If you often find yourself riding in a congested traffic condition while commuting from home to work, there are different defensive riding strategies that will help you stay safe on the road. Before we proceed, always make sure to wear a branded premium motorcycle helmet because even the best strategies will not be enough to keep you safe if you are not already completely protected. In addition to the branded premium helmet, you must also wear all riding safety gears according to the weather condition to provide yourself the comprehensive protection against the dangers on the road. So, let's get started!
- Alertness and Observation is the key: Staying safe with the matter of being alert and observing everything that is evolving around you. The first thing that you must keep in mind is to be completely focused on the ride and not think of anything else that is not directly connected to your safety enter present moment. What are the riders behind you doing, how are the riders in front of you riding, is there enough space for you to squeeze through the tiny gaps in the traffic? Constantly ask yourself these questions and find for the best answer. In India, and many other Southeast Asian countries where the traffic is extremely high and congested, riders usually remove the rearview mirrors in order to leverage tiny gaps in the traffic- which is a bad decision- because removing the rearview mirror completely eliminates the only thing that allows you to keep an eye under conditions evolving behind you. Perhaps, a vehicle is approaching very fast and you suddenly decide to change the Lane without checking behind you! That can directly result in an accident, and to avoid that from happening, you need the rearview mirrors. Do not be distracted by listening to music in the modern Bluetooth enabled premium scooter and motorcycle helmets that facility is only to take calls on the go and stay focused on the road, not to listen to loud music!
- Anticipate and Pre-plan: Always anticipate how the situation might evolve in the short future. Keep an eye on the vehicle in front of you, especially on the direction of the front tires which allows you to make a calculated guess on which direction a vehicle is about to take. once you start to anticipate the behavior of the vehicles around you, you can plan evasive actions and stay safe even if the vehicles around you make a small decision error. Keeping the margin high for errors to happen is a smart way of preventing mishaps because we are all humans, and we are prone to making errors! On that note, never expect anybody else to compensate for your mistakes. Always make the right decisions after checking the conditions around you completely.
- Maintain following distances: Continuing from a previous point of keeping high margins of errors, always make sure to have enough distance between yourself and the vehicle in front of you. Perhaps the vehicle in front of you has to suddenly apply sharp brakes, and if you do not have enough gap in between yourself and the vehicle in front- the laws of physics dictate that you are going to find yourself plastered against the rear of the vehicle in front! Technically, this is known as tailgating, which is something you must always avoid especially at very high speeds. The momentum of the vehicle prevents it from stopping immediately and even if the surface on most advanced breaking technology, there are certain limits that technology cannot extend. A good rule of thumb to prevent the problem of tailgating is to keep at least one vehicle distance in front of you. If your motorcycle is 2 meters long, keep a gap of at least 2 meters in front of you at average speeds, and at least five times that at high speeds.
- High Visibility keeps you safe: Motorcycles are comparatively smaller than cars, buses and trucks - which makes it very difficult for other motorists to spot you especially in dark conditions will stop make yourself as brightly visible as possible by wearing brightly colored motorcycle riding gears including a neon yellow, or neon green jacket- ideally with reflective tapes attached on the backside of the jacket so that you light up brightly when a vehicle approaching from behind shines their headlights on you. This technique can be applied with the motorcycle branded premium helmet as well. Do not purchase a completely black helmet if you find yourself riding in the dark frequently. In addition to that, you must also signal your intentions very clearly in the dark and take decisions only after you are completely sure that the vehicles behind have spot you on the road.
- Single lanes, junctions and blind turns: The key to riding defensively on public roads is too completely eliminate the need for aggression. If you feel the need to race, taking the motorcycle to racing track and twist the throttle as much as you want, but not on public roads. When navigating junctions, or riding on single lanes, always are on the side of safety. Reduce the speed as much as possible keeping the overalls movement after traffic in mind, and double check everything before making Any maneuver.
