[Satishtv]

IMHO you should still have filed a police compliant. What if the woman goes to the police and alleges that you did a hit and run? In our country you are guilty until proven innocent.

This has happened to people i know.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by giri1.8

All this, and I see women posting on social media, that it's a man's world where they don't have any freedom

Apart from the very odd case, would you not agree that it is a man's world out there and women have substantially less freedom then men?

[sandx]

I could have reacted, but seeing the child sitting calmly on her scooter, I held my reaction and my anger. Moreover, she was a lady and a mother

These are always tricky, but to come out of it with a shattered windshield is just something else KVNair. The streets nowadays abound with such examples where the two parties argue on the road because of the rage or the self determined righteousness of the situations. But the windshield battering is a step taken too far. I hope the lady in question ruminates over it and is able to comprehend on what she did was right.

Just yesterday my Alto got scratched by a bike rider with 2 ladies riding pillion. Traffic was chock-a-block with nearly a kilometer long jam. The bike just swerved from the right, dashed against my RHS headlamp and sped off like nothing had happened. I am sure they would have blamed me if they had fallen off at the impact. These incidents and the ever growing traffic makes me dread the thought of taking out my car nowadays at certain times of the day.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Apart from the very odd case, would you not agree that it is a man's world out there and women have substantially less freedom then men?

Depends on the class and age group IMO, women of my age do enjoy equal freedom, if not more, I am quiet young and live in a city.

[V.Narayan]

Dear KV Nair,

I hope you get to read this as it seems you may be partly logged off. You faced a rather difficult and sensitive situation and you faced it very well at least in my opinion. You displayed presence of mind, calmness, fortitude and the good sense to know when to walk away without stirring the pot any further.

With good intentions many brother BHPians have advised filing a FIR etc to cover your flanks. The grey hair on my head says there is wisdom in letting sleeping dogs lie. The lady in question is likely to be as keen as you not to escalate and deal with the mess that our justice system is in. After all she is also a mother, a wife and maybe an employee. She could simply be dealing with more frustrations than her fair share that day. If she had indeed cracked one or more digits on her foot she would immediately have been in intense pain. While all bone cracks are very painful the breaking of a digit is doubly so. Having achieved this twice (once on the right foot and then the left hand) I can say with hand on heart. Crises that seem like a make or break situation from hell often, most often blow away with sensible management. You have done your bit already by diffusing the situation. No point in re-kindling it again with a complaint. Your cool headedness and the fact you poured oil over troubled waters is your best asset.

Those on Team BHP who have handled live cases at the work place of sexual harassment under the new laws may back what I say. The cultural dice is loaded against the woman even with these laws and any one who comes up with formal complaint does so only after being driven to the end of her rope. The fear we men now have of a false accusation or harrassment is a fear our women folk (especially the younger ones) live with each day - molestation, eve teasing, assault and worse.

A false complaint running amuck does happen with the media pouring in but does not happen without TV TRP motivation.

All the best.

[ashishmathur14]

I have had a similar experience and the sudden claim to be the victim by the biker resembles here. I was in Hinjewadi peak traffic (Wipro Circle) in evening with my wife in my car, when a biker drove so close to my car, that his footrest got stuck in my bumper and my bumper came out a bit on the right hand side. Looking at the audacity of the biker, who perhaps was riding pillion with her lady love, started to show me that he would smash his helmet on my windsheild. Shouting loudly, claiming victimhood is what bikers usually do. Offcourse, he too belonged to a repouted IT Company, could be from the same as mine as well but his behaviour was rowdy.
He went to give me advice that I should maintain atleast a meter distance from other vechicles


Since, nothing major had happened, I decided to move on without any further arguement.
All these times, I feel that company transport is much better and then eventually I enrolled for company bus service, or take uber if I miss bus or running late. I may end up spending a 1000 more on travel, but its the peace of mind, and saving 1000's in any fake hit & run cases.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

.... there is wisdom in letting sleeping dogs lie....

Compassion is a funny thing sometimes, isn't it?

Those we think deserve it the least in the heat of a particular situation, probably need it the most.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by giri1.8

Depends on the class and age group IMO, women of my age do enjoy equal freedom, if not more, I am quiet young and live in a city.

Good for you and most women might envy you. Even in western countries that are probably some of the most woman friendly, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, women might not experience and or feel the same degree of freedom as their male counter parts. To this day and age it could even be by legal means they have different degrees of freedom.

Jeroen

[proton]

I cancelled my ecosport booking (top end fully loaded) after getting hit twice. The next day got hit twice again. A lady asking me to move a little ahead so that she could squeeze through. She promptly fell on my dicky, leaving 2 deep gashes in my Beat with her Activa. Then a man carrying a gas cylinder on a scooter actually ripped off my rear bumper going down the wrong way in Cambridge Layout. Stopping for all these incidents has resulted in me reaching home late at night, so I grit my teeth and don't even stop. Post mortem is delayed till next morning, with cash flying out of wallet to fix things. When Beat parts run out, I'll probably have to replace the car anyway. But now, will go the used car way. Probably a vcross with full bull bar regalia.

[aabhimanyu04]

Funny but true, we all have come across that Activa rider who just turned without indicating
I am sure we all have a lot of stories to share, the only way we can get better is by educating our brothers and sisters every time there is an opportunity.
I wish getting a license was as stringent as in the western countries.

[lamborghini]

Sadly this has happened to a couple of my friends in South Mumbai - where a biker has assaulted their car and damaged it severely.

In one case it was a Govt. telephone service provider's employee who thought he could get away with anything. The victims got the cops involved, but unfortunately the state of affairs in the country are so bad that the victim was advised by his advocate friend to let the matter go as nothing will come out of the courts except a lot of running around.

Given this took place on Pedder Road, one of Mumbai's affluent roads, it's sad to see how society is disintegrating and taking 2 steps back for every 1 step forward.

[fundagenie]

Your story really highlights the sad state of traffic in our country. I myself used to be a biker once upon a time, juggling through bangalore traffic. Not sure how good or bad rider I was at the point of time. Though I strongly believe I was a sensible one - wearing helmet, not riding over foot paths, stopping at signals etc.

But today driving a car I really feel irritated as well as pity the way some bikers as well as motorists drive. Lack of pure patience is the first thing. One nuisance is the way bikes as well as some of the cars start trying to go in front of you while one is taking a turn. They will go to the extent of taking such big sweeps just to cross you. I mean all they have to do is stop and wait for a 5-10 seconds and let the car do the turn. But alas that is not possible. And in the process they go to the opposite side of the road and ensuring they make a 10 minute traffic jam.

Being put up in Electronic City,Bangalore.. one of the IT hubs of India, the hard part is most of these riders or drivers are IT professionals. Well educated and even well travelled, following portals like Tbhp and cribbing about traffic jams.

Anyways we are forced to live with it. Like you did, keeping ones composure is the only solution in such situations.

FundaG

[vipinendran]

Learn it the hard way couple of times and installed a dash cam. Similar situation replayed with a lady on activa alleging my amaze ran over her foot at a traffic signal when she tried to squeeze in the front and started abusing and banging the windshield. Traffic cops walk in and start questioning me as to how can I do this? Lady says I used foul language Calmly show him and the lady the dash cam and say it has recorded everything including the sound! and we could go to the police station with the evidence. Lady says she is in a hurry and scoots, and traffic cop is bewildered and is left embarrassed. Gave him a dressing down on traffic rules and left. My DASH CAM saves me.

[opendro]

That is true even the other way around. I started with car in the US, then motorcycle in Bangalore, then cars in Bangalore and then bicycle and motorcycles in Bangalore.

I have gone on to say that cars have no place in a populous country like India. Wherever they are there, be it schools, malls, office, cinema, colleges, etc. they will create traffic jam. It is just not feasible to make enough roads or parking spaces for cars.

It does not matter if the car is fully occupied or not. It is the clumsy way cars move in narrower roads which are meant for only two wheeler. Cars cannot back up easily in deadlock situations, cannot lean sideways to negotiate tight situations and cannot push away one which is badly parked just while dropping a kid in school, etc.

I still love driving cars. But the frequency of taking out my car has reduced almost to once in two months. Rest of the days are mostly bicycles (yes, daughters included as they cannot ride motorcycle yet) and motorcycles.

Everyday, I curse the cars whenever I see a traffic jam though they hardly affect me as I can lift and push my bicycle on foot paths. Sometimes, I pity the cars who are stuck on the roads eternally. They just don't realize what a waste of time it is. Taking the car out from parking, crawling in the traffic and parking again. Just by the time they manage take out from or to parking, I would cover at least 3 or 4 km.

So, the quote is: Ever since I started biking again, I now know what an idiot I was with a big car on Bangalore roads.

Originally Posted by sidhu_hs

I am with you on this one, but I am going to share a tweet that I have hesitated to share for the longest time on here that captures my feelings on this issue:

Attachment 1741880

Source

Now extrapolate that to pedestrians!

[Popeye]

I was feeling a rush inside as I kept reading your experience and I thought in how many ways could i nail that woman for her misdeeds. But then sense prevailed and I thought about the consequences later on which you only have control upon till you have acted. And acting in a way that your mind tells you is often not a good idea. Even with a dashcam, had this case gone to a policeman, I am more than sure he would have milked both of you. But then suffering for no mistake of ours is also not something I will prefer.
Defensive steps taken in order to protect yourself and your property would have certainly acted as a pacifier. There is always a point of return and you should drive it to that point before turning back. At least you will have a satisfaction of giving a fight and not surrendering meekly to the circumstance. Presence of mind is most important in such places.