[JayPrashanth]

1. Newspaper says KTM rider was on the way to Chikballapur to meet relatives.

2. Whatsapp group says KTM rider a part of the group.

3. The image of the KTM RC may be that of one of the bikes.

We may have 2 different KTM riders here, both of whose bikes were vandalized.

As you can gauge from above, too many ifs and buts that only a detailed investigation can explain.

Cheers,

Jay

[Jaggu]

May the departed soul rest in peace and family have the strength to cope up with the loss.

It was an accident, whose fault? only a detailed investigation would reveal. But chances are it is a typical road accident where the kid crossing the road and the rider would have miscalculated the situation. Sad! but that is the fact. Yes our roads are dangerous and one has to be super careful. Speed limit are kept conservative by authorities coz such things do happen and we are not in a position to correct the same anytime soon.

Crowd mentality was irrational and illegal. They also need to be punished so that such incidents are not encouraged. What if the same thing happened to a foreigner riding and crowd harms him/her grievously? Same applies to anyone else.

In short, while this was a very unfortunate and sad incident. No one should support, sympathise or encourage the mob mentality brewing (under whatever circumstances) in a democratic society. Look at the other side of the story, more and more folks would now prefer to run away from such a scene, than to stop and help the victims.

Last but not the least, our roads are one of the worst in terms of safety. Ride and Drive safe, no thrill is worth a life.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

1. Newspaper says KTM rider was on the way to Chikballapur to meet relatives.

2. Whatsapp group says KTM rider a part of the group.

3. The image of the KTM RC may be that of one of the bikes.

We may have 2 different KTM riders here, both of whose bikes were vandalized.

Not sure if there was any second KTM there. The rider who was manhandled was a person called Likhith and it was his bike that you see that is damaged. His version is that he was another passerby only. If that was the case, why was he arrested and put in custody? If he was just a passerby then even eye witnesses should have told that there was a hit and run and the person was different. There was no reason for his arrest and rather the guy could have lodged a series of complaints against the villagers.

[meetgds]

Many a times, when I'm riding in my locality, even on speeds less than 50 kmph, some random child will appear out of nowhere and wouldn't seem a tiny bit concerned about being hit. Obviously, I apply the brakes to save him, but more than a couple of times, I've ended up almost skidding. I am driving under the defined limit, and I do manage to avoid the accident, but is this justified? I do risk my life and the parents of these children risk their lives for sure. I know that if by mistake I end up hitting the child, even if its a benign hit, I will have to face dire consequences.

What can drivers like us do here?

[luvDriving]

This may get flagged as off topic somewhat but here goes.

I live in an apartment building which is located on a hill and there is a narrow road adjoining the gate. One has to come up and then take a sharp left to enter the building.

Once I was on the verge of entering the building when I saw a small child (>= 1 Year old) crawling in the driveway with his grandmother standing a distance away chatting with other grandmas !! I was like On seeing me she came running and took away the child.

But I was appalled by the lack of any sense of safety and responsibility shown by the parents / guardians towards their young ones. While I always slow down to a crawl and honk before entering, there are people who simply rush in. This I have observed specially in case of toddlers wherein the parents simply do not pay attention to passing traffic, rather expecting other road users to take care and stay away.

In this case, I think it was a case of a pure accident which could have been avoided if the biker was moving at slow speeds or the girl was assisted by an elder while crossing a busy highway. Nothing can be said with confidence unless a video of the incident comes out.

[gururajrv]

Firstly my condolences to the little angels family to have lost her at this age! May her soul Rest In Peace.

Secondly, this accident leaves the rider in a disturbed mindset for years to come for sure because it isn’t something he can get over with, that could cause emotional disturbance that’s claimed a life of a small kid.

Now whom to blame?

Locals?!
Biker?!
Time?!

IMHO, we should rather blame the government or road construction authorities for not planning or constructing overhead passes on these highways as and when the roads passes through densely populated villages or make an underpass type highways as I’ve seen few from my recent trip on NH44. In Bangalore - Mysore highway for example, I really pity the villagers because government has built the roads, but not attached any safety to it for them to cross from one side to another.

I strongly condemn the mob who caused ruckus by causing harm to our fellow bikers, disturbing the law and order. Whilst I completely respect the emotions villagers had, the useless crowd would’ve taken the undue advantage out of the situation. Hope the police uses these videos to track and nail them down for good.

It’s not only on the highways, it’s also within the city limits or the ring roads when it passes through densely populated areas, I see a lot of people inevitably crossing the road putting both themselves and the vehicle driver/rider at risk because there’s no proper infrastructure or planning. Somehow the authorities woke up to this risk and built a pedestrian overhead pass on the Bellandur route helping the pedestrians near Ecospace. I’m sure many bhpian’s would’ve noticed this. This came after a truck somewhere in Bangalore last year ran over a person who was crossing the busy lane in some area (sorry can’t recall the exact area name)

What should the government do now? Keep advertising in local channels and also in schools to ensure the safety precautions are observed or taught to the little ones who should be able to skip such instances from occurring again and build the overhead pedastrian passes. Because, if the parents fail to follow such precautions, it’s unlikely for them to preach the little ones in their busy schedule they will have in villages with hardly any knowledge over the road dangers! These safety advertising’s in the local channels should help to some extent in creating awareness amongst the villagers who are not very much versed with the increasing danger of highways passing through their path. Not only limited to villagers, but also for our very own urban families who are educated but not sensible when it comes to following traffic rules as I’ve seen people here crossing roads even though they’ve underpass or overpass available in few areas but are too lazy to utilize them and are ready to put their life at risk.

I hope the family gets justice but nothing will justify or replace the little kids absence.

But for the enthusiasts from the car and biking community, we have to be more cautious while driving through any villages or densely populated areas. If not familiar with the roads, be extra cautious since you do not know what’s waiting ahead.

PS:
@ Mods

Can you please rephrase the sub line to ‘Extra alert: Bangalore - Chikballapur highway’, because I personally feel it’s not going to portray a good image amongst the travelers if we display the state name as it may create a negative image against the state as a whole in our very own forum that stands as a symbol for clarity in the information flow. Kindly remove state name from this post.

This issue prevails almost in every nook and corner around the country and we’ve to blame the infrastructure, limited knowledge awareness and carelessness.

Ride safe
Drive safe
And stay safe

[Thermodynamics]

Extremely saddened by whatever has happened. It is terrible for a father to lose his child in front of him. May God give the family all the strength.

Who is at fault is sub judice but the mob mentality is disturbing. I understand that emotions run high on the spur of the moment and the tied up guy is fortunate that they didn't kill him.

Anyway, it is worrysome that speeding motorcycle related accidents are on the rise. In a recent incident in Mumbai a rash biker knocks a teenager and dragged her for 100 m (link). Street racing has become a menace (example 1, example 2).

Once I was traveling on Kherwadi flyover, Mumbai. It was weekend and about midnight hundreds of street racers were gathered on the flyover in whatever capacity motorcycle they can afford to race. I even saw an Activa racing against Kawasaki Ninja. They were driving like hell. Some maniacs even race on the wrong direction against oncoming traffic.

The more high capacity motocycles hit our market the threat of street racing is only going to increase. The trend should end, streets are not race tracks.

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

...
Street racing has become a menace (example 1, example 2).

Once I was traveling on Kherwadi flyover, Mumbai. It was weekend and about midnight hundreds of street racers were gathered on the flyover in whatever capacity motorcycle they can afford to race. I even saw an Activa racing against Kawasaki Ninja. They were driving like hell. Some maniacs even race on the wrong direction against oncoming traffic.

The more high capacity motocycles hit our market the threat of street racing is only going to increase. The trend should end, streets are not race tracks.

It is illogical comments like this which infuriate me. Do you have any data to show motorcycle accidents are on the rise due to speeding by high capacity motorcycles ? Infact in both the examples you gave - one was caused by a commuter Yamaha & second one has no reference to high capacity motorcycles.

Most of the street races i have seen happening are young college kids racing on their beat up activas/pulsars/fazers and what not. Please dont blame the bikes for the actions of a few hormone raged idiots. Police should be throwing all these wannabe racers in the lockup for a few nights and see how they mend their ways.

[abhi7013]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

It is illogical comments like this which infuriate me. Do you have any data to show motorcycle accidents are on the rise due to speeding by high capacity motorcycles ? Infact in both the examples you gave - one was caused by a commuter Yamaha & second one has no reference to high capacity motorcycles.

Most of the street races i have seen happening are young college kids racing on their beat up activas/pulsars/fazers and what not. Please dont blame the bikes for the actions of a few hormone raged idiots. Police should be throwing all these wannabe racers in the lockup for a few nights and see how they mend their ways.

You don't need statistical data for everything. These are just observations. I stay near the airport road and trust me, it's the sound of superbikes and not activas that wake up the dead in middle of the night.

Yes, there are guys on rx100s, activas and KTMs. But also there are these superbikes raging in the night. Come weekends, it is these very people who spoil the name of bikers.

We on forums can easily distinguish between the folks who ride safe and are mature enough to handle the vehicle responsibly. But for a layman, once he sees a rashly driven KTM or a Ninja, he begins to generalise. And once that opinion sits in their minds, its hard to overcome.

There was nothing illogical about that comment. Would also like to add it was just bad luck for the poor chaps as they were present in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Mob mentality is deep among us Indians and it would be very difficult to get rid of it which is very disgusting.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

You don't need statistical data for everything. These are just observations. I stay near the airport road and trust me, it's the sound of superbikes and not activas that wake up the dead in middle of the night.

This would be a very small bunch, who own large bikes who are into these cheap thrill rides. And these are the same small minority who bring bad name to the whole community. Majority of the big bike owners are otherwise safer and saner, for they fear for their life and the big bills that can hit harder than the tarmac!

This is exactly where generalization messes up perception of the public. Big or flashy bikes means super bike, and riders are racers if you wear full gear and helmet.

[Ford5]

Indian Highways are now deadly for 2 major reasons in my books. A)All known reasons to us enthusiasts. B)Mob justice- especially in rural areas- when you're no way related to the accident & want to help.

This incident made me remember my childhood driver telling me about never... NEVER to stop on highways even if it's during day. Many theifs/organised gangs/common villager planning a robbery, throw big stones at cars which creates a loud sound to force us to stop & then we become sitting ducks.

What was the Bharat Mata chants about? So sorry the state of our affairs.

[giri1.8]

Country is so biased against big bikes and bikers, it's almost seems like a bad idea for a true bikers to get something bigger than an 150cc or wear riding gears.

coming to the topic, I see so many people running across the highways, it's almost impossible to stop in time! one can never be ready enough for a random pedestrian popping out of nowhere, even sedate riders will not have enough time to react.

Countless people get killed by trucks and busses, do we see these mobs beating bus drivers or truck drivers? we bikers spend almost all of our hard earned money on our dream bike, only to be abused by cops and public for wearing gears.

What about the guys who actually break the law? young guys with all sorts of illegal mods, riding with bald tyres, skidding their scooter's front wheel for no reason, they just roam free! why ? their bikes are not expensive enough to be hated.

What a time to be a biker!

Life lost for no fault of her's, May her soul RIP.

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

You don't need statistical data for everything. These are just observations. I stay near the airport road and trust me, it's the sound of superbikes and not activas that wake up the dead in middle of the night.
There was nothing illogical about that comment.

Of course in today's day and age - hard facts have lost their importance. BTW The original poster was talking about accidents due to overspeeding by high capacity bikes - and you are talking about sound of big bikes - 2 different topics.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

This would be a very small bunch, who own large bikes who are into these cheap thrill rides. And these are the same small minority who bring bad name to the whole community. Majority of the big bike owners are otherwise safer and saner, for they fear for their life and the big bills that can hit harder than the tarmac!

This is exactly where generalization messes up perception of the public. Big or flashy bikes means super bike, and riders are racers if you wear full gear and helmet.

Exactly - most superbike owners (me included) - ride with full safety gear & quite sanely. On the other hands - i have seen most wheelies/stoppies/road races being done by squids in T-shirts/shorts/no helmets. Unfortunately the first thing that most people (including our cops) ask when seeing you in full gear is - Racing ah ?

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

Of course in today's day and age - hard facts have lost their importance. BTW The original poster was talking about accidents due to overspeeding by high capacity bikes - and you are talking about sound of big bikes - 2 different topics.

Anyway, it is worrysome that speeding motorcycle related accidents are on the rise. In a recent incident in Mumbai a rash biker knocks a teenager and dragged her for 100 m (link). Street racing has become a menace (example 1, example 2).

This is what the OP had written. He has not written about accidents by high capacity bikes only. Take some time to read clearly buddy!

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

The more high capacity motocycles hit our market the threat of street racing is only going to increase. The trend should end, streets are not race tracks.

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

This is what the OP had written. He has not written about accidents by high capacity bikes only. Take some time to read clearly buddy!

I do hope you read the entire post. Anyways if i misunderstood the OP - then apologies for my over-reaction. I am just a little sensitive to painting all superbike owners with the same brush for the misdeeds of a few.