Don't stop complaining! Especially here. Merely bringing up the point, on a motorcycle forum, is doing something to fix the mess, because it's making riders notice. If the riders here see this, and the next time they're out they check the traffic before they pull out, then a little bit of the problem is fixed. If they then remind their friends who ride to do the same, then a little more is fixed. Don't wait for the government to solve your problems. Solve them yourselves! Governments are terrible at fixing problems, especially civil ones. If all 30,000 of us do our best to ride in a disciplined manner, and encourage all of our rider friends to do the same, we'll become a noticeably-large better-behaved segment of traffic, and more and more riders will adopt the same habits. Of course not every rider will do the same, but that's no reason to give up. Instead, make a point of calling poor riders out for their lack of skills. Make them want to be better.

And do what??? Don't you feel there're better things to focus than ranting? Improving riding skills, learn about braking, DIY for instance?

ROTFL I'm out of this discussion!!!

And read the rest of my post. That's what. This is all about "improving riding skills". Even talking about it can make a difference, if people are willing to listen. If you just throw up your hands, and claim that nothing can be done, then you're right. However, if you are willing to try to find a way, and believe that change is possible, then you're also right. Just passing the buck and saying that because the government is a bunch of corrupt do-nothings the problem will never be solved, doesn't absolve you of responsibility. You're still part of the riding community, just like me, and problems like this are the community's problems. Talking about ways to encourage basic riding skills like this is a lot more useful than an internal debate over something as esoteric as trail-braking into corners. 90% of the riders on this board will never need to worry about trail-braking, but those same 90% do pull out into traffic many times a day, and pushing for the safety habit of looking before you move will save many of them from the hassle (or worse) of getting into an accident.

Witnessed the aftermath of a horrific accident on the Igatpuri road on Sunday where a local villager wearing no protective gear on a red Splendour/Passion type bike got hit by a Skoda Yeti front left side at very high speed. Body was still lying on the road, dead on impact. The car and his bike were more than 100 feet ahead of the corpse. Third accident in 3 rides on that road.

Our roads are shared by very many different vehicles piloted by people from vastly different cultural, economic and educational backgrounds. Not everyone has the same level of skill, judgement or common sense, but they share the same roads and that fact isn't going to change anytime soon. Please always keep that in mind and ride/drive like you have 6 eyes in your head.

I do agree with this post of yours. But sadly most Indians love to blame someone else for the mess after throwing up their hands. And of late the favourite target is corrupt governments. The roads are dirty blame the govt. Don't bother blaming all the people of civil society who go around spitting and littering the place. Its better to make the smallest difference in society than to do nothing at all.

The Ugly Indian

You are cordially invited

First things first, modern cars in India beat most modern bikes hands down! No point even talking about that. But this will change in a couple of years, at most 4! (And 200cc and above riders, please you are such a minuscule minority that there's no point taking you in the statistics & i so envy you guys!!!)

That said, there are jack asses on both sides of the line. I have seen so many bikers who JUST DONT DESERVE A BIKE. These include chapri taporis who ride rx100s with broken silencers to R15 owners with daytona kits installed to just a 16 year old lad on his dads splendor. But on the other hand I have also seen car drivers who should never have learn't to drive in the first place. And these include owners of scorpios who purposely harass bikers to irritated taxi drivers at the end of their day to late night call centre cabs to giant volvos stuck in city to the clueless lady driver!

I am not trying to stereotype anything or anyone here, all I am trying to say is that:

You can either be smart or else be a dumbass. Its your choice. Choose wisely!

Very good topic you came up with. I am a native resident of kerala and stay in Trivandrum. And I am not proud to say this. But this is the truth. In most of the accidents that happen to bikers most of the time it is the fault from the riders side. I have been riding/ driving for more than 4 years ( eh I am 20 only now though ).

The main reason is the unawareness among the vehicle users. In city riding bikers twist and turn through every gap and overtake even if a KSRTC bus comes against them ( Trust me I see this every single day). They don't even bother. And often they end up getting squished under the tyre. I can't understand till now where they get the guts to do this. Or they must be stupid enough .

My daily commute involves travelling through the road which is the most accident prone area in trivandrum city. Atleast once in two months someone dies in an accident in this route. And almost all the time it is two wheelers who fall as victims to this .

I am not blaming here I am also a biker but it makes me really unhappy to face this truth. It is mainly because of the economic situation here a 100cc bike is used by the entire family two children, wife and the rider. And the problem is that the rider has no sense or thinking that his family is sitting behind him and he should ride atleast in a safe manner. End result is pretty obvious.

And behind that comes rickshaws and cars and buses. Car drivers are pretty much better according to me. Yes still there are idiots among them too. But not to an extent as bike users.

I have been riding through these years and I can sure tell that the changing attitude of the road users. Honestly they are far better now ( or maybe I feel like this because I got a better powerful bike? ). On highways the heavy vehicles dim their lights for me during night time. Car drivers overtake at a safe distance. And KSRTC bus gives side to me for overtaking when I honk . And obviously they won't be nice to only one person right?. The highway traffic is pretty descent here. ( Well I am saying about the majority here). There are idiots too. I hope they will change with time.

Awareness is the only remedy and let others learn from you. I do drive responsibly and I am sure atleast one person will be motivated by me. Whenever I see a pedestrian trying to cross in a heavy traffic road I stop my bike for them. And I just let them cross and seeing me others along me does that too FAIR ENOUGH .

We Indians love to whine don't we.Not just "we" here,the mango people included. We can find faults and start complaining at the drop of a hat. Its a scary proposition to just ride a bicycle on the leftmost corner of the road coz you have rash cab&SUV drivers to your right and pedestrains & footpath riders to your left..and autorickshaws everywhere else. Add to that aunties and uncles with fancy cars who drive slower than I can cycle on an pretty empty stretch of road. People are forced to overtake from left coz apparently the right lane is reserved for big heavy buses and trucks. And if we were to overtake,a car/rick parked in the left decides to join the road with no regard as to check oncoming traffic from behind,not even bothering to use the god damn indicators. We're just trained to adjust from a very young age and we do just that,simple..Problem solved
It's time we stopped adjusting and do things right. Awareness should get across by people who care enough to bring about a miniscule amount of change.

Nice one..couldnt be more wrong.

Thanks for sharing the link

Thanks, Vishakh. This is exactly the point I'm trying to make. The whole point of existence for this board is supposed to be to elevate the state of motorcycling in India. Not just to promote it, but to improve it. What so many riders seem to lose sight of is that they are a part of that. As long as there are riders saying "don't bother calling for change, it'll never make a difference" or demanding that they be exempt from personal responsibility (essentially saying either that they won't ride correctly unless forced by the government, or that they shouldn't have to change their riding style because everyone else should be forced to accommodate them), the problems we all face will still exist.

I soo agree with you on this one..

To go off-topic just briefly, litter was a huge problem in the US back in the 60s and 70s too. People thought nothing of tossing food wrappers, cups, and all kinds of other trash along the roadsides and in parking lots. I don't think it ever got quite as bad as it is here, both because people did still use trashcans in their homes and businesses and because there were just fewer people, but it still looked bad. Then, a series of public campaigns got started. There were TV commercials about it (one well-known one was "Woodsy the Owl", who exhorted you to "give a hoot, don't pollute!"), and posters in the schools, and everyone's attitude (slowly) changed. Scout troops did litter projects, cleaning up parks and streams. Many cities and states imposed huge fines for littering or dumping. In Texas, for example, littering was and is a Rs50,000 fine! It took about 10 years for the attitude change to complete, and about that long to finish the majority of the cleanup. Now, most highways are pretty nice to look at. City streets are well-kept and parks are pleasant places. I look forward to the day India goes through that. This is an incredible country, and will look amazing once it's cleaned up.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled fisticuffs.

This discussion will help and should help a lot of people in the way they ride or even drive. We should make these threads sticky as "Responsibility of Rider when on road".
This should surely improve and polish our riding skills.
Thanks for this wonderful discussion. This has helped me alot in the way i ride, i am always careful and alert when riding on road but this thread has polished my skills more.

There is no point in hoping for a drastic change in attitude of people. A miracle should happen for that. But slowly slowly there is a change. New rules are coming up. New security systems and equipment for cops. And awareness ads on TV. Government and people are evolving with time. But the thing is that this should have been done from in the 1990's itself. But corruption and various other hindrances always cause the delay in a country like ours.

And moreover that India is still in the developing phase. There is still a lot of things which should be done. Economic condition of people has to improve a lot. Until that day we have to wait. All we can hope and wish for is that the attitude and view of people towards using vehicles wisely and have concern about safety improves at a faster rate than it is now. And we xbhpians always contribute to that .