Riding my bike gives me the most enjoyable experience; going on long rides, riding in the city, its always been a fun thingy for me. I just love riding, for me distance or destination doesn't matter, as long as I'm on the road on a bike, I'm more than happy. Riding a bike gives you the freedom that a 4-wheeler cant. You are trapped inside a moving box on 4 wheels. Feels so claustrophobic inside, and while driving there are more things on your mind, and you need to be attentive to all four corners of your car. 4-wheelers are not bad, they are much, much safer when it comes to bikes which are very risky and dangerous, and the probability of an accident is ten-fold.
Many parents prefer their kids do not ride bikes since its dangerous and cause much more harm as compared to them driving a car. Ive realized something that riding or driving is the most dangerous in our country, India. We do not have any road sense, we break the law at any given time if the traffic cop isn't around. We are habitual in breaking the law, like its in our genes to break the law and if caught, bribe our way out of it. But more than bribery, the bigger issue here is that why do we break the law so often, we do not decelerate while the signal changes from green to amber, we do not stop at a red signal, we do not give a turn indicator while changing lanes erratically.... Where is this behavior coming from???? We ride/drive in the wrong lanes causing discomfort to others, do not bother if pedestrians are crossing the road, not even at a zebra crossing. Its very irritating when the guy in front of you showers you with his saliva blessings and gives you a brand new look to your clothes. We just do not have any road nor civic sense, we just do not have any patience to let the other person go ahead, it is me who has to be ahead, not anybody else, this is the attitude of most motorists.
We do not realize that when we break the law its not us whose lives we put in danger, but putting other motorists / pedestrians at detrimental risk. The other day I came across a green signal and was to take a right turn, a car approached from the other side on a red signal, not wanting to wait, and then we were just close to kissing each other. But unfortunately the brakes were applied by both parties and we were denied a kiss. Damn... We both stopped and I went closer to the driver and told him " Boss, kiska signal hai" Whose signal is it???? I was so angry at him for not stopping at the red signal, that I wanted to bash him up and break his head. We both had to break hard to avoid a nasty collision, else it would have been much more worse. But then looking at the other passengers in the car I decided to move on. This guy was traveling with his family, and jumping the signal, putting not only his but also his family's life at risk.
I've been to a couple of countries where road sense is taken seriously and we Indians have a long way to get there. Its really beautiful to see drivers actually stopping to let pedestrians cross the road, keeping their distance from other vehicles, giving indicators when they change lanes and always stopping at a red signal. We need to inculcate good driving habits for our safety and that of the pedestrians. Somewhere our safety is not really as important as that of the pedestrians walking or other motorists on the road. But hopefully if we imbibe some road sense in our day-to-day driving / riding we could avoid the innumerable accidents that keep happening in our cities. All I can say is that patience is the one key thing which can help make us better drivers & riders. So lets enjoy our driving / riding and make it a safer place for other motorists and pedestrians. Drive safe.












