Having spent nearly six months here, on and off, over the past year, the traffic still fascinates me.
For every car, there must be 1000 motorcycles....or approximately 2 for every grain of sand on the Earth. Chaos rules...mostly. Sometimes even chaos gives up. The only road 'rules' that seem to be adhered to...occassionally....are the traffic lights.
For the most part, progress is slow, or worse. The painted lines separating lanes are treated as a monorail between the lanes it demarcates, and bikes constantly swarm around filling any space larger than your hand.
Whilst 99% of the bikers are very clearly suicidal, I had never seen an accident..until this morning....
I'm not sure what precipitated the event, but it occurred in the bus lane. The bus lane is curbed to deter traffic from using it. It's not clear whether bikes are officially allowed to use the lane, but most mornings they can be seen riding 6 or 7 abreast behind the bus.
This morning it would appear that one of these bikes via'd to the left without warning. Nothing particularly unusual about that, but his time something went wrong. Maybe his passenger overbalanced him or maybe the rider to his left was looking the other way at the time, who knows. But the end result was a bike hitting the deck being struck by a second bike which also toppled over.
Everyone stopped... Those in the cars watched on. A few bikers dismounted to help the fallen to their feet and help pick up the bikes. All were help to the side of road. In the aftermarth, only one person seemed to be in pain - the rider who had via'd left. He seemed winded and had evidently hurt his leg somehow. His suit trousers weren't obviously torn so perhaps he'd just fallen awkwardly.
Whilst the injured rider catches his breath and rocks back and forth in pain, normal chaos resumes. The helpers remount and speed off into the distance, evidently relishing having a clear road for a few hundred metres.
For every car, there must be 1000 motorcycles....or approximately 2 for every grain of sand on the Earth. Chaos rules...mostly. Sometimes even chaos gives up. The only road 'rules' that seem to be adhered to...occassionally....are the traffic lights.
For the most part, progress is slow, or worse. The painted lines separating lanes are treated as a monorail between the lanes it demarcates, and bikes constantly swarm around filling any space larger than your hand.
Whilst 99% of the bikers are very clearly suicidal, I had never seen an accident..until this morning....
I'm not sure what precipitated the event, but it occurred in the bus lane. The bus lane is curbed to deter traffic from using it. It's not clear whether bikes are officially allowed to use the lane, but most mornings they can be seen riding 6 or 7 abreast behind the bus.
This morning it would appear that one of these bikes via'd to the left without warning. Nothing particularly unusual about that, but his time something went wrong. Maybe his passenger overbalanced him or maybe the rider to his left was looking the other way at the time, who knows. But the end result was a bike hitting the deck being struck by a second bike which also toppled over.
Everyone stopped... Those in the cars watched on. A few bikers dismounted to help the fallen to their feet and help pick up the bikes. All were help to the side of road. In the aftermarth, only one person seemed to be in pain - the rider who had via'd left. He seemed winded and had evidently hurt his leg somehow. His suit trousers weren't obviously torn so perhaps he'd just fallen awkwardly.
Whilst the injured rider catches his breath and rocks back and forth in pain, normal chaos resumes. The helpers remount and speed off into the distance, evidently relishing having a clear road for a few hundred metres.
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