Rant approved.

I don't have eyes on my back. So, traffic on main road should watch out for me

Bikes costs less=used by mango man=special right of way

Government is for mango man. Therefore mango man=government=VVIP=special right of way

car=rich man=humilty Should be your virtue=always 'pehle aap'

yeah roads are filled with idiots,the idiots are young rider with their steeds riding like hell-raisers,the commercial carraige drivers,the arrogant car owner who thinks that two wheeler are just shits on the road,the pedestrians who think foot path as well as 4 lane highways are also their movement corridor,the cyclist who himself doesn't even know that cars and bikes are whizzing past him at speed of 60 while he is riding on the middle of road,the dogs and cows who suddenly pop up infront of you to check if you have either enough braking skill or abs,ebd,traction control.
i think our driving licscence test should be made stricter,laws should be stringent.[well these are all bull-shits cause this is india]

p.s. for threadstarter's info in our city traffic even splendor can make a suv bite dust,well it's my observation.and sometimes cars make 2 wheelers cut through them leaving an impression on the driver that the chap on the 2 wheeler is rash-riding .

Well, I want to rant so bad about this sterotyping one biker to the rest is bad enough ...

I would like to say, You car wala bhaiyas need to learn road side maners before us Biker guys due to what we see in Mumbai everyday.. Most car drivers think they are beasts when it comes to overtaking from left or right without the merit that a biker is riding in one lane, you guys would just go soo close to us that the wind that breaks from your cars might misbalance us for a sec.. You never thought of that huh?? Since we are on 2 wheels of course you didn't...

Next is, When we drive fast and you try to cover the distance with your 4 wheels, you horn and horn and horn and we dont move.. you know why?? Because while you just look at us and try to overtake us, we actually have to think of others whos on the left side, whos on the right side, whos in the back (of course you car bhai is there) and in the front and if the risk is worth taking.. So before you car wala bhai jaans try to rant for a small issue, that a bike hit you, if i was the car wala bhai.. I would stop my car, come out and make sure that the biker is ok or not.. remember he is the one on the 2 wheels, not you.. Atleast show bikers some love and help them out.. talk to them about them hitting you.. Maybe just maybe, instead of ranting, you can go ahead and get your car repaired from the money the biker could have given and also say sorry in return of your niceness..


Remember, we are on 2 wheels, give us the special right of way, and always horn when crossing lanes where you think a bike can come out of.. Horn is cheaper then a dent in your car, im sure..

I have nothing to add to the car-bike war that generally goes on..however i would consider the positive side of this discussion and thank 'The Mountain' for bringing this up..

I whole-heartedly agree with the points brought up...infact whenever we have to stop by a road..make sure we park outside the white/yellow line and stand/rest outside the same line. When in a group, park one behind another and not in a parallel way...

How to..




How NOT to..

The Mountain - I'm not surprised & infact getting little frustrated these days hearing these kind of rants from all the online forums & social networking sites. All of us rant or complain, but none of us come forward to clean up the mess & to clean up this mess & hence I stopped complaining!!! Even with a very serious effort, it might take upto a century to clean up all this, unless we all get into a revolutionary mode of transportation!!!

The root of the issue lies with riders/drivers education & the lack of enforcement which you, me & my 2 year old knows - CORRUPTION!!! Unless the system is cleaned up, nothing will & until then, all these & much more are bound to happen.

PS - Pls wait...the worst is yet to come

come-on people grow up, there discussion is not a war. its like some riders and also some drivers on the road ride/drive so rash that they don't respect anybody on the road. Yesterday itself when i was coming home on bike from office a bike fellow alongwith pillion on Ambition just broke the signal and came in way of a car, the driver somewhat manage to evade the accident but the biker was least bothered about it and riding his own. It was his fault but he never apologised to him. i have both a bike and also a car, so i can judge it as i can feel both the feelings. I also ride fast but it depends on the traffic conditions, also i have seen many people don't honk when you need to alert someone and then just come in between to create a accident like situation. its just like you need to be more responsible on road, but there are also some idiots on road.

shouldn't we guys take advantage of the small dynamics of 2 wheeler by cutting through traffic sensibly?well i have seen[done the same]people stuck up in the traffic using pavement on the side of the road to reach the stop line at the front of the signal...........,so much for the mini-motogp at the signal,no one wants to be left-out.

jumping signal is a bad thing.about the apologise part i once accidentally came infront of a car[my fault,i was noob then],he had to brake hard,i apologised ,he adressed me with slangs and even tried to beat me,i escaped the scene of crime with my trust-worthy steed.

@Mountain Agree with everything but 2 things.

1. Most 200+ cc bikes in India can in fact easily out-accelerate any car <10 lac to 100kmph. Thats fast enough for any Indian City.
2. Bikes get to the pole position on a traffic light so that they can safely negotiate themselves out of the car/bus/truck guy's blind spot before the latter unknowingly crushes the former.

yeah i get the logic,but does the average rider gets to the pole position for the above mentioned logic or just for the heck of it?

The average rider does it to save some time. And if possible, jump the signal if there is any opportunity and save some more time only to get stuck at the next set of lights.

I understand the thinking, but in practice, this is not the case, if only because not every bike on the road is more than 200ccs (but there are plenty of other reasons, too).

So, even if you push your way through the traffic to the front of the queue at a light, you're still wedged in with 30 other riders, most of whom are on little 130cc bikes or scooters, plus the usual assortment of autorickshaws and the little delivery trucks built on the same three-wheel platform. When the signal changes, or the traffic cop motions for your side to start moving, the whole mass creeps forward, hindered by the slowest speed of the bunch (since no one wants to knock anyone else down, and many riders are more concerned with trying to maximize mileage than with proper traffic flow). Meanwhile, the horde of bikes has spread across all lanes as the faster riders try to get around the slower ones. All this is made worse by the presence of 8 or 10 modern cars, whose drivers only want to get past the slow herd of bikes so they can get back to cruising speed. The perfect example for why it's pointless and dangerous for a biker to push to the front of the traffic queue is to look at the state of that same block of traffic 300 meters past the signal. All the bikes will be back in the left lane going 30kmh, while all the cars and most of the trucks will have stayed in the right lane, and are going at least 50. In an ideal world, the bikes would have stayed in the left lane or the center lane (and the rickshaws would be in the leftmost lane), and would be stopped in a staggered formation of two lines of bikes. Slower bikes in the left half of the lane and faster ones to the right. That way, the cars can get past them without either group interfering with the other.

Secondly, I have to dispute your assertion about blind spots. If the bikes stayed in one lane or the other, and lined up properly with the rest of the vehicles waiting at the signal, there would be no need to worry about whether you're in a blind spot or not, because there would be no need for the cars and trucks to change lanes or otherwise move from side to side (they're doing it to avoid all the bikes riding all over the road).

Realistically, it comes down to an aspect of the culture; one which I have observed personally, and which others have remarked upon as well. That is the commonality of spontaneously forming lines when waiting. Indians, Greeks, and Italians, among others, are apparently known for generally not lining up for things, instead forming a sort of "scrum" all bunched up at the waiting line, while Japanese, Germans, Americans, etc tend to line up. This habit tends to bleed over into many aspects of life, including driving.

While I'm sure many drivers do need to learn better road manners, I can assure you that more and more are learning, if only because they can afford nicer cars and want to keep them that way. That said, I've been riding and driving probably longer than you've been alive (31 years riding, 28 years driving). I have driven vehicles of every size from just slightly larger than a Nano up to a 75-passenger bus, as well as numerous motorcycles. I've ridden in torrential rain, snow, desert heat, and 60kmh crosswinds, day and night. I've driven cars with 60hp up to 500hp and bikes from 5hp to 150hp. Based on that experience, I can say with confidence that all drivers are responsible for their own safety and vehicle operation. As a motorcyclist, one of the hazards of riding, especially on high-speed limited access highways (which don't exist in India BTW) is the wind blast around vehicles, and you have to be capable of dealing with that yourself; it's not the car driver's responsibility to keep you from being buffeted by his slipstream, any more than it's their responsibility to keep you dry when it's raining. In the US, we have very large articulated trucks, larger than any other country except perhaps Australia. These vehicles travel at easily 120kmh on the highway, and if you're on a motorcycle, you can feel the disturbed air from one as far behind them as 200 meters. Riding next to one is a major exercise in proper cycle control, as there are at least 3 separate zones of disturbed air around one, and they all push you in a different direction (including one which tries to pull you under the truck). Dealing with that is just part of the territory. If you can't handle the feeble rush of air from a passing car here in India, you are either riding way too close to their lane (likely) or you do not have the proper level of skill to be on the road. I should add, the proper place to ride within the lane is in the "tire track" on the right side of the lane, or maybe just towards the center from that. Don't crowd the lane marking; I've seen many many riders riding 6 inches away from the lane markings, which is NOT safe, and will get you clipped by someone's side mirror. As a licensed vehicle, you're entitled to the whole width of the lane; use it.

Second, I (and many other drivers, I am sure) also have to deal with knowing what's around us, just like you. It's called Situational Awareness, and should be part of *every* driver's repertoire. So, when we come up behind you and honk at you, it's not because they don't understand what you have to go through as a motorcyclist (they probably ride too), it's because you're in the way, which is the same reason you honk at them when they're in front of you. If there's no one in front of you, then you're obstructing traffic, and regardless of the thinking you have to do, you should still get out of the way. As a rider, I constantly check my mirrors (you *do* still have both mirrors on your bike, don't you?) to make sure I'm not in anyone's way, whether I'm going the speed limit or not. If someone comes up behind me, I make a point of getting out of their way *before* it gets to the point where they're honking and flashing (by the way, if you tried that excuse of "boohoo, I have to think of what's around me" out on the autobahn when someone comes up behind you, you *will* get run down AND the cops will ticket *you* for blocking the road).

A good habit to have on a bike, and one which the Motorcycle Safety Foundation teaches, is to always ride slightly faster than traffic (or at least, slightly faster than the majority of cars). That way you're always overtaking, and can maintain a better "picture" of what's around you. If need be, you can always accelerate a bit more so you can duck into an open space in the next lane up ahead to get out of the way of the guy behind you. Make an effort. It's the plonking along in the lane like you're the only one on the road, and ignoring traffic behind you, that causes drivers to start blowing the horn over and over and flashing their lights. If you at least speed up a little, and signal that you're getting out of their way, they'll probably be a lot more polite.

Now, the point of my rant was not that some idiot hit me (my car was undamaged), but that some idiot lacked the riding skills to avoid an eminently avoidable accident that could have been a LOT worse, and that whoever that rider was, he showed BLATANT disregard for his own safety and for basic concepts like checking traffic before he entered the road. Always always always check your mirrors before pulling out onto the road or changing lanes, and then look over your shoulder for good measure

As to your comment about "give us special right of way". That's crap, and you should know it. Motorcycles have no more (but no less) right-of-way on the road than any other ordinary vehicle. With an attitude like that, one day sooner or later you will get hit, and I hope for your sake the only thing damaged is your pride. Never, ever assume that you have some special privilege on the road. As the Motorcycle Safety Foundation constantly teaches: [as a rider,] assume you're invisible and everyone is actively trying to kill you. I always ride this way, and (knock wood) have never been in a traffic accident on a bike; the closest I have ever come is once on a one-lane dirt road, where I had to ride into the ditch to avoid an oncoming truck, and even then I would have stayed up if the ditch hadn't turned out to be filled with soft sand.