Biking at Night? 5 Ways to Ride Safely
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While the darkness of the night may spell great fear for some, it can signal an unmatched amount of fun and excitement to many others. If you’re a lover of bikes, speed and thrill, driving through the night can turn out to be one of your favourite adventures. The freedom of having roads relatively empty to your disposal, the option to speed higher than possible in the day and the enjoyment of the gush of wind along with the adrenalin rush is something that can be experienced only while riding at night.
However, it is going to be so only if you’re completely safe and you manage to complete your journey without fighting any undue troubles or meeting unfortunate injuries. In that regard, if you’re planning to indulge in a night ride with your gang, here are some ways to ensure that your experience is completely safe and nothing short of enthrallment.
- Ensure Perfect Lighting for Your Bike
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It’s quite intuitive to understand how vital lights are from a safety standpoint while driving at night. If you’re planning for a night ride, you must see to it that the lights of your bike are in perfect order, so that you always have good visibility of the road and other vehicles.
You can start by checking whether your illumination, especially that of the headlight is bright enough to light up the dark roads. If you have worn out bulbs, you need to replace them with ones having the right wattage before you head on to any night adventure. Additionally, if you desire to amplify your visibility further, you can also consider fitting in some auxiliary headlamps to support you along with the main one.
- Increase Your Visibility
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After lights, the next most important thing you need to be cautious about is increasing your visibility to others on the road. This can be made possible with the help of reflective biking gear and clothing. You can invest in reflective clothing that is available with most of the brands that sell biking apparels. Alternately, you can even fix some reflective tape to your riding gear such as helmet, jacket, gloves or pants. For instance, you could wrap some tape around the sleeve of your jacket or the length of your pants to reflect light. Thus, becoming more visible.
In addition to wearing reflective clothing, you can also stick on reflective tape or neon coloured strips to your bike’s parts such as wheel rims and body panels to make yourself and the bike more visible. Doing so can help to increase the chances of your safety by a significant extent.
- Choose the Correct Route
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It’s also helpful to pick a route that you’re familiar with, at least in the beginning. Because even your most acquainted route can appear unfamiliar at night.
Moreover, you should also pick routes that have better roads. Ideally, it is a safer bet that you stick to the trail centres on the road. That’s because the tracks are less likely to have stumps or rocks that could lead to a crash.
- Control Your Speed
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You might be a lover of speed and thrill and consider yourself as the most experienced biker with great eyesight. However, it’s crucial that you recognise the importance of practising self-caution and abiding by traffic laws even during the dark hours.
At all times, you must prioritise your safety and ride steadily and defensively. It is quite natural that at night, the degree of visibility is going to reduce. In that situation, you will need to be more careful when you try to overtake a vehicle and take turns. It’s also essential to be aware of the speed limit of the road you’re traversing through.
- Ride in A Group
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Riding in a group makes a lot of sense, both from the enjoyment and safety point of view. As the number of people increases with a group, the chances of being attacked by those having wrong objectives reduce significantly. Moreover, in case of any mechanical issue, there is help available instantly. It’s important that you leave and come back together. In case you get separated, it’s good to wait for your group for a few minutes and continue again when together. Besides that, being a part of a club or a group is always a good incentive and motivating factor to head out in the dark.
And Lastly, Make Sure You Have Comprehensive Bike Insurance Policy
Riding bikes at night can be risky to your and your bike’s life. At night due to low visibility, lack of traffic control and rash driving of heavy vehicles, the chances of accidents increase. Therefore, it is crucial to protect yourself and your vehicle of these mishaps.
The best way to do that is to buy a comprehensive 2-wheeler insurance policy. The policy covers you against the damages caused to your vehicle and any other third-party during an accident. As a result, buying 2-wheeler insurance will not only help you stay clear of financial troubles and road mishaps but also avoid any legal skirmishes. Moreover, purchasing long-term third-party liability cover (5 years) for two-wheelers is made mandatory by the Supreme Court from September 1, 2018.
In conclusion, we can say that riding at night is fun, but it is crucial that you be careful and attentive than you usually are in the day. So, follow this checklist and experience the joy of night riding at its best.