Bikers: What is your risk perception of riding in India?

Forget being almost completed unprotected on a motorcycle, I have resolved to buy only 4 or 5-star rated GNCAP cars for myself from now on.

GTO shared this with other enthusiasts.

I love motorcycles. I cherish riding a liter bike. I don't understand them nearly as well as I do cars, but I'll never say no to taking a spin on a friend's bike, or renting one. Cars might be in my blood, but motorcycles do hold a special place in my heart.

Being candid here, the sole reason I don’t already have a motorcycle parked down my house is safety (or the lack of). Indian roads have dismally poor road manners and all it takes is one distracted autorickshaw or unskilled car driver (we encounter both types on every city drive) to cause an accident. Indian roads are the deadliest in the world & we have the dubious distinction of having the highest accident fatality rate in the world! There are way too many morons to share our roads with and a car will give me 100X the protection of a motorcycle against these idiots. As if to make matters worse, post-accident healthcare is painfully distant in India; way too many injured people die waiting for the ambulance / hospital.

I was once going to buy a used R6. It was more or less a done deal. No more. I will NEVER own a motorcycle in India. At best, I would go for organised track days or occasionally borrow a bike to get my fix. In the USA, a biker is 35 times more likely to die in a crash than a car driver; am sure in India, that number is more like 50 - 100 times likelier.

Heck, forget being almost completed unprotected on a motorcycle, I have resolved to buy only 4 or 5-star rated GNCAP cars for myself from now on. On a bike, you have zero protection, but even in a zero-rating car like the S-Presso, the protection level is 100 times that of a motorcycle. And I would refuse to take an S-Presso on the highway...a motorcycle is a distant dream.

Have seen way too many sob stories from motorcyclists, known & unknown. Know of too many deaths or permanent injuries. My tolerance for pain is very low, even a minor muscle pull bothers me if it affects my daily routine. The thought of not being able to care for my family scares the heck out of me. Bikers can joke about the "cage" all they want, but when that cage protects me in a crash, I'll be the one laughing the hardest. Another reason I don't ride more often is because I don't miss it all that much = driving (a car) gives me 100% pleasure. Am lucky to be in a position where I can redline every new car launched in India, and have some nice cars in my own garage.

My question to the bikers of Team-BHP is this = how do you perceive the risk level of riding in India? Do you think the risk is acceptable? Or high? I can understand the guy with a 50,000 - 1 lakh rupee budget not having the choice of a 4-wheeler (cars cost a lot more to run too), but the enthusiasts riding bigger bikes surely have the automotive choice. Are you okay with the risk? Does it play on your mind when you are out riding? Doesn't it bother you that your body / spine could snap like a toothpick in even a medium-level crash? And if the answer is yes, how do you justify riding then? Not ridiculing at all = a genuine question.

How many BHPians have resisted buying a motorcycle for the same reasons as me? As the famous saying goes:

Motorcycling, is not, of itself inherently dangerous. It is, however, extremely unforgiving of inattention, ignorance, incompetence, or stupidity

Not to mention, unmarked speed breakers, mechanical failures, tyre bursts, drunk drivers, jaywalkers, animals running on the road...

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