10 reasons why supercars and superbikes are so COMPLICATED to drive on Indian roads
Thanks to the ever-increasing purchasing power and the availability of many supercars and superbikes in the market, there’s a huge increase in the number of first-time buyers of highly powerful machines. But, as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. Sadly, however, driving supercars or riding motorcycles in India is not the easiest of jobs for many. Allow us to explain!
Driving a Tata Nano isn’t the same as driving a Lamborghini
Like we said, there are many first-time buyers of supercars in India. Mostly, these people have been driving for a long time, but the cars they’ve driven are nowhere as powerful as a supercar. Hence, they simply don’t have the skill to handle them. In India, anyone who has a valid driving license can legally drive any supercar. Unfortunately, there are no licensing standards for higher powered vehicles, which means that supercars and superbikes often land up in the hands of drivers and riders who are incapable of handling these vehicles. Hence, there should be a proper licensing standard for using such vehicles. Owners should be trained to handle so much power before they actually start driving supercars or superbikes on public streets.
Lack of awareness
Other than the lack of special licensing standards, there’s often a complete lack of awareness on the part of first-time supercar and superbike users. They really don’t know that they might lack the skill to handle such extremely powerful vehicles. There have been cases of rich parents buying superbikes and supercars for their children. Unfortunately, neither the parents nor the children are aware of the sheer dangers involved in using such extremely powerful vehicles. Again, proper training should be given to new supercar and superbike users to ensure they are at least somewhat competent to handle the machines before venturing out on public roads.
Indian roads have way more uncertainty than those in the West
First, these vehicles are hard to control. On top of it, our roads are full of so many uncertainties and unanticipated obstacles. Any modern superbike or supercar can attain speeds of more than 100 kmph in less than 5 seconds. Add another 10 seconds, and they’ll fly past 200 kmph. Further, these vehicles don’t feel stressed at this speeds, which helps them mask all that pace. That said, it’s humanly impossible to take corrective measures quickly. Things can go really wrong when a pothole suddenly appears in front of you. In worst case scenarios, there could be cattle running across the road. Hence, the uncertainty offered by our roads make it really tough to handle supercars and the superbikes.
Supercars have very poor side/rear visibility
To make things worse, supercars usually have poor side or rear visibility. Like we said, our roads are highly unpredictable and there can be situations when the driver needs to make a sudden steering correction or apply brakes. However, supercars often have poor rear or side visibility. With these cars, form rules over function. These cars often offer poor side and rear visibility, which makes it even tougher to handle them properly on our roads.
Lack of tracks to exercise the true potential of these cars/bikes
Supercars and superbikes are meant to be used on purpose-built racing tracks. If nothing else, such tracks help the driver/rider develop skills to handle these highly powerful machines, Sadly, there’s an utter lack of racing tracks in India. Except for the Buddh International Circult in Great Noida and a couple of tracks and closed air strips in South India, there’s really no place where you can hone your driving or riding skills.
Lack of adequate training facilities
A lack of racing tracks also leads to a lack of supercar and superbike training academies, where owners of these powerful vehicles can train themselves. There are many buyers who buy a highly powerful vehicle and try to develop their driving or riding skills on public roads. Of course, it’s all too dangerous, both for the owners and other road users. Hence, it will be correct to say that buying these vehicles in India is still easy. It’s learning to handle them that’s a real challenge.
Poor law enforcement in India
Another factor that makes owning these machines a bit difficult is the poor enforcement of laws. Of course, it’s the duty of the users to make sure they drive/ride within speed limits and follow all the traffic rules. However, with no fear of getting caught by cops, it’s easy to get carried away. There have been many cases of supercar/superbike riders losing their lives owing to the loss of control at illegally high speeds. Better law enforcement is essential to make sure all superbike and supercar riders adhere to laws.
Too many idiots on the road who challenge/harass supercar/superbike owners
Supercars and Superbikes are still a rarity in India. There are many road users who get overexcited when they see these machines. They often try to come too close to the vehicle and take selfies with it. While the excitement is quite understandable, it can cause a lot of inconvenience to the supercar/superbike owner. Also, all the excitement can make other road users commit some silly mistake and crash into your supercar or superbike. Trust us, handling so much attention is definitely not easy.
Public always blames superbike/supercar owners
There are times when a less powerful and cheaper vehicle crashes into your supercar and superbike. In spite of not being at fault, people often blame the supercar/superbike rider for the mishap. Even if some idiot crashes into a supercar due to his or her negligence, the user of the high-performance machine could be lynched by an angry mob. This is another factor that makes owning these machines really tough.
Low speed limits
Another factor that makes things really hard for supercar and superbike owners is the low-speed limit of most Indian roads. In spite of the roads getting wider and the vehicles getting better, speed limits at many places haven’t been increased. While we totally agree cars shouldn’t be allowed to run at really high speeds, doing 40 kmph on a superbike or a supercar gets really tough. As these machines are ‘over-speeding’ almost 9 out of 10 times, they’re blamed and even fined for speeding.
