Motorcycle safety: Lane riding, speeding vs rash and 360 awareness - Part 9

1. Lane riding is insane riding

In a country like India, I refer to lane driving as insane driving. This might sound counterintuitive to you, but this is what I really think about lane riding here.

In a perfect world, it would make sense to follow lane discipline strictly as everyone else is also following it, which makes riding predictable and safe. But, there is a huge difference between imagination and reality. In the real world, at least in India, people drive crazy and you need to constantly adjust your riding style to keep yourself safe.

Out here, most riders I know ride haphazardly to a large extent and do not follow lane discipline, because it is impossible and unsafe to follow here. Most of them adapt to traffic situation, outside reality, and improvise their riding style to some extent. However, if you listen to every so-called influencer riders giving speeches and advises, you'll here nothing but scripted talks on following traffic rules and lane discipline as absolute principles. But they themselves would not follow rules/best practices on their way back home after giving the nice speech.

How is this going to help new riders to be safe on Indian roads where the actual reality of riding is entirely different from what you are told in theory? Instead of burying one's head inside the sand, people really need to wake up and start seeing the reality around. It is like everyone is brainwashed to say what is politically correct and what's in the books but somehow reality is totally different. Only those who adapt to reality will survive. After all, Charles Darwin quoted the following:

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

Basically, most people preach you something that isn't actually true out in the real world. You need precise information on the realities of driving and riding in India. You should be equipped with truth, not wishful thinking or righteousness coming from someone's imagination. You won't train your son to be a boxer while preaching him to follow the principles of non-violence 'Ahimsa' by Mahatma Gandhi and never hit another human being, right?

You don't take a knife to a gunfight.

An imaginary scenario: Take for example, in India, the concept of riding fast on the right-most lane and riding slow on the left-most lane. The (right-most) fast lane is meant for vehicles that are going relatively fast (within speed limits) and for overtaking. This right-side road is supposedly designed for fast speeds without any distraction. Let's assume that when you approach another vehicle from behind on a fast lane, the car in front of you quickly moves to the left lane and allows you to overtake without having to slow down.

After driving fast on a long stretch (hopefully with other cooperative drivers), you decide to switch to the left-most lane (to slow down or to exit the highway). So, you give the left indicator and the vehicles behind you immediately apply the brake and slow down to let you change the lane first to the left side. This sounds so wonderful. It sounds so beautiful.

But, is this a reality in India? Is this how you find other motorists behaving on Indian roads (especially in the North)? Is this how good the infrastructure in India is? So much so that you can steadily ride or drive smoothly on a single lane for long or speed on the fast lane without obstructions?

The reality is that you have to

• constantly fight for your right to even move in traffic;

• constantly endure annoying honking from behind;

• constantly block other drivers/riders from squeezing into the little space you have between your car and the vehicle in front of you;

• constantly change lanes because some driver, biker or a cyclist just popped out of nowhere, in front of you, riding slow at dead speed;

• constantly honk, apply brake and change direction to prevent another vehicle from hitting your car/bike or coming too close;

• constantly lookout for cows and other animals casually roaming or crossing across even modern expressways where speed limit is 120 kmph;

• constantly avoid running over dead dogs, cats and even cows on some highways;

• constantly trying to avoid fallen tree branches (especially in monsoons) or some metal part sticking out of the metal divider

• constantly avoid hitting a cycle, motorbike, cars and even trucks coming from the opposite direction boldly in your face, as if you are the one on the wrong direction;

• constantly lookout for deep potholes or dips on the road that throws you off-balance;

• and I can go on and on and on, but I hope you got the message; constant lane riding is simply insane riding.

The lesson to learn here: Do not stick to one lane. You should be comfortable and skillful in changing lanes at short notice. Stay in the lane that feels most safe to you. For example, I always prefer to ride in the middle lane wherever possible.

The quicker and good you are at changing lanes between traffic, the better are your chances of avoiding a crash when something or someone suddenly pops up in front of you, which happens frequently on Indian roads. But this also doesn't mean you take risk and constantly change lanes just to speed or for fun.

Do not follow theories or others blindly, use your common sense and observe how everyone and everything moves on the road. Adjust your riding according to changing situations. As they say, be a Roman in Rome, likewise, be an Indian in India.

2. Be like an owl

When you ride in a populated country like India (or Vietnam, etc.) that too in a crowded city or town, you are never alone. Some other rider or driver is always around you, probably just a one-hand distance away, literally. So, you cannot ride like a horse only looking at the front. You have to look all around you at regular intervals and adjust your braking and lane-changes accordingly.

You have to be like an owl that can rotate its head to almost 360 degrees. I am not asking you to rotate your head 360 degrees and break your neck. I mean you should have 360-degree awareness on the road at all times. For that, you can use your rearview mirrors on both sides to keep a check on what's behind you, not just focus on the front.

I am in the habit of regularly checking my rearview mirrors. Depending on the speed and traffic, I change my frequency of how often I check the mirrors. For example, if I am cruising on an highway with little traffic then I check my rearview mirrors every 30 to 60 seconds or longer. The reason why I do that is not because I want to change my lane or brake, I do it for constant situational awareness. If I see a vehicle coming at a high speed from the back, I voluntarily make way for it so there is no chance of a crash.

If I am riding in a moving traffic among 100s of other cars and bikes then I frequently check my rearview mirrors as I am constantly changing lanes or dodging the traffic. Of course, you can just ride slowly on a straight line hoping others to slowdown behind you or go around you, but someday some idiot will kiss your bike with his/her vehicle from behind.

I have observed that a lot of bike accidents happen and bikers die because a speeding car or truck from behind loses control or miscalculates the distance and hits the biker from the rear. Falling from the bike is one thing but getting crushed under the wheels of larger vehicles is much more serious. So, I am always aware and careful of not only what is ahead of me but also what is behind me.

You could also use your ears to hear other vehicles behind and around you.

The lesson to learn here: Get in the habit of checking your rearview mirrors as often as possible (when it is safe to do so). For example, if I am riding faster than the average traffic speed then I look in the back less frequently, if I am riding closer to the average traffic speed or slower, I look more often, especially before making turns or changing lanes.

Adjust the frequency according to the situation but get in the habit of checking rearview mirrors.

Keep your rearview mirrors clean and always adjust them before you start to ride.

3. Know the difference between rash riding and fast riding

Every person I know thinks rash riding and speeding are the same. They are different. I ride fast but not rash. You can associate rash riding with negligent or impulsive riding. I used to ride rashly when I was a teenager, at a time when I was supercharged with bursting hormones and lacked self control. I was lucky to have survived that phase while learning to become a better rider. Everyone doesn't get that lucky.

Riding rashly means:

• one is riding really fast beyond his/her skill level,

• riding without understanding how traffic flows,

• riding without knowing what unexpected things can happen on the road,

• riding without knowing how much the bike can be pushed before it loses control,

• and doing chapri things (or hyper-riding as it is called).

These rash riders are just taking chances and pushing their luck all the time. Moreover, they tend to cause a lot of scare and inconvenience to other drivers and riders. They get too

close to other vehicles at high speed. They make sudden and unexpected turns. They abruptly brake to correct their mistakes causing other vehicles around them to also brake hard and change direction suddenly to save themselves.

Speeding is just going fast assuming that you are well in control of your bike, you are not taking too much risk and causing inconvenience to others. Your turns, overtakes and slicing through traffic is smooth like a butter. And, you are doing this consistently without accidents or close-calls. This comes only with lots of experience in traffic and mastering control over your bike.

Interesting observation: A person who has never ridden fast in his/her entire life or does not have the required skills will always dismiss fast riding as dangerous and call it same as rash riding. Personally, I prefer to always maintain slightly faster speed than rest of the traffic. I feel safer.

The lesson to learn here: Never ride rashly although you might be tempted to do so at times, especially when another rider starts to street-race. But, if you wish to speed, learn to master traffic sense and bike control first. And, this comes only with practice and patience.