Sandwiched Bullet

[herculesksp]

Today morning on the way to office, I was in the BTM-Silk Board main road heading to towards silk board. A few minutes back, I noticed a bullet passing me. It was peculiar that this guy has changed the steel rims to alloys. It was an alloy with just 2 spokes making an 'S' shape. The biker was in formals with a leather bag slung around his side and most probably a software guy or a salesman.

Cut to the chase, now we had crossed the pertol bunk on 16th main and were going when suddenly our driver started shouting 'oye oye' in a sort of shock. I thought some idiot driver was blocking the road but it turns out much worse. All of us in the bus stood up to see what was happening and we saw that there was a bike fallen on the road precariously next to the right-side rear wheel of a bus and the driver fallen next to it. The bus was still slowing down and had not stopped. Ahead was a truck/pickup with a cement mixer or something like that being towed at the back.

Now this was what happened (eyewitness recollection). It seems this dude on the bike was in between the bus and the truck, trying to overtake or what I dont know. Somehow the two larger vehicles came closer or what I dont know but the end result was that the bike got jammed between the truck and the bus and was being dragged. From the final scene, I think the footpeg must've gotten stuck in the wheel arch of the bus and the handle bar stuck in the cement mixer. The driver told that this biker was stuck and being dragged and was flailing around unable to do anything.

Luckily the shouting of the public alerted the drivers and they slowed down somehow. When we passed the scene the bike was on the ground and the biker was limping away. It was the very same enfield that I had spotted a few mins back. Two people had to lift the bike and push it away. I think the wheel were bent and jammed and they had to drag it away. The guy was sitting on the footpath nursing his knee. The shoes of his left leg were missing and the left sock were badly torn and hanging off. There was no other visible damage. The lucky guy got away scot free. I am sure he would be thanking his stars and would be taking an oath to never overtake or get into such a position in between two large vehicles every again.

Phew, I shudder to think about such a situation. God forbid anything like this every happens to anyone.

[benbsb29]

Some of these bikers think they along with their bikes are only mms wide in dimension and can pass through ANY space between two vehicles. Probably at the risk of sounding harsh, serves the biker right. Maybe the next time he would think twice about trying to squeeze between vehicles.

What i do with the car is stay slightly out of my lane so as to block maniac bikers from trying to squeeze through.

[shazikon]

benbsb29...naughty you!! the two wheeler guys must be cursing you for that but be careful to block the way completely otherwise they will scratch your sides while squeezing through! my car has all the war marks on the sides left by agressive 2 wheelrs all over the years.. now i have just given up. i let them go through

[thalavoy]

@shazikon. Agree with you there. I thought that my car was very close to the front one, but a scooter (a fat a$$ed one) guy thought otherwise. Well, that was the flashback of my first scratch in my new car (year 2001)

[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Some of these bikers think they along with their bikes are only mms wide in dimension and can pass through ANY space between two vehicles. Probably at the risk of sounding harsh, serves the biker right. Maybe the next time he would think twice about trying to squeeze between vehicles.

What i do with the car is stay slightly out of my lane so as to block maniac bikers from trying to squeeze through.

I do this too! another game i play is as follows:

1. watch a maniac biker squeeze through a narrow gap between me and the guy stopped in front of me (at a red light say)
2. Narrow the gap ever so slightly
3. repeat step 1 and 2

Usually takes about 3 iterations before the guys stop trying it :-)

[spadival]

Originally Posted by ajitkommini

I do this too! another game i play is as follows:

1. watch a maniac biker squeeze through a narrow gap between me and the guy stopped in front of me (at a red light say)
2. Narrow the gap ever so slightly
3. repeat step 1 and 2

Usually takes about 3 iterations before the guys stop trying it :-)

I do it with a slight change.. turn the wheels left so that only the wheels block him off.. and the biker doesnt scratch the body

[cheap_deal]

^^^opening the door helps too

[benbsb29]

What i do is i move forward with the traffic, and after making sure there's no biker in the immediately beside me, i turn in the direction blocking the path. Seeing the low space, many dont bother trying to wriggle through.

[Sankar]

So many ruthless cagers in here hahaha..

Okay.. let the 'block-the-biker' tricks pour in... let me analyse & study the tricks and find another way around your cages.. lol

Edit: That biker was really really really lucky to have his *** back on the pavement and all the parts from his head to his toe intact and on his body!! That was a very scary situation.. i wouldn't want to be in one like that.

[Jaggu]

lucky bugger if he got off with it!!

slightly OT: i have started following the lane discipline (as in occupying the center of my lane and not being on either side), my analysis of bangalore traffic is you leave some space and someone else will try to poke whatever in, and this is almost 99% of all bangalore snarl ups.

so use as much of your lane as possible, which will give 3 cars space in a road like inner ring road, bikers the space to do all squeezing in, and confuse the auto wallahs and nosy cabies

[esteem_lover]

Let us just say that the gods were smiling on that 'smart' *** dude that day. on any other day, only his socks & shoes might have been recoverable. he should thank god & promise to himself & the ones that love him that he will never ever get into such a situation EVER, so help me god.

[gr8guzzler]

come on guys...you make it sound as the biker is always at fault in such cases. There are times when u have no choice but to overtake in such scenario. I thank god that the biker was not harmed too much in this episode, but this can happen to anyone.

[esteem_lover]

guzzler, i know what you mean, i have also been a biker & still am, but you got to know where you have to wait. Buses & trucks, while taking a turn cannot or will not see beyond a point & as a biker you should not put yourself in a position like that at all. it does not save you anytime, believe me, i've seen that, done that & regretted that & had nightmares about that.

[gr8guzzler]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

but you got to know where you have to wait.

This is purely instinct...it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't. I have no issues with that, but just the ways people have responded to this thread shows that whether it's his fault or not the biker is always to blame.

[benbsb29]

gr8guzzler : I bike to work usually (although i have been using the cage to get to work the past 2 weeks) and i have gotten to see how many bikers behave during the process of commuting. One trip to Bangalore during peak hours while people are in the rush to get to office will prove my point. Anything and everything becomes a road, even footpaths, so much that the cops had to issue a directive saying thats illegal. Any gap between vehicles calls for exploration and my car's ORVMs have also taken knocks on them thanx to some guys who were in a hurry for God knows what reason.

Looks like many are inspired by the new Pulsar ads which show the heights to which you can take biking.