[1.2TSI7DSG]

Simple business rules aren't they? More because bikers have a high stop to fine conversion ratio.

A lot of bikers don't renew insurance, PUCs. Add to that helmet, silencers...

As the fines are minimal and a lot of the population can't even afford it (esp Daily wagers etc), a lot of the amounts (even 10s & 20s) are diverted to personal lives.

[Mr.Perera]

Completely agree to the fact that Motorcyclists are ill treated in India ! Especially if you are riding a KTM or any bigger bike. I see a big change in people's perception about bikers in the past 10 years in this country. During my initial riding years there used to be a respect towards bikers. Especially I remember 10 years back if you were riding a Yamaha R1, you were treated as a celebrity and people used to give a sort of respect to the machine and the rider. But today if you ride an R1, people look at you as if you are a criminal. I myself face this harassment every time I take my bike out. There have been many instances where I am waiting at a traffic signal, fully geared on my Tiger 800, and suddenly a cop comes, takes my key out and asks me to push my bike to the side and go meet the senior cop standing there. That too I was way within the speed limit. I had to face this just because I am in my 'racing' attire on a 'modified' bike ! I know many bikers here can relate to this. Just because of this reason I tend to take my car ofter than my bike.

Why is this happening to us all of a sudden ? If you ask me, there was a sudden surge of powerful bikes that came into out market in the last few years. And many teenagers buy these big bikes and ride like Hooligans on the streets. And the sheer amount of such 'squids' are increasing day by day. I remember I used to start riding on Hero Honda CD100, then upgraded to a pulsar, then a KTM Duke 200, then a multicylinder bike. But these days every teenager wants a 390 Duke once they turn 18. A less riding experience coupled with a powerful bike is the perfect recipe for a disaster ! People are fed up with all these accidents + the squids. Just because of this anyone riding a flashy bike is considered as an 'Illegal street racer'. In my opinion there needs to be an awareness created among parents and police. Parents needs to be told not to buy big powerful bikes to their teenager kids. They need to start from a less powerful bike, learn the basics and later climb up to a bigger bike. Also I wish like in the European countries our government should bring something like the A1, A2 and DAS license system. Also our Police needs to be made aware that everyone riding a bike with a helmet, jacket and glove is not a chain snatcher ! I remember I was once stopped by Bangalore cops around 8 years back because I was riding a Ninja 650 with a pillion who was wearing a helmet. According to them 2 people wear helmets when they are going for chain snatching ! And not to mention the constant stopping by cops because the headlight on the bike was ON ! I really wish the biking scene in India becomes more peaceful and we could enjoy the freedom on two wheels like the good old days.

[Yieldway17]

I will go against the grain and be that person. And I’m a rider myself first and driver next.

- It’s absolutely true that motorcyclists are discriminated by the traffic police, no questions about that. They are the ones getting stopped frequently and fined as well.

But I won’t agree they are bullied on the road. Maybe in few high speed roads but every city, town and village are ruled by them. I would say they are the ones who act like they own the roads.

- Park their motorcycles indiscriminately everywhere - footpath, active travel lane, shop fronts, road corners etc. others inconvenience be damned.
- Wrong way driving - 99% done and perpetuated by those on two wheels.
- Don’t know the concept of yielding or how to merge from side roads to main roads. Or coming out of petrol stations, shopping complexes etc. Most don’t even bother to look to the right to see what’s coming because in their mind, it’s the other person who have to yield. Cars are way better because of it’s hard to weasel out of situations in cars and not because they are better.
- Undertake/undercut when a bigger vehicle ahead is turning. This thing infuriates me to no extent as this literally happens 10s of times every single time I drive. A car turn a corner into a street or road and there will be someone on motorcycle undercutting you making you slam the brakes and making more motorcyclists undercut you.
- Overtaking on speed breakers and blocking opposite direction traffic. Literally happens every single time again. Slow down in a car for speed breaker in a narrow road and most motorcyclists won’t have patience to wait behind and will instead choose to overtake causing disruptions to opposite traffic.
- I can add keep adding more examples but you get the picture.

Again, I’m not saying drivers are inherently better than riders. In most cases, drivers are forced to drive sensible because of road or traffic conditions but that doesn’t apply to motorcyclists 99% of the time and they take advantage of that infuriatingly.

[jasjotbains]

A few reasons that come to my mind as I write this after returning from work

1. 2W rarely follow the rules. They'll turn anywhere, come in front of you without warning, have lights at high beam always, have loud silencers, i.e. they are more of a nuisance.

2. Bikers in riding gear means someone who will drive fast and probably bang into someone. Also, if you've decided to purchase an expensive 2W ride which could easily fetch a humble 4W, plus you've spent money on getting abnormal clothes, you won't mind shelling out a few bucks for the "chai paani" of traffic cops.

3. Speed - most bikes cannot keep up with cars, and end up becoming more of a traffic hazard. That is why they're not allowed on some stretches where fast moving traffic is there.

4. 2W riders are more likely to be without the required documents since "sasti vehicle hai"

[GutsyGibbon]

The whole notion of respecting someone based on what they ride or drive, or wear, needs to be challenged. One needs to be respected based on road manners, not the race track capability or the crash test rating of the vehicle. Yes, a TVS 50 and a Ferrari needs to legally share the road. As long as I ride my TVS 50 legally in my small piece of the road, the Ferrari needs to respect my right to use the road. I know I am being too idealistic. I was riding a KTM 390 from Mysore to Bengaluru last year (while it was raining), and I was reminded I had NO right to ride anywhere on the road , dozens of times by speeding Innovas and Fortuners. It was such a nightmare.

Any typecasting needs to be done with the total number of vehicles in mind. What is the total number of two wheelers, and how many of them ride like hooligans? Then, there is the absolute relative risk. What is the risk to the public from a TVS 50 on a footpath? Compared to an Innova/luxury cab being driven rashly on the wrong side, or over the speed limits - I would say the moped is an irritant, an inconvenience, not nightmarishly risky. IMHO, we are very much a class based society. A person driving a Mercedes/Fortuner is associated with a specific class, where the driver feels entitled be able to get away with it. This is while we hold the moped rider to a much higher standard. And when these 2 classes come together in a small skirmish, all hell breaks loose.

[rajeshkmoorthy]

Some of my thoughts on this:

All those restrictions boils down to two simple factors - Sheer Volume and Safety.

Since parking space are at a premium in star category hotels, they prefer to utilize those little available spaces to service cars. Atleast in Chennai, I have seen that two wheelers have a dedicated parking spots (mostly behind the hotels or a little far away inside the compound)

Reason why two wheelers are not allowed on express-ways might be because of safety. We all know that how the four+ wheelers ply on those open roads and how two wheelers, if allowed does not stick to one side of the road and rather spread across all the lanes irrespective of the speed that they are in. I myself has observed, atleast in Chennai (ORR and Chennai Bye-Pass), two wheelers never stick to the leftmost lane. I have seen people at speeds of 40 KMPH take the rightmost lane.

W.r.t cops stopping two wheelers, they are inclined towards tourers and more specifically people on high end bikes. Its kind of a perception with cops (I heard one saying this) that people owning high end bikes are by default law breakers.

All these needs to change if we want the hotels/cops/NHAI to be inclusive to two wheelers.

[bhansali_hardik]

It's simple, two wheelers were always at the bottom of the automobile food chain.

You buy 2 wheels and move on to 4 wheels. This is how it started a few generations back and so did the mentality of people everywhere.

Now, it's a double edged sword. I ride a ton and I can assure you there are enough number of people on two wheels who do not think any of the rules apply to them! (Same with the cyclists off-late! and then there will be a cyclist who would disagree with me as well, as they have a cycle as expensive as my bike!)

We all know the untold law of our land as well humesha galti badi gaadi waale kii hii hai
The whole move the things on 2 wheels away and corner them is kind of inbuilt into our system and the same thing was adopted easily by most of the 2 wheelers, for safety and fear!

If I ride on the NICE expressway in the left lane at triple digits, I will still have a car come behind me and honk. Why? Because the car driver expects me to ride on the shoulder!

Same thing continues on the traffic roads, where two wheelers just zip-zap zoom brushing the ORVMs of expensive cars and save time by cutting corners.

Don't believe me? Stop on a signal with a two wheeler where there is no free left, but there are no cops as well. Within a few minutes a two wheeler comes honks at you, curses you and gets going! I literally get yelled at to follow rules!

The two wheeler riders and their attitude towards rules. It's a chicken-egg story in my opinion and there is no way we can figure out.

[aashishnb]

It is a general tendency for classification / gentrification. It is not just with 2-wheelers.

Many office buildings & hotels will not allow a rickshaw to drop someone - even if it is raining incessantly. Same with 2 wheelers. This is pure discrimination. An employee should get wet in the rain or face the heat in Summers if getting dropped in a 'low class' vehicle as compared to a taxi.

Some places is more safety related and understandable - to take Mumbai examples - not allowing 2-wheelers on expressways & Bandra Worli Sea Link is perhaps more to do with safety, given the speed at which the cars go, 2-wheelers are at a risk.
At the same time, not allowing on JJ Flyover is not really digestible.
In fact, on the new Elevated road to the airport from the Western Express Highway, I think even goods vehicles and trucks are not allowed in addition to bikes & rickshaws.

[Rathore_13]

Originally Posted by Abhi5868

What I found even more peculiar is that even the bigger bikes have to face the same ordeal

Actually the opposite is true in my experience. The bigger the bike, the better the treatment. On local rides or cross-country, I and my fellow Harley riders have been treated kindly by hotels and police. Five stars usually provide exclusive parking and will post a guard on request. Small hotels will go the extra mile even beyond the hospitality of five stars.

Chandigarh Marriott & Lalit often provide special parking for bikes on local rides or late night coffee shop visits.

Apart from one odd incidence, most cops are usually well behaved.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by GTO

• On a highway drive this weekend, there was a check naka where everyone was let through, except 2-wheelers, 3/4th of whom were asked to stop by the police.

• 2-wheelers aren't allowed on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

• 2-wheelers aren't allowed on nice roads, even within the city. E.g. The Sealink in Bombay, or the JJ Flyover.

• Wear riding gear & a helmet and the cops automatically think you are a "racer".

• Hotels? I have heard of 2-wheelers having trouble entering 5-star properties. Not to mention, there is no valet facility, right?

Why all this discrimination toward our 2-wheeler brothers?

This is not discrimination IMO.

Even if a large number of two wheelers are stopped by the cops, the legal action is by the (lack of) documents and not by discrimination. Also, on that specific day, the cops may be looking for a stolen bike or a criminal reported to be on a bike.

Two wheelers aren't allowed on Pune Mumbai Expressway. Would you like to allow them?

5 star hotels: I have been to so many of them, riding a two wheeler. On a working day when you are going there for business purpose, riding a bike / scooter saves a lot of time in a city like Pune. But all these hotels always had good parking facility for two wheelers. And why do we need a valet parking for a two Wheeler? Anyway, if you don't have time to park, you can request them., they shall oblige I think. Or give them a tip of Rs. 20 (in Pune), which many of us also give for a valet car parking.

[sodapop]

I am shocked at simply how so many members are blatantly passing off judgements against bikers.

Saying that 2W riders are a nuisance is like saying women can't drive! There are bad drivers in general. Doesn't matter if you put them on an Activa or in a GLS. So what I think is instead of classifying people into stereotypes purely based on what vehicles they drive, we should work towards creating awareness, better enforcement of the rules and stricter driving tests

[dhanushs]

This is very true. I recently bought a TVS nTorque - a 2 wheeler after a long time. With helmets and masks on, and no face seen outside, the feedback of even people you know is surprising until you take the mask & helmet off. Whereas, you come, even in a fully tinted 4 wheeler, they are cool. Ditto with cops too.

Like discussed above. I think this has mainly got to do with the fact that a major % of two wheeler owners are looked down upon by the majority of the society and, if you get a fancy bike you are judged in the teenage category.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by Mr.Perera

I remember I was once stopped by Bangalore cops around 8 years back because I was riding a Ninja 650 with a pillion who was wearing a helmet. According to them 2 people wear helmets when they are going for chain snatching !

This had me laughing. As accurate as the police officer may be, what's a law abiding citizen who wears pillion helmet supposed to do.

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by GTO

Leaving aside how they are bullied by larger vehicles on the road,

The vast majority of bikers follow no lane discipline, weave in and out of traffic, veer into other motorists' lanes without giving a damn about where there's another vehicle alongside and they're the ones that are bullied?

If there's an incident involving a car and a bike the car owner's almost always considered to be at fault, especially by the mob that gathers within seconds.

Originally Posted by GTO

I find the authorities' attitude toward 2-wheelers to be quite sad.

Me too, but not for the same reason you do, I suspect.
Every day, I'll see literally dozens of bikes either:

• Riding the wrong way down a one-way street.
• Riding on the wrong side of the road.
• Parking on the pavement.
• Parking in no-parking zones
• Riding helmetless.
• Riding 3 or more to a bike.
• Running red lights, even at major intersections.
• Bullying cars
• Lane discipline? You must be joking.
• Threading their way through cars at a red light, scratching cars, damaging mirrors, and then bolting.

... and the cops usually turn a blind eye to ALL of it.
Just yesterday I was stopped at a red light and three bikes that are alongside me wait for a break in traffic and run the red light. This is a major 5-way intersection and the vehicles coming from the opposite direction that had the right of way had to take avoiding action.
There are three cops AND cameras at this intersection, so I asked the cops why don't prosecute this kind of behavior, and I was asked by the cops to mind my own business.

Originally Posted by GTO

• Hotels? I have heard of 2-wheelers having trouble entering 5-star properties. Not to mention, there is no valet facility, right? Some people have written about not being allowed to park in restaurant lots.

This, I'll grant you - this is blatant discrimination and should be called out. I can understand if the valet can't park bikes (not everyone who knows how to drive a car knows how to ride a bike), but at least allow them to park on the premises the same way that cars do.

[viscosity]

I have driven both 2W and 4W in Bangalore and I can vouch for this difference in treatment from my personal experience. In my 10 years of 4W driving in Bangalore, I have never been stopped by a cop (may be i just got lucky). While for a limited, occasional driving on my 2W, I have been stopped and asked for documents couple of times.

As fellow members have mentioned, this is because of reasons related to and perception around two wheeler drivers.