How to negotiate a signalised Delhi intersection (on a bike)

How to negotiate a signalised Delhi intersection (on a bike)

Jolisa

Cycle Action committee member Richard Barter was travelling in Delhi recently, and filed this excellent report on his adventures on two wheels. Thanks, Richard!

Note to readers: Do not try this at home! The writer takes no responsibility for copycat activities. The actions described below were by and large undertaken in full view of bored policemen who must have deemed the foreigner too poor (riding a tatty old roadster) to bother going to the effort of getting out of their shady spot and issuing a ticket with the hope of negotiating a lucrative financial outcome.

Not cool in hi viz. Richard Barter and his Delhi bike.
“Not cool in hi viz,” says Richard Barter, with his Delhi bike.

On being asked to do some work for TEAR Fund NZ I found myself once again commuting daily across Delhi from the guest house to a clinic … by bicycle. The journey was around 8kms each way, often in forty plus degrees Celsius (note to self, do not visit Delhi this time of year again!). Coming from Hillsborough where we can hardly even get to the dairy at the end of the street without climbing a hill, I was besotted with the flat terrain.

Drivers do not give way when entering the road from side streets or when negotiating a roundabout. They will viciously cut you off when passing to do a left turn. It is a non-stop game of chicken where one is engaged in constant calculations of trajectory, relative mass, speed, vehicle type, age and gender of surrounding motorists before making any moves. To make matters more exciting one must never look at one’s opponent: this results in having to back down. So you never know how close that bus travelling at high speed is to your rear.

Gaps between traffic are hotly contested by auto-rickshaw drivers, testosterone-filled young males on motorbikes, the odd cow, pedestrians and last but not least the humble cyclists. 3,000 people die on roads every day across India; 39% of whom are motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians. I didn’t see any road rage, though the buses were on strike for two days after a motorcyclist who was knocked down by a bus dragged the driver out and beat him to death!

Pedalling plants - there's not much you can't deliver by bike if you try.
Pedalling plants – there’s not much you can’t deliver by bike if you try.

Cyclists routinely ignore traffic lights and, on reflection, pretty much anything and everyone. After practicing by slipping in amongst others pedalling, I learned how one weaves through the big intersections by crossing wherever the traffic is stopped, then slipping back into the flow. This enables you to be on your way a couple of sequences earlier than everyone else. I got quite good at it, rarely had to stop at all. Thoughtfully, traffic lights are equipped with digital clocks that indicate how many seconds to go before the phase changes.

I enjoyed riding a single speed Hero bicycle, which was being one of three being thrown out by the British High Commission last year. I asked the Community Development organisation I work with to recover them and had them serviced. They are now used by staff who cannot afford their own. My Hero is an ESD model, which stands for “Extra Shiny Durability”, I kid you not. Once you’re up to speed, getting around is effortless – but it is the grunt required to get going that makes one very bloody-minded about not slowing down (or, heaven forbid, stopping) for anything.

Compared to sitting in gridlock that is associated with any motorised outing, cycling around Delhi has much to offer by way of entertainment, excitement, exercise and exhilaration.

– Richard Barter

This was before the reflector was knocked off by a gridlocked driver seeking revenge
“This was before the reflector was knocked off by a gridlocked driver seeking revenge.”

 

 

 

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