And respecting rules and red lights!

Approved

We have far fewer cars too compared to China!

It also depends on how responsible a rider is when he is on the bike, either slow or fast. Slow and dangerous because usually many will be driving on the centre of the road or near the divider. Fast and dangerous(which need not be explained) without control.

This isn't a surprise. While we Indians nowadays have more buying power therefore resulting in the increased sales of automobiles, the safety awareness probably dates back to a century ago. People's total lack of consideration for safety ends up taking lives.

From accidents resulting due to blasts of overused worn out tyres, to failure of brakes, human error, we have far more reasons for causing a fatality.

Its, again upto each individual to mind their own safety otherwise ram bharose.

Agreed..
The idea of the thread was to ride sane, and promote road safety in every possible excuse!

this is one of the best articles in recent times I have read. Shame, all this facts and reality is recognized and acknowledged by 2 blokes sitting in NY news office, where as our national news channels always find rather other important "breaking news" for every hour of the day. Anyways that's another matter I am getting into.

The articles is so effective and personal because it reflect what we see.. every day. Knowing that another 1 lakh people WILL die in coming 12 months, its nothing to be proud of. Being no.1 is not always a privilege.

Even if I try not to act like a sissy and blame out our G-O-V here, like million others do, i cant help but express my anger on this subject. No matter how safe i am riding/driving or have taken thousand of tests and training, I can't avoid killing my self because of some twat who came from the wrong side of the road or took a U turn with out checking his mirrors. And horrifyingly, its just not limited to drivers. Pedestrians, cyclists, bullock carts, lorrey drivers, who ever is on road is a substantial element of disaster. one hurts another.

The standard and quality of road safety and maintenance is still very low in India. Their wont be any reflective barricading around local road work site ever. Expressways wont have enclosed traffic route and their wont be any body to enforce speed limits and monitor the traffic flow and accidents on highways, let alone respond to any emergency. F**K sake, we dont have to go too far to Europe or America to learn how to keep people alive on road, our neighbour is way ahead in implementing the basic safety and standard on its Expressways.

Its such a shame , lack of civic sense and no respect towards others on the road leads to this.

We have ABS equipped cars but very few buy them and people call ABS "Luxury" .

We have Air-Bags but very few buy them saying its a "Luxury" .

We have disk Brake equipped bikes but people call disk brakes "Luxury" .

We have helmets but very few buy them.. because its "Luxury" u know?


We know we should stop at that red signal , but , we dont.

We know we should not drink and ride/drive but we do.

We Like to test our Vehicle`s acceleration.. Hey, my Splendor is faster than ur Karizma... wanna drag?

We blame government for that bad patch of road but we love to test our Off-roading skills on it.


When will we learn?

Can not agree more with you .
PS : Are you the same riot who did soem amazing stuff like xBHP mobile etc ? I mean long ago like 2-3 years back

Totally agree, Whenever i set out myself for a trip I see atleast 3-4 accidents before reaching home back, major reason is drunken driving, driving on the wrong lane of the road on highways just because its nearer to them(they dont want to take a U turn which is another 200 meters ahead ) and the last cause is over speeding.
Moreover its not just these things in india, you'll find Cows, Dogs and if u are lucky then may find a Cheetah even..
Even I met with an accident two weeks before, i was doing 70's on highway and whoa, suddenly a dog jumps from a divider right on to my bikes path, it was hardly 25 to 30 feet ahead of me, slamming both brakes too didnt help i was still doing 60's when i hit it and went sliding on the road. I was wearing a Jacket and Helmet which totally saved me, I have bruises on legs and also on palms for no fault of mine
I'm starting to feel that a Cage is better option than bikes, In india the biking scene is not improving, its becoming dangerous.. Hope the biking seen improves!!

Regards
- A die hard Biker

basic mentality of most of the ppl riding in india is wrong.... like for example.. past 11:00 P.M ppl think that the 'no-entry' signs are invalid, and they can rip in a direction where they aren't even supposed to commute.... but they fail to understand that the persun following the rules and coming from the correct way..expects that its a 'one-way' road and so he can ride aramse..without worrying abt on coming traffic...

moreover changing lanes by signalling thru indicators is a rare practice ..... n result is sometimes getting banged from behind....

n i need not mention helmetless riding, reckless riding, druken riding n all other default values i guess....

One of the biggest problem is that while the cars/bikes and the new expressways are being built to international standards, our mentality about laws and reality is stuck in the 70s. No one cares about the u-turns if they are not exactly where they want them to be. So they take wrong lane. An extra effort is seen as a waste of petrol and we try to find shortcuts. Not to mention every safety feature is a luxury. Heck cars in itself is a luxury.

Many of the fatalities will reduce if we just make license regime strict. This measure alone will save us lots of lives and save us lot of agony when we see people on the wrong side of the road, cutting lanes, driving in the right most lane.

The govt. has to get a little more sensible. It baffles me that bikes that can do more than the speed limit on the expressways are also banned and cars that can barely reach the speed limit are allowed. Also there is a dearth of crossover bridges. I know people don't walk 50 more steps to use a bridge, but we can then have bus stops next to walkover bridges and ensure the buses don't stop according to whims and fancies of the passengers. As am incentive walkover bridges should also have escalators. This is a necessary investment rather than a contractual obligation. After all who can judge the cost of human life.

Need of the hour - Traffic Education

I think the need of the hour is traffic education.

The government (RTO) should start at the grass-root levels and introduce traffic awareness lessons as a compulsory topic in schools. This will help us atleast educate the future road users of the nation.

Apart from this, the bigger issue is the fact that people do not currently follow the rules. For this, the RTO should introduce something like a mandatory session for license holders (much like mandatory CPE courses to be taken up by people with professional degress like CA) where traffic awareness is given out and tested. Failure to attend these mandatory sessions should lead to suspension of licenses.
Also, cCancellation of licenses for repeat traffic offences should be put in practise, and not merely remain in the laws.

The fact that DLs can be obtained easily also adds to the commotion on road. Partly due to influence/ referrals, and partly because some RTOs are very liberal. Hope there is some action taken towards this.

What we at xBhp can do is conduct some of these traffic awareness sessions at schools or other places (some chapters of xBhp have already conducted helmet awareness meets/ rides).

That doesnt hold good untill...people leave.."JAANE DO!" or "MUJHE FARAK NAHI PADTA" attitude.


What works best now is a Whiplash on A**! like Seize vehicle, imprisonment, high amount of fines....of course DL cancellation...so education by experience!

Well.. My parents stay in Dubai. There the traffic rules are very strict. Just for applying a driver's license we need to take compulsory classes from the authorized driving schools & yes each & every session is closely monitored the student is evaluated in every possible way. If he is learning fast & has the skill then only the instructor approves the issual of a license. Every damage on the vehicle has to be reported to the police & only after proper verification & approval by the police, the repair work can be started. Something like this should be introduced in India aswell. No offence but First thing is that the government should be changed & more competitive & sensible people should be employed to work & rules should be made very strict.