* Suresh Ramasubramanian [Wed, Jul 26, 2006 at 08:43:21PM +0530]: > Real motorcycles of the sort made by BMW, Ducati, Yamaha, Honda etc have > rather more powerful engines than that. Taking a powerful high speed > motorcycle down a freeway is rather more risky than putt-putting around > from Koramangala to MG Road on one in clogged bangalore traffic.
It is *highly* debatable, IMO, if "powerful engines" have much to do with why taking a high speed moto down a US freeway is more risky than driving a dinky hero honda on Indian streets. There are *plenty* of factors in play and I think one of the most signficant ones is this -- driver awareness. In India, most people are used to the idea of having motos around them whereas in North America, most people in "cages" (cars) haven't shared their roads with motorcyclists and thus just don't watch out for them and end up merging into them more often than you think really happens. Add to this other things like "target fixation" (which wouldn't really happen in bangalore traffic) and you soon realize that you could get screwed on even a dumpy motorcycle on US freeways and don't really need a ducati to kill yourself ... On that note, one amazing resource for moto safety is the MSF. http://www.msf-usa.org/ --ravi. -- Universities are places of knowledge. The freshman each bring a little in with them, and the seniors take none away, so knowledge accumulates.
