Are Indian drivers closet Formula 1 drivers or just plain suicidal

Yaatri, you are exactly right. I have often thought that, bikers, especially, treat driving as an extension of walking and are entirely unaware of the actual dangers of vehicles. And nothing is ever their fault: especially death.

The horn is also used like a weapon by bikers to cut through traffic - both human and vehicular.

What I hate most about bikers is their inclination to overtake you when you are turning. They have no idea about what can happen if they are so much as kissed by a speeding truck or even a car.

Here in Pune we have loads of bikers who drive while their earphones are plugged in!! They don't even bother to give you a 'side' even if you honk repeatedly since they can't obviously hear you. They don't switch their indicators ON while taking a turn. Naturally Pune is the home for many number of 2/4 wheeler accidents. It is sometimes called the 'Accident-City' of India.

Incredible, eh?? But that's how it is here.

Note - the above comments are referring to the most of the bikers, not everyone. So any biker from Pune who doesn't do all these, does not fall into the category I referred to.

I am a "biker" too. But I have not ridden a bike/two wheeler in India since 1986 when I was cut off by a bus one early morning just before the intersection of Curzon Road and Feroz Shah Road, heading towards CP.

Here in the U.S. too some bikers, with crotch rockets drive wrecklessly. Serious bikers are very responsible here. The biggest problems bikers face here is that automobile drivers don't "sse" them. I have extra pair of lights installed on either side of my Suzuki Blvd C50 to increase my visibility and am planning to install a louder horn.

I am constantly cut off by car drivers. They don't take bikers seriously. They probably think, "Oh I can squeeze by. A bike doesn't need much room". A biker is at all times exposed to all kinds of hazards of the road. A little patch of oil, gravel, not to mention other drivers.
But bikers in India are completely oblivious to the dangers they face and the dangers they present others.

I have seen so often that if they stop at a traffic light, they would be in the far left lane even if they have to turn right. They cut you off on the right, left, and if they could, they would drive over you.

At a traffic light, they are never completely stopped. They keep inching along.

It's like a motocross start. I like the level crossings. They line up at the barriers on both sides of the road facing each other. If I'm in the car, I look straight ahead and pretend I can't see anyone to my sides.

Another observation that confirmed that most Indian drivers follow their eyes when steering their car.

When you are crossing a street as a pedestrian, and a vehicle, especially a twowheeler appears into view, headed towards you, the driver does not steer away from you. Instead of steering to go behind you to get around you, they try to steer around you in front of you, making it impossible to avoid a collision.
Has anyone else noticed that too?

It's common sense and a standard practice in all forms of traffic, be it marine, aviation, vehicular or pedestrian, both parties steer to their right, in countries that stay to the right, and to the left in countries where the traffic keeps to the left. But it does not occur to most Indians on the road.

It seems that my home state (Tamil Nadu) is now figuring high on the statistics lists within India for crime, driving fatalities, and suicides.

Yaatri, I don't know about USA, but bikers in UK have adopted the custom of keeping headlights full on, even in daylight, and slogans encourage the car drivers to Think Bike! Probably, the most genuinely put upon (often dangerously) road users are peddle cyclists. Even they would not take to the road without proper lights and protective gear.

Motor cycles are, world wide, the most dangerous form of transport, but here in India, bikers, minute by minute, rely on other road users to keep them alive.

That really pisses me off!

Because of another dreadful abuse of all common safety sense, the use of the bike as family transport, some people here grow up on motor bikes. They were carried in the mother's arms on one (). Off the main streets, one even sees very small children driving them. If only proper instruction was not only available, but mandatory, Indian bikers could be the best in the world!

A biker zipping down the wrong way on a crowded main road hit me (pedestrian) on the arm today (handlebars)and was upset for a while because I stopped him and called him an a#$%^&e.

They are not going to improve.

Oh yes, driving the wrong way to save fuel, with thought to safety of others.

It's me me me me. Me first. Let everyone else go to h3ll.

I think you can say "hell."

If you never see me on the forum again, you'll know I was wrong

www.team-BHP.com --- there are drivers here that care, and want to share their experience and learn too.

Staggering stats, hope they are incorrect, but these are official figures, so the actual numbers may be even higher.



http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle2609325.ece



(That's 1050 people killed every day!)

At one point, and I forget when it was, I read that number of cars on the road had tripled in five years. It continues to rise. In the face of that, it amazes me that road deaths have only increased by fifty percent.

The worst thing: nobody, except the bereaved and the crippled, cares.

I need this thread, I need this thread. Thrice bikers today on my morning commute hit my stationary car from behind or side at signals. It was a very light bump, no damage to the car but I still hate it. After all it was a stationary car on a traffic signal. How difficult it is to see that?

Sorry Nick, but I am sure that the person who gets sued cares.

A I have mentioned previously I was involved in a RTA many years ago with a biker, he had no lisence no insurance , and he ened up breaking his little finger, unforunatley as I was driving a car I got done.

I accepted responsibility to get the matter over and done with. The police case took a year and the civil case took 8.

Nick, a small clarification, please.
The term 'Bike' may invariably refer to a motor cycle here in India and it would mean Bicycle in the US. How is the term 'bike' used in UK?!