatbelt(that gives away his driving sense too) or is checking into his mirrors (good sign) Any eye contact helps too as he would know that i am behind him.
3. Easier to overtake (give a horn - if the driver checks into his mirrors - you are safe to pass him) As it is, in traffic and when it comes to hatches - newer bikes tend to have better acceleration and speed.

I guess you are one of the rare breed of good bikers who are aware that their actions can be trouble for others as well as physical harm to self, hope there were more like you.

I personally like to maintain a real safe distance from all sorts of 2 wheelers to avoid getting into any trouble

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

...Bikers, in my view has to follow the path the left wheel of a four wheeler takes within a lane.

Originally Posted by silversteed

There's no such rule. Actually, a two-wheeler can take the left tyre track, or the right tyre track - respectively the path taken by the left or right wheel of a car. It is accepted practice to switch between these two, IF there's a need to do so, for example, while taking a right left turn, it's better to move to the right-side track, to have a better view ahead.

Originally Posted by Mik

I, as a biker, would never ever tail a car on its left wheel. Primarily three reasons for it.

1. The danger of being eased out by some car behind me who would try to get into that space.
2. While riding, i like to have a view of the driver through his right ORVM. This helps me in getting a good view of the driver thus helping me judge whether the driver is busy on the phone, is wearing a seatbelt(that gives away his driving sense too) or is checking into his mirrors (good sign) Any eye contact helps too as he would know that i am behind him.
3. Easier to overtake (give a horn - if the driver checks into his mirrors - you are safe to pass him) As it is, in traffic and when it comes to hatches - newer bikes tend to have better acceleration and speed.

This is what they say in uk... A biker is entitled to their road space , just like any other vehicle. They are entitled to the whole lane width.

I can see Mik's points, and they seem to be very good ones, but I would advise a biker (despite not being one <Blush>) to always be as far as possible from other traffic. So, if you are, say, to the far right of the left lane, you will dangerously close to traffic passing in the middle/right lane.

I'm sure Mik is not the only biker to practice roadcraft --- but I wish there far, far more!

[rajeev k]

When a biker do not have any vehicle in front of him and is cruising normally he should not be to the extreme right of thee lane ans close to the line, especially in two lane roads. By this mode he would be blocking traffic from behind as well from the opposite direction.

[Mik]

Originally Posted by m_upreti

I personally like to maintain a real safe distance from all sorts of 2 wheelers to avoid getting into any trouble

Same with me in case of 4 wheelers.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

This is what they say in uk... A biker is entitled to their road space , just like any other vehicle. They are entitled to the whole lane width.

I wish we could follow that here. In NCR, a biker is an irritating entity to everybody. I have seen too many cabbies trying to run me over if i don't yield my space, too many car walahs on undivided roads coming from the opposite direction, taking the whole road space -flashing lights - expecting me to disappear and too many hotels refusing entry or expensive restaurants refusing to let my helmet(of which i have a little expensive collection ) in. The level of awareness has to be such that i have to take care how fast i overtake some vehicle. If its a modded, booming, stickered and LEDed up car i better not take pangas. They take offence like anything if a bike overtakes them a bit fast.

Originally Posted by rajeev k

When a biker do not have any vehicle in front of him and is cruising normally he should not be to the extreme right of thee lane ans close to the line, especially in two lane roads. By this mode he would be blocking traffic from behind as well from the opposite direction.

Agree - if the biker is not maintaining the acceptable speed on the right lane. The same holds true to every entity - if you are not fast - move over to the left lane. The biggest problem with moving in the center of the lane is that you are vulnerable to the car-walah who simply considers it an open space and will make you yield.
Anyway, things won't change easily here - better to be a coward and defensive on the road than be a statistic.

[noopster]

Last night on Koregaon Park North Main Road, I was toodling along in the Vento when suddenly a Mercedes ML SUV shoots out of a private residence cuts across the wrong side of the ride and stops face to face with me. I had to stomp my brakes to stop in time- thankfully I never speed in the city.

White premium SUV, ultradark tints, special number and to top it all Jharkhand registered! Wifey says, let him go and I did. He cut across fully- still on the wrong side- and I waited patiently looking at his darkened window with a resigned expression on my face. I could just imagine him grinning smugly at the idiot on the correct side who stopped for HIM.

After he went we drove on and I wondered aloud how anyone in a 70 lac vehicle could treat it that way. Am pretty sure that 90% of drivers would have crashed directly into him and bruised the vehicle badly.

[m_upreti]

Originally Posted by Mik

Same with me in case of 4 wheelers.

If all followed this the roads would be a better place to drive, each maintaining a safe distance

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by noopster

Last night on Koregaon Park North Main Road, I was toodling along in the Vento when suddenly a Mercedes ML SUV shoots out of a private residence cuts across the wrong side of the ride and stops face to face with me. I had to stomp my brakes to stop in time- thankfully I never speed in the city.

This happened to me also a guy KL01 BE white Beamer with the same opaque ultra dark tints booming weaving past at breakneck speed in the Quilon Trivandrum two lane stretch of NH 47 . Seeing his antics of cutting across I had to literally gasp for cover.

[saurabhdadhichi]

This i would not exactly call as an accident but a near miss as nobody was hurt including two infant & 4 ladies sitting in OHC. This near miss happened in front of my eyes when i had gone to fetch some vegetables.An Old Honda City driven at a speed of approx 60-70K, did some nice drifts (as the driver didnt realise he had to take a sharp 90 Degree turn) before banging & climbing on a pedestrian pavement. To my shock when the car drifted 2 times, i was like this guy is an amazing good driver, but when it evetually climbed the payment, i realized there was an accident.

Rushing the spot to help if someone was hurt, i realized opening the door, that car was driven by a lady who was doing multi-tasking i.e driving car & holding her 1 year old infant. To my surprise none of the ladies were wearing seat belts & i think it was only God's grace that they could survive without having the car upturn. Car had climbed pedestrian pavement which is 2 feets above the normal road surface.

Thankfully no one was hurt only they were shaken. they didnt even want to get out of the car rather stayed in, until help from their family arrived.

Learning:

We are definitely not multi-tasker, its just that one when doing multi-tasking, your attention is towards one action more than the other one, causing not enough attention to the other actions.

So avoid doing 2 things at a time specially when one is driving.

what do you think guys?

[KiloAlpha]

Good drivers just drive. They don't do anything else while in the drivers seat, they just drive.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

Good drivers just drive. They don't do anything else while in the drivers seat, they just drive.

Amen to that.

Originally Posted by saurabhdadhichi

Learning:

We are definitely not multi-tasker, its just that one when doing multi-tasking, your attention is towards one action more than the other one, causing not enough attention to the other actions.

So avoid doing 2 things at a time specially when one is driving.

It isn't only about multitasking: this is about the safety of your own children! I have seen parents (mostly doting fathers) who allow their kids to sit in their lap while they drive-some genuises even allow the little ones to steer. I wonder if these parents pause to think that if they need to stop suddenly, even if they aren't going particularly fast, a child in that position would be seriously injured, possibly killed.

One time in Mysore my colleague offered us a lift from where we'd been having dinner to our guesthouse. We were just two of us in the back with the colleague and his wife in the front seats and to my shock his kids aged about 6 and 2 clambered into the front seats. The elder daughter sat on her mom's lap while the boy happily made himself comfortable between the steering wheel and his Dad. I told my colleague that it was dangerous and that he should move the kids back immediately- he just laughed and said no they won't sit there. I said, then please let us take an auto and he said OK, then drove all the way to the guesthouse anyway.

To this day I curse myself that I wasn't firm enough with him. Perhaps the relationship may have been soured but at least the children would have been spared future potential harm.

[rtandon]

I wonder if we should have bad passengers category as well. Compulsory seat belts for all on highways.
Running battle in my family during highway drives when I'm on the driver's seat.
School education is not a cure. {facepalm}

[Thad E Ginathom]

Compulsory seat belts for all.

Even on a trip to the end of the road. There is no safe speed for not wearing seatbelts, not even walking speed.