Emergency braking is an essential riding skill that every motorcyclist out on the streets should master. Even the most skilled riders who practise utmost caution while riding on the streets cannot entirely account for what’s beyond their control. An emergency may present its ugly face to you in the form of a stray animal springing out of the bushes, a car swerving into your lane without warning, or even a pedestrian springing onto the road right in front of your motorcycle. Therefore, it is imperative to learn the skill of bringing your steed to a halt in the shortest, safest distance possible as you react to an emergency. It is also equally important to train your body and mind to go through the process of emergency braking so that it doesn’t come across as too extreme an act when the situation calls for it. This article will discuss some valuable tips and tricks to help you bring your motorcycle to a halt quickly and safely when the situation demands it without notice.
While emergency braking as a skill is essential to be mastered, one must strive to ride in a manner where it’s never required to be put to use. Actively looking out for danger and taking steps to avert any possible hazards on the road should be one’s primary strategy. So, before we talk about emergency braking tips and techniques, some quick refresher tips about avoiding such emergencies altogether are in order. Here are some quick tips on things you can do to avert emergency braking situations on the street.
1. Keep safe distance
Keeping a safe distance from vehicles ahead and around you is essential to allow yourself sufficient braking distance and improve your vision. Apart from reducing the available braking distance, trailing a big vehicle severely diminishes your vision. It is, therefore, always advisable to keep a safe distance from vehicles ahead of you and position yourself on the road in a manner such that you can clearly see far ahead and always have the bandwidth to stop or take evasive action in a timely manner.
2. Actively lookout for possible hazards
Keep your frontal and peripheral vision sharp and alert at all times. Always make an extra effort to sense danger in advance. Be extra cautious while passing through crossroads, populated areas, cuts in medians or while traversing roads with restaurants, other residential or commercial establishments on the side. Always keep an eye out for animals, pedestrians and small vehicles. If you sense the slightest chance of anything mobile coming in your way, slow down to account for their movement well in advance.
3. Stay within speed limits
Speed limits exist for a reason - they save lives. Indian streets are known to be some of the most hazardous anywhere in the world. It is, thus, even more, important that you ride with caution and account for our undisciplined traffic and poor road conditions while being in the saddle. More importantly, be honest in grading yourself for your riding skills and stay well below the limit, leaving with enough buffer to deal with any surprises.
4. Be extra careful in wet conditions
While roads in India are dangerous even in dry conditions, wet and foggy weather can turn them into an absolute mishap-fest. Be double cautious, and ride at even slower speeds when tackling such weather. The braking efficiency of motorcycles is drastically reduced in wet, foggy and slippery conditions. If the visibility and traction are not on your side, do not think twice before taking a halt at a safe place and continue once the conditions improve.
With those active safety precautions out of the way, let’s talk about what you need to focus on when there’s no other alternative but to summon the brakes. If you must do whatever it takes to bring your motorcycle to a halt in a blink of an eye, here’s what you need to know:
1. Ensure your motorcycle’s braking equipment and tyres are in top shape
No technique would work if your motorcycle’s brakes didn’t function as desired. An air bubble in the brake lines, worn-out brake pads or insufficient brake fluid in the reservoir are all recipes for disaster during emergency braking. Check your motorcycle’s brake pads frequently and if they’ve worn off beyond the safe limit, replace them immediately. It is also essential to keep a regular tab on the braking fluid and if it requires topping up, do it without any delay. Make sure you bleed your motorcycle’s brake lines every once in a while. In a nutshell, perform periodic checks on your motorcycle’s braking system and ensure that it’s performing as desired at all times.
While brakes provide the stopping power, the tyres ultimately provide the desired traction to bring the motorcycle to a reassuring halt. Even the best brakes won’t be able to drop the anchors safely if the rubber on your machine cannot provide the requisite traction. Ensure that you use quality footwear, which offers adequate grip and has enough tread on it to perform reassuringly, even under extreme conditions.
2. Correct body posture
It’s long-established that correct body posture is essential for effective motorcycle control, and as bike racers would agree, for faster lap times. Apart from helping you go faster around the corners, a good body position on the bike is also essential to help you drop the anchors in the fastest way possible. While riding a motorcycle, ensure that your upper body is relaxed and your elbows aren’t stiff and straight. You need to be in control of the bike while braking as much as you are in control while you are riding it normally. Squeeze your legs tightly against the fuel tank of your motorcycle, as this will help your body from sliding forward under heavy braking. In simpler terms, grip your motorcycle with your lower body. This will ensure, to an extent, that the act of emergency braking doesn’t upset you or the motorcycle. It is also essential to keep your eyes and head forward and look ahead at the aversion route, and not at the obstacle, to mitigate target fixation.
3. Be smooth, don’t grab a handful
It is somewhat instinctive to grab the brake lever when you need to bring your motorcycle to a standstill. That, however, isn’t the correct way to stop quickly. Even if your motorcycle has the safety net of ABS, applying maximum brake pressure could result in overwhelming the front tyre’s grip and may cause it to skid. If your motorcycle doesn’t have ABS, grabbing the brake lever with full force will only lead to the front washing out.
Adopt a progressive approach, increase the pressure on the right lever smoothly, modulate the brake force in line with the required rate of deceleration and available traction. Let the front end of your bike load up and squeeze incrementally as more and more traction is available with the contact patch of the rubber increasing. When you apply the front brake smoothly, you can feel the front suspension loading up and the front tyre managing to offer more and more grip to handle the additional load. Do not forget to engage the rear brake as well. While the braking load is borne by the front brake on a motorcycle, engaging the rear brake does its bit in reducing the stopping distance. Sometimes that difference is all that stands between a crash and a safe braking manoeuvre.
4. ABS is a boon
As the name suggests, ABS or anti-lock braking system is a system that prevents the wheels from locking up under excessive braking force. With ABS at work, the chances of your front wheel locking up, and therefore losing traction are significantly reduced. What that means, in effect, is that a more significant force can be applied to the front wheel, and the braking power of your motorcycle can be summoned at a faster rate. If your bike’s front tyre is of good quality, ABS will allow it to stop more quickly, covering a shorter distance. Now while the rate of braking force applied can be relatively higher while using a motorcycle with ABS, one shouldn’t still grab a handful. The principle of using the brakes progressively still applies, just that this progress can be faster with motorcycles equipped with ABS. A word of caution for the newbies - when the ABS kicks in, some riders tend to release the pressure owing to the pulsations felt at the brake lever. Don’t do that. Get used to the pulsations on the lever by practicing emergency braking in a safe, secluded area. While emergency braking, progressively increases the pressure on the brake lever until the bike comes to a standstill.
5. Turning while braking can be tricky
When the front brake is applied, the front tyre is already experiencing enormous load, and the traction available is being utilised in bringing the motorcycle to a halt. At the same time, if you perform evasive manoeuvres, the chances are high that the sudden inputs might upset the motorcycle. Such movements are an absolute no-no under harsh braking if your motorcycle isn’t equipped with ABS. Even motorcycles equipped with ABS aren’t exactly meant to be manoeuvred hard under extreme braking. However, the front washing out is lesser with a motorcycle equipped with the safety feature. Some expensive motorcycles come equipped with cornering ABS, though, which endows the motorcycle with some ability to brake hard and turn at the same time.
6. Practice emergency braking
The process of emergency braking comprises extreme forces working on your motorcycle and your body. It’s not every day that you’ll experience these forces and the fear and anxiety that comes associated with them. Therefore, one must practice emergency braking in a safe environment to attune their body and mind to the experience. Doing this also gives you a good idea about the progressive force that has to be applied at the lever to bring the bike to a halt in the shortest possible time. With your body and mind dealing with the forces at work under harsh braking, the experience won’t come as a shock or surprise when you are subjected to it unwillingly. So instead of awaiting a dangerous situation to test your skills and nerves, find an empty stretch of tarmac and perform emergency stops. Ensure that you are wearing proper riding gear while doing so. Increase braking force as you move further in the process and try to lessen the braking distance with each run. This will not only enlighten you about the outer limits of your motorcycle’s braking capability but will also prepare you mentally for safely carrying out an emergency braking manoeuvre.
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