[adisan]

A different perspective: in city traffic, there are genuinely many times when a two-wheeler can move ahead faster than bigger vehicles. Many bikers are looking for that small gap in between two bigger vehicles. It is when they feel held up for an extended period without a gap that they tend to get over-zealous. I try to give that space occasionally when moving in traffic, by going a bit easy on the accelerator. Most of the time, when other bikers behind notice that I try to make way for them to pass, they are more patient. When waiting at a signal also I leave a slight gap from the vehicle ahead.

There are two other challenges posed by bikers:
[1] After passing ahead of another vehicle they immediately cut in front of the vehicle they have passed.
[2] If they see an obstacle - a slow-moving vehicle or pedestrian or a pothole - they will just cut in front of other vehicles.
For these two, only attention and anticipation works, I have to brake at times.

[DicKy]

Aah, my pet peeve. So much so, that I am borderline hating on two wheelers at present. Insert the old 'i am stupid' emoji'. Leave that aside, since I don't want to veer terribly off-topic.

You can't. Really.
I see BHPians advising to drive in the middle lane. Well, in my place it is all undivided narrow roads. Even if you drive carefully in a defensive manner, some Activa with metal protective exoskeleton and open side footstep will manage to scratch you. Ofcourse, ORVM hits have become a normal occurence and not at all bothered by them now. Unless the mirror is broken.

The Etios Cross suggestion really made me Used to hate these cross/X/active stuff, but after the first few months in our Etios, I wished I had gone for the Etios Cross.

Suggestions

1. Drive mindful of all two wheelers. Will need experience, but you maybe able to predict their movements and manoeuvre in advance. Either give them a wide berth or don't leave gaps in stop-go traffic. It is against driving rules/etiquette, but if you leave enough gaps in stop-go traffic they will wiggle through.

2. Thar, old school SUVs, pickups, Sierras with truck ORVMs are all suggestions that come to mind. But, not practical. Almost like you have to sacrifice good handling/comfort/FE to get cars that are bike-proof. Add to that modern BoF SUVs themselves have smooth bodywork nowadays. On the other hand, most of the modern budget echuvees (crossovers) have a liberal application of claddings, black bumpers. So more or less the same.

3. The reason why we are pissed off is that most of the scratches happen due to no fault of ours and more so due to the negligence/ego of strangers. Just accept it, and treat the bumpers and bodywork as it is. External stuff designed to protect you and the car's internals.

4. Have a car that has good supply of spare parts and a good insurance policy. Once in a couple of years, use the insurance to get stuff repaired in one go or in phases.

[PrasadS]

A Pet Peeve for many of us, who take extra care of our four-wheeled babies.
If only we could treat our cars as Chariots and have all weapons protruding out from the edges(mad max style) to deter people coming inside of our perceived protective bubble!

The bikers i hate the most are the ones riding near the shoulder on the first lane and trying to overtake between the car and the divider. That space i have kept for emergency maneuvers and avoidance but is not being respected.

On a different note, i have observed that I sub-consciously tend to steer and stay away from cars which are visibly beat up a lot ( Regular offenders is what my mind screams out). Can the forum bikers comment if they do the same when they are on their bikes?
I'd be a good experiment to drive 2 cars on the road, a visibly beat up car with dents and scratches and another an almost new car, and see how the traffic behaves around these 2 cars. Depending on the results, I'll decide to repair the dents and scratches or not and voilà~ we have a bike-proof car.

[pyrodrive]

Interesting discussion. I would like to add one thing here..when I park at the hospital where I work, I always keep my rear view mirrors open unlike most of the other folks who keep them folded. Reason is, I would rather take a hit there than have someone leave a big scratch on the sheet metal of the doors. Going for the lesser evil I guess
Other than that, I also drive an older model thar with negative alloys( wheels protrude a bit out of bodyline), older metal bumpers and sidesteps. So it is inherently bike proof. It gives me a lot of peace of mind in rush hour traffic compared to the shiny sedan. Only saving grace there is the LOUD vw/ audi horn. One blast at close quarters can startle a biker who is about to kiss the bumper

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

Interesting discussion. I would like to add one thing here..when I park at the hospital where I work, I always keep my rear view mirrors open unlike most of the other folks who keep them folded. Reason is, I would rather take a hit there than have someone leave a big scratch on the sheet metal of the doors. Going for the lesser evil I guess

Just what my father advises. ORVMs are cheaper and easier to replace. Ofcourse, with modern ORVMs getting more and more expensive, it is less of a moot point.

I do sometimes fold the ORVMs when parked by the side of old narrow/unscientific roads. Reason being pedestrians may have to step onto the traffic flow to avoid the ORVMs (even slightly) and also the turn indicator lense in my right ORVM is broken ( guessed it right. Thanks to a suicidal two wheeler ) and may hurt or catch the clothes of pedestrians.

[BhaskarG]

Originally Posted by PrasadS

On a different note, i have observed that I sub-consciously tend to steer and stay away from cars which are visibly beat up a lot ( Regular offenders is what my mind screams out). Can the forum bikers comment if they do the same when they are on their bikes?
I'd be a good experiment to drive 2 cars on the road, a visibly beat up car with dents and scratches and another an almost new car, and see how the traffic behaves around these 2 cars. Depending on the results, I'll decide to repair the dents and scratches or not and voilà~ we have a bike-proof car.

A overly beat-up car is a different chapter altogether. You do not care anymore about dents and scratches. If your car has not yet got its first dent/scratch, till then you dread it more. Once it gets dented, you slowly do not care anymore.

[Carpainter]

I ride bike myself sometimes but I just don't understand the mentality of general bikers who are always in a hurry and ride like a snake. Well not all but atleast 50-60% may be. What I fear most is their habit to carry a spare helmet in the rear grab handle (grab rail whatever it's called) and still try to squeeze through very narrow space in between cars or try to overtake when there's no space. No amount of body cladding will save your car if a dangling helmet seduce your car at the waist line. Bumper protectors? I have them and they did save me on some occasions but not always effective. There's only so much you can do. Best practice is once so much scars have been accumulated not just from bikers but also from other cars parked side by side and doors opened unmindfully or some kid made your car body his latest canvas to etch out his latest skills, give it for repair or repaint and move on.

[any23]

The one and only way is to drive carefully, I have a habit of keep scanning surroundings of the car using all available mirrors to make sure I am aware of any reckless driver in close proximity be it moped-auto-car-bus-truck and I always make sure I give pass to such people. When we are moving on the road there is nothing we can do about others driving habits and behaviors, all that is in our hands is to be careful, defensive and let the others in hurry to go ahead. To say the least I have just one dent(very minor) in my car that too just because someone else didn't know how to park and open doors while parked around other cars. Yesterday while dusting my car noticed one scratch on my cars boot, then suddenly I recollected that the other day that lady (wearing bangles) was standing with her hands rested on my car's boot when I parked my car at the spot, my fault as in general I don't take my car to that saloon due to parking constraints at that location but that day I did.

As very well said by senior Bhpian GTO, it is very important to know how and where to park, I always make sure I am parking at the right spot and if I get a feeling that I have not parked at a suitable spot I do not feel bad to find any other parking spot, my wife is now very well used to this habit of mine, would like to take this opportunity to share one incident when my friend parked in a no-parking zone at Sinquerim beach and his brand new car was scratched on entire periphery by the property owner let aside the scene created by her at the spot when we were on our Goa tour back in Jan-2021. On the same trip a day before when he just parked on left lane of the road blocking traffic I told him in India parking is gold dust we must make sure to park our cars carefully at right spots.

Then there was this incident (out of several) when I just collected my car from 3M and headed for a movie show, parked at a spot in Prasad's Hyderabad parking, as we were early we thought it is better to wait in the car, within 10 minutes one uncle with his family parked on left side of my car and boom he opened his driver side door in my cars left fender, luckily there was no dent or scratch, I just got down and asked uncle to be careful and he was all novice telling nothing happened, his son then came out and said dad it was your fault. I took my car out of that space and parked at much safer spot.

I have a habit to scan the parking lots and look for spots where people have parked their cars properly in the marked areas and I park at the spot only when I can ensure that I can maintain proper distance from other cars, I always prefer spots where at one side of car some pillar, wall or any object that deter others to park at that side.

I agree with the point made that car type matters too from hatchback to sedan to SUV, I feel it sends some message to other drivers. I was bumped several times in my Polo but never till date in my Rapid, may be never if I buy a SUV or cars mentioned by senior Bhpian GTO.

Overall, from my experience till date I have learnt that we can not always control what is happening around us, cars will get scratches & dents (battle scars) if taken out on road no matter how good we take care of our cars.

[Miyata]

I now treat these as karmic debts! Get some body works every so often and try not to lose the mind over them.

• These are totally unavoidable - I once had a delivery scooter scratch my car as he haphazardly drove through the basement parking lot in the apartment complex! On other occasions, he surely would have left his marks on other cars as well.
  
• In Vidyaranyapura, a dude rams his car into my passenger side door as he was turning in from a peripheral road to the main road! While he was apologetic and ready to compensate, his dad was trying to bully his way around!
  
• Many in this country do not understand / appreciate the concept of right of way. One can reduce the chances of two- and three-wheeler scratches by (almost) always yielding the right of way.
  
• Your concept will eventually expand from bike-proof to three-wheeler proof, private-bus proofing, Indian road conditions proofing, other car proofing, and on and on! Luckily enough though, they all share the same solution set.

[Shan_Kmu]

Practically you can't bike/scratch proof your car. Forget while driving, even if your car is stationary either in apartment parking or road side, chances of bikers/pedestrians trying to squeeze through are high.

A ring or watch in one's hand is enough to make a hairline scratch in car's body if comes to contact.

My 5 year old Bolero will have at least one new hairline scratch each time after driving in city/town traffic. So I always stick to the right most lane in traffic (next to the median) to avoid any contact. Kind of defensive driving, helps sometimes

[ohaak]

My tactic is to make sure that there is enough space for bikers to sneak by whenever I stop at a traffic signal. They will invariably try to squeeze through and if there is enough space, you can at least avoid some scratches. Similarly on the right most lane, make sure that there is enough space for a biker when you have stopped.

[dsuman]

Bikers are wary of Big and Muscular cars. My personal experience. My Quanto or Nexon never have Bikers induced love bites. But Vento, Santro and Grand i10 do not bother the bikers.

The best way to protect is to first think from a Bikers perspective. If a big/higher vehicle hits someone, most probably they would fall under and a low slung car hitting would make them fall over the bonnet.

I have done the following

1. Quanto - Installed front and rear Bullbars. I know they are illegal, so is damanging someones beloved property.
2. Nexon - Side footsteps ensures bikers stay away. No Bullbars installed.
3. Grand i10 NIOS - Installed rear bullbar and side door strips.

[Slowjet]

Bikers => At best, they are nuisance on the road and at worst, they are curse on the road
Wouldn't say anything about riding since everyone knows it. However, even the parking skills will drive others crazy for example, they will park the bike parallel to where your front right bumper ends and the handle bar is turned to left. How are you expected to drive out your car. Similarly they will park at the rear of your car which will be perpendicular to the path. So you can't take reverse. This is in spite of the fact that the entire area is empty. They seem to have moral responsibility, obligation, duty and right to block others

[akshye]

In my office commute, I get stuck in traffic jams very frequently - like 9 times a week. My technique is,

1. I leave a sufficient gap on one side (either left or right based on the lane I'm in) for bikers to use. This way, I have to focus on only one side for "bike-proofing".
2. I leave a large space in front for bikers to overtake my car, before I close the gap (to stop cars/buses from occupying that space). If a biker is unsure if (s)he should overtake using the gap, I blow the horn and sign them to overtake me.

I always let bikers overtake me, because they don't stay ahead of me for much longer. Let the fast movers, in the traffic jams, go through. The sooner they clear the lane, the faster the lane becomes. That helps improve the average speed of the entire lane.

[BhaskarG]

Originally Posted by Slowjet

However, even the parking skills will drive others crazy for example, they will park the bike parallel to where your front right bumper ends and the handle bar is turned to left. How are you expected to drive out your car. Similarly they will park at the rear of your car which will be perpendicular to the path. So you can't take reverse.

I would not use strong words, but above portion is so true specially in busy market areas. I had experienced it frequently in my early driving days. Nowadays I just avoid parking my car in such dense areas. If need be, I'll park at a safe place, and then walk to my destination. Or if the road allows, I will try not to parallel park. This ensures no biker parks in front/behind bumpers.

And when I do ride, I take care when I park my bike. I make sure that I do not squeeze my bike in between the bumpers of 2 parallel parked cars. But I have this concern because I also drive a car, and know how hard it will be for the owner to take out the car. But in case of most bikers who do not own/drive a car, they do not understand this, and hence they exhibit the behaviour we see.