1. Never ride right behind other riders
I am sure you would have seen those nice photos of Harley group riders in the USA riding one behind another in a perfect formation making cool biker hand signals. If you live in a country like India, please do not imitate them. Riding behind another motorcycle, especially at high speeds, is simply too dangerous in this country.
Less than a year ago, one rider crashed into another Hayabusa rider from the back and broke his spine. Both were doing spirited high-speed riding but the Hayabusa rider had to apply brakes suddenly to avoid a collision but the rider in the back couldn't react and brake in time. Both bikers died.
In the West, the traffic, road infrastructure, people (and even the animals) move in an organized manner. They are culturally and psychologically structured, whereas in India, everything is unstructured and unpredictable. Even the solid white lane divider road lines are not straight here. Anybody and anything can suddenly come in front of a rider causing a chain reaction in the back.
Since most roads here go through densely populated areas with all kinds of vehicles, animals and things, you don't have the luxury to keep enough distance between two riders. You are usually riding too close behind other vehicles. On top of that, anything can slip in the little gap you have between you and the vehicle in front of you. You need to have a good view of the traffic far ahead of you. This is not possible when you are riding right behind other riders. So, the best practice is to ride slightly on the right or left to the rider in front of you like in the photo below.
This way, if the rider in front of you suddenly brakes then you can avoid rear-ending the bike. Moreover, you also get a good view of the traffic situation ahead.
I have witnessed large group of riders, in the tune of 20 to 30 of them, trying their best to ride in formation, but they do that at the cost of disturbing other vehicles on the road as every vehicle is fighting for every inch of the space here. Every driver is used to turning right or left at will in any direction. But when a long cavalry of riders pass, they expect other vehicles to give them preference first and this leads to lots of angry gestures between some cars and bikers. After watching 10 videos of Western bikers on YouTube, many bikers here start riding like a Pro Max gentleman rider demanding respect from other drivers.
Another issue I find in riding among large groups of bikers is that every biker and bike is different. Some riders are too slow and some bikes are too powerful. It is almost never possible to maintain consistent riding performance of all riders especially on tricky and challenging roads of India. Getting stuck between two riders of very different riding calibre in close proximity can become very annoying, and you may end up making a mistake.
The lesson to learn here: Do not ride behind other riders especially in close proximity. You won't have enough time to react if something goes wrong with the rider in front of you. Ride a bit to the right or left side of the bike in front of you so you can see what's happening far ahead on the road.
2. Never ride behind heavy vehicles like trucks and buses
When you ride behind huge lorries and buses then you have no view of the traffic ahead and the road condition. You are simply watching a huge piece of rectangle metal moving in front of you and it can be disorienting sometimes. If that large vehicle goes over a huge pothole between its tyres and you happen to ride behind it in the middle, you could bust your front shocker seal, bend your alloy wheels or worse, crash your bike.
Another danger of riding behind large vehicles is the possibility of a huge stone getting trapped between truck/bus tyres and then launched like a rocket projectile in the back, towards your bike or worse, your face. It has happened with me once, but I was inside a car behind a bus. I was lucky but my car's front windshield wasn't so. In some cases, they also shoot broken pieces of rubber from the tyre.
And then there is the possibility of a tyre burst of a truck or bus moving in front of you. I was once traveling at a good speed and approaching a truck fast. Just before I could overtake it from the side, its rear right tyre bursts causing the truck to shake violently before the driver could bring it back in control and stop. The truck was overloaded with sand and some of it was thrown in the air and on road. I managed to brake in time, luckily there were no vehicles right behind me. The lesson I learned is to never keep the bike behind a truck, especially at high speeds. I always stay away from large vehicles. If I am close to a truck or bus, I try to get to a side and be in the view of the driver. Whenever and wherever you are riding, try to have a clear line of sight in front at all times.
The lesson to learn here: Do not ride behind large vehicles without a clear view of the traffic ahead for long. Always have a clear line of sight ahead.
3. Use different riding styles at different times of the day
Charles Darwin said
"the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself."
And, the same applies to motorcycle riding. You have to keep varying your riding style according to your changing environment to prevent accidents. In my personal experience, I have noticed that the traffic behaviour continuously changes, from morning till evening, Monday through Sunday. This may not be true for towns and cities where traffic is very light. But, in a heavily congested city like Gurgaon, traffic pattern continuously varies. This could be because of too much pressure to move through too little space. You can blame the high vehicular traffic, very high human population and bad infrastructure. The sooner you observe these things and adapt your riding style, the safer your bike riding will be.
Here are my observations basis my riding in and out of Gurgaon and Delhi:
Every Monday morning, traffic is heavier than other days. After the weekend, people tend to start the week afresh and leave home early to work. Everybody tries to reach the office on time and not get stuck in peak traffic, but they all end up starting early at around the same time—creating heavy traffic. On key roads like the NH48 (NH8), the traffic starts to build-up by 8:30 am itself, towards major office and factory areas, especially, in the direction of Gurgaon from Delhi. The traffic eases only after 11:00 am. In this rush, to reach office on time or because of habit, many become impulsive and start cutting through traffic aggressively. This is when my riding changes automatically. I tend to get proactive, hyper-focused, slightly more aggressive than the traffic around me, and I cross erratic drivers quickly. At the same time, if I am riding a heavy bike, riding gets very difficult. The chances of an accidental contact and confrontation go up. It is best to avoid riding during this part of the day. The traffic mayhem can be seen on interior roads as well. The heavy traffic flow is only in one direction on most roads and the pattern reverses in the evening.
One interesting thing I have noticed is that the early morning rush hour slowly shifts and eases as the week progresses. As Friday approaches, people tend to ease-up a little and the morning traffic gets slightly better and more spread-out. So, on Mondays, plan to either ride very early or after the peak hour has passed. The story is different by the time it is Friday evening.
On every Friday evening, many start leaving office early. Around 4:30 pm itself, the traffic starts to increase on the national highway NH8. The traffic is neither light nor heavy at this point, especially in the direction of Delhi from Gurgaon. However, I have noticed that a big chunk of drivers start doing zig-zag driving, turning left and right into every gap they can find, passing inches away from each other, and drive like the Crazy Frog. It is as if they all are in a hurry to get somewhere first. It is possible that most of them just want to reach home early to kick-off their Friday evening plans or just get home early to their family and relax. Having driven 5 days in extreme traffic, they probably want to beat the traffic by reaching home early. Whatever the reason may be, you need to be extra careful on two wheels and not get knocked down due to these changing behaviours of drivers on certain days. If I ride slowly then other vehicles would come too close to me and start blaring horns. This really scares and annoys me. So, my riding style automatically becomes more offensive than defensive. I get slightly more aggressive than their aggressiveness and I beat them in their own game. I do this only because I am very comfortable with my riding abilities and the capabilities of my bike. I am not prescribing this to anyone. Just sharing how the traffic pattern changes at different times of the day and day of the week. How you respond and change your riding style to keep yourself safe is totally up to you, basis your own skill level and judgement.
If you are riding around sunrise or before it, beware of sleepy drivers who have been driving all night. Some of them tend to fall asleep while driving and end up crashing. This is more common on straight boring highways. Likewise, beware of drunk drivers late at night, especially on Friday nights. They drive stupidly fast and recklessly without looking around. In these scenarios, I constantly check my rearview mirrors and I am extra careful around intersections even if my signal is green. I am on a more defensive riding style.
The lesson to learn here: In any densely populated city like Gurgaon, the traffic is very heavy on Monday mornings (at early hours) and Friday evenings. These timings change as the week progresses and people tend to get more relaxed. More aggression is shown by drivers during heavy traffic. Likewise, the traffic behaviour will vary for each region of a city, town or village at different times of the day and day of the week. To become a better rider or avoid accidental collisions, you need to observe these patterns and adjust your riding style or timing accordingly. Always adapt and vary your riding style between offensive and defensive modes according to your surrounding.
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