[SmartCat]

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If you are driving on the Bangalore-Mysore highway, keep your fingers crossed and hope a hit-and-run accident has not claimed a life or maimed anyone on the road ahead. You, reaching the accident spot a few minutes later, may well be stopped, cheated and have a case filed against you by hordes of villagers who could extort a hefty compensation for an accident you are not even remotely connected with.

Villagers living on both sides of the Bangalore-Mysore state highway-17 between Maddur and Mandya are allegedly extorting money out of innocent motorists over victims of hit-and-run accidents. And the police remain mute spectators, merely playing out their clerical roles to file complaints against innocent drivers.
Interestingly, this issue was taken up (but not pursued) in the legislative council a day before it was adjourned sine die in the wake of the ‘porngate’ scandal breaking out in the assembly.
JD(S) MLC and former police officer, Abdul Azeem, had raised the question in the legislative council, seeking details of innocent motorists being targeted on highways in hit-and-run cases. But home minister R Ashoka had replied that no such case had come to his knowledge.

[hvkumar]

This is very scary, and something for which we have no defence unless the police senior management comes down heavily on local cops & deals with such instances ruthlessly. Such things would not have been possible without connivance of local police.

[bblost]

A dashboard camera seems to be the only defense against this.

[vinod332002]

Originally Posted by bblost

A dashboard camera seems to be the only defense against this.

However, then the authenticity of the video will be questioned and alleagations on splicing it will surface.

On a serious note, what defence and recourse does such a driver have? Arguably in a court of law, if 10 people turn up as eye witnesses against an innocent driver, he will have a torrid time.
Also, what happens to the cars once the driver has been falsely accused? Is the vehicle confiscated by the police (as an evidence maybe?)

[n_aditya]

Another reason to not ride/drive on Mysore road. This probably add's to the exisitng 99 reasons.

We used to ride pretty often on this road on weekends to the CCD at Mandya or to Mysore for lunch but owing to rash driving from fellow citizens in Innova's and Scorpio's who try and race with us, unsafe pedestrian behavior and also the million speed breakers, we just stopped riding for pleasure on this road.

Now we take the mysore road only if its enroute to a destination such as Coorg or Ooty, etc.

[libranof1987]

Seriously! What has humanity come to.

I think the locals have realized how it is a habit for Bangalore citizens to drive down to Rasta Cafe/CCD/Barista on Mysore rd during late nights and decided to cash in.

I always knew the Bidadi area wasn't very safe; didn't know it is the same state of affairs throughout the highway.

I sincerely hope the cops realize that they are offering these rascals fodder to feed on and try to eliminate the problem.

Else, these highways will become like those up north where private vehicle do not prefer to ply after dark.

I hope the numbers provided work!

[Gansan]

Thanks for the alert. I have been planning a B'lore-Mysore trip. Now I will leave the car with my relatives at Bangy and take the Airavat Volvo!

[wildsdi5530]

In these hard times where farmers are not getting enough for their efforts, manyatimes leading to ryot suicide, is it not fair to prey on the rich city wallahs in their luxury indicas and swifts and tons of black money stashed away?

I used to ride from Bangalore to Mysore often during my college days- back in the 90's. Once an old man in a bicycle riding it on the wrong side of the median near Yeliyur, suddenly fell down about 200 yards ahead of me. Immediately some 4-5 people stopped me ahead of the supposed accident site and started bullying me. Luckily the Panchayat head of Yeliyur who happens to be a friend was passing by. He scolded the miscreants and told them that I was under his protection and to never harrass me on that road again. Later while having lunch at his house, the above message was the gist of what he had to say regarding the villager's behavior.

[gd1418]

Oh my, my. It means my proposed South-India trip that included Bangalore - Mysore - Nanjangud - Ooty goes for a six?

[mayankjha1806]

Whatever be the state of farmers its not right to paint everyone with the same picture of folks slashing black money, driving their indicas and swifts.

This is scary. Does it happen only at night or early mornings or in broad daylight when tons of cars are on the road driving ahead and behind you?

[pganapathy]

If I didn't have a house in Coorg and one in Bangalore I would even give a wry smile about something like this, but this is just outright scary. I mean it is one thing if you have an accident and this happens, but to be an innocent driver is just sad.

[Durango Dude]

In the '70's my parents undertook a pilgrimage from Chennai to Kashi and beyond by road. They had a Fargo van and an Amby to do the trip in and there were a total of 4 conservative docile S.Indian males and rest were women in a group of around 20. They drove through 'Chambal' valley at night; those were the days of the 'Bandit Queens and Kings' roaming that area. It was plain foolhardy but they lived through to tell the tale and my dad wrote a travelogue on a daily basis and it became rather popular among the group. I think Chambal has been cleansed; what about the rest of the country which is slowly turning into something more notorious than Chambal.

[SmartCat]

And we wonder why Jeremy Clarkson & Company didn't do much driving in India for their Top Gear Christmas Special.

[Gansan]

Now we really know what the term "fall guy" means!

[rjstyles69]

The villagers all along this route have always been greedy. Even if they weren't involved directly with the accident or the victims.Their primary aim is extortion and stealing if nothing else.

I was once a victim of this nuisance and was rear ended by a dude riding a Victor. My mistake I slowed down at the speed breaker at Srirangapatna. The biker was tailing me at full throttle and couldn't stop in time to avoid crashing into our vehicle when I slowed down.

He took a proper beating from the fall and managed to sustain a few burns on his right leg, thanks to the extremely hot silencer.
A few villagers gathered and then an argument ensued , which turned really ugly between us. All this for a biker whom these villagers dint even know.The biker joined sides with the villagers and asked for compensation to repair his bike. The very moment I decided that I wont pay this dimwit a penny if it meant I had to go to police station and leave my car there.

30 minutes of a verbal duel led to nothing and finally some random dude who stopped by called the cops. The cops came over and asked the villagers to disburse. They had no choice but leave and we were asked to accompany them to the police station. We made a few calls and were let off, the biker was booked for rash riding and riding without insurance. Apparently the bike wasn't insured too.

What amused me was that , all thru these people and the biker have been arguing about the fact that it was mistake when I slowed down for the speed breaker.

The cops are the biggest leeches along this route, I remember speedsatya having bght this up in one of his threads where cops harass truck drivers in the nights. Well I have seen this happen a lot of times where cops make truck drivers pull over and extort money from them.

Originally Posted by bblost

A dashboard camera seems to be the only defense against this.

You will be lucky if you can get away from the situation. The 1st thing when an accident occurs people from nearby villages try and steal whatever is the car and if possible steal from the accident victims too.Providing help is the last thought on their minds.So a dash camera stands no chance and would be stolen even if they had no use for it.

To quote an instance, we were at the K1000 rally SS-2 a year back. Some one broke the driver side window glass of a Dicor , purely a case of vandalism. A kid stole the navigator from the Dicor, myself and dileep(redrage) spotted this kid with the navigator about a km into the SS2. Asked him why did he steal it, his answer was summane(simply).

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Another reason to not ride/drive on Mysore road. This probably add's to the exisitng 99 reasons.

We used to ride pretty often on this road on weekends to the CCD at Mandya or to Mysore for lunch but owing to rash driving from fellow citizens in Innova's and Scorpio's who try and race with us, unsafe pedestrian behavior and also the million speed breakers, we just stopped riding for pleasure on this road.

Now we take the mysore road only if its enroute to a destination such as Coorg or Ooty, etc.

You pretty much summed it up, but then one cant let his guard down on any road in India.

Originally Posted by Gansan

Thanks for the alert. I have been planning a B'lore-Mysore trip. Now I will leave the car with my relatives at Bangy and take the Airavat Volvo!

Originally Posted by gd1418

Oh my, my. It means my proposed South-India trip that included Bangalore - Mysore - Nanjangud - Ooty goes for a six?

Do the drive folks, such incidents shouldn't deter one from doing a pleasure drive. Ensure that you keep your eyes on the road and drive safe.