Mirzapur Motorcycling

I was afraid to venture out on the crowded streets with the rented motorcycle. I imagined that I would turn the wrong way when approaching other vehicles head on. Negotiating a right hand turn across oncoming traffic was probably my biggest fear. Right hand turns are the equivalent of left hand turns here. There are no stop lights, traffic police, stop signs or even yield signs.
The traffic is 90% bicycles. The rest is a mix of motorcycles, pedestrians, mule carts loaded with goods or people and an odd car or jeep. Mirrors are not used. The motorcyclists and cars that do have them bend them in so they don’t get knocked off while squeezing through traffic. Horns are used instead. You always have the right of way in the lead. The right of way over smaller vehicles that are being overtaken is gained by blowing the horn. When they hear a horn behind them, they move a little to the left to give the overtaking vehicle a bit of room.
There are no lane markings, or center line. The traffic sometimes takes the entire road going in one direction. Approaching from the other direction is daunting. All they can do is stay to the left and slow down to give the approaching traffic time to move over enough to allow the vehicle to squeeze by. Sometimes they’ll be on the oncoming side while the oncoming traffic is on their’s. Everyone does a quick twist of the bars to swing to the left to get out of the way. The cars constantly blow their horns and do a slalom more or less down the center of the road. Its amazing that they don’t hit any one as they appear to be heading straight on into an impassible mass of traffic. At the last split second a gap always forms just wide enough to allow it to pass. They constantly miss each other by inches.
It is not so bad as it sounds. The speeds are quit low especially in heavy traffic. I saw one accident. The motorcycles just fell over and the riders stayed on their feet.
So I ventured out on the 125 Yamaha 4 stroke single. It seemed like 900 single, relative to the road conditions. The torque is very high. I was in 3 gear by 15km/hr. There was plenty of power even from a low idling rpm. The steering was very quick. Within the first 100 meters I realized why they designed the steering that way. It facilitates fast swerves to miss on coming traffic, cows goats children etc.
I was on my side of the road when a clutch of traffic headed towards me. A motorcycle broke form the group and moved to my side. I was unsure of what to do. I decided I better go straight so that my movement would be predictable. It worked ! he passed by me on my left, the wrong side by Indian standards. My mistake was leaving enough room on the left for him to pass on the wrong side. Leaving a gap usually means that you want to cross the oncoming traffic; a right turn; or like a Canadian left turn.
For right turns and pulling out in traffic, you usually just pull out in front of smaller vehicles and everyone congenially makes room for you. Its like “just close your eyes and pray”. Its amazing how relaxed everyone is. No road rage. Indians are patient people.
After a couple of kilometers, I felt right at home. Maybe more like a bike courier in downtown Vancouver traffic, or riding a motorcycle through a pedestrian mall blowing your horn as you go. The road opened up and I finally got an opportunity to get into top gear and add some power. I got up to about 50 km/hr and felt I was being a bit reckless and immediately dropped back to a sane 40 or so. On the highway one of the professional drivers we had once hit about 60 km/hr.
I am relaxing this afternoon in the hot sun and probably won’t venture out again today after a ½ hour ride this morning. Time to go for a walk with Judy. Love from India.