[KVNair]

Thanks for all the kind words. It is soothing to hear some good words from likeminded people.

I was driving my wife’s car for a quick errand when I go into this incident. I did not want her to see the damaged car and inflict fear in her mind about driving. She has just learned driving and uses her car regularly to run errands, drop and pick kids from school, and so on. We cannot afford to keep the car out of work, so I straightaway drove to the dealer and got the windshield replaced within a day. Told wife about it later after I returned from the workshop and she never got to see the damaged windshield. The car was delivered as good as new minus the RFID sticker from the windscreen.

The small price and hassle that I had to go through is nothing compared to having an intact skull. That lady in a fit of rage could have used the helmet to break my skull instead of the windshield.

So, guys, be aware; doesn’t matter who is involved in a road incident, please be in the car and be calm. I also got a dash cam installed (bought Transcend Drivepro from Amazon) for my wife’s car after this incident. I already had one on my other car.

Now, it’s time to forget the bad and move on with life!

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

If you had a dashcam you could have partly tried to catch the offender. Sorry to hear about your experience. Sad that the child would think this is normal behavior.

Got a deep gash thanks to the sidestep of this activa.

Err, did you catch the offender considering you have the dashcam?

In my opinion, its a waste of time even going after these idiots. Dashcam footage helps only in really serious incidents, like injury or death. Small scratches, dents, etc its useless.

[Chetan_Rao]

Kudos for keeping your head (literally and figuratively), you're part of an endangered species.

A mistake I've made often in the past, is presume at least some sorts of fellow road users will act reasonably in this angry chaotic mess we call traffic, e.g. someone riding/driving with a kid.

But nope, looking back at things, some of the worst behavior I've encountered on road was from people with kids in tow.

[Ramsagar]

Yesterday, I got into a similar stunt played by Autorick. Stationary auto was parked on the extreme left. Moving auto which is ahead of me, decided to "chit-chat" with the driver in stationary auto and halted abruptly in middle of no where and I had no other choice to bump him.
Sharp side of the Auto bar made a hole and peeled-off my front left bumper by good 5 inches just above the fog lamps. Auto had a twisted rear metal guard which can be corrected by twist of a hand.
My friend & myself got down and the auto guy picked up an argument "we need to maintain distance & on & on" . This being in the bustling by lanes of Bangalore(KR Puram to Devasandra road) maintaining a distance is absolutely impossible. I need not explain any further.
Fastforward: After exchanging few heated arguments, we slowly let the crowd dissolve while, we were demand money of 1000/- to be paid
We played few stunts by calling friends and cops, which we never did and dodged them for good 40mins. As most of them are locals & reside in the same area & are drunk. We regularly pass through the same road Day & Night to reach our office in Whitefield.
We had to cough up 500/- without any mistake of ours.
Wondering where are we heading towards.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by Ramsagar

We had to cough up 500/- without any mistake of ours.
Wondering where are we heading towards.

If you rear ended the guy, what the auto guy said is correct: you didn’t leave safe distance. While he has no business stopping in the middle lane to chat with his buddy, you do have some culpability here.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by saurabh2711

Good on your part to stay composed. .

Honestly, I feel sorry for the child who was watching how her mother was behaving in public. She would also be monitoring the way mom drove on the road & this is what she would learn & probably follow in future.. sic. After all Parents (read mother is the first teacher of a child).


Overtaking from left is dangerous & should be avoided, one thing for everyone to understand. Everyone knows it but nobody follows it.

Exactly my thoughts, people with children breaking all sorts of rules are teaching their children that Rule have no value. Same with people who would try to cut lines at ticket counters, ATMs, etc.

[amitoj]

KVNair, I am certain that you handled the situation much better than I would have. So, kudos to you on that.

In hindsight, it looks like the right thing to do is to diffuse the situation as much as possible. Questioning the lady why she hit your car with your helmet only angered her further. Maybe just apologizing (even though it was not your fault at all) and asking whether her foot was ok might have calmed her down and saved you some hassle.

[Thilak29]

Parents with kid onboard turn overprotective when an incident like this happens, this is a natural instinct and viewing it from civility point of view may not always give your correct perspective.

In this case despite her wrongdoing, you faced wrath for two reasons, first- she played the victim and hid her err by creating a ruckus, secondly, she had to portray (to her kid, be it wrongly) that she is a strong individual and able to give back when odds are against her.

You did a fine job of not reacting to situation and hats-off.

Two years ago, I was driving home after my wife was discharged from hospital post delivery with newborn, she was sitting in backseat clutching our baby and I was driving very very cautiously. There was a scooter rider in front of me, who was driving at moderate speed and I had maintained safe distance, all of a sudden he saw his friend waving on the other side of road and took a split second U-turn in the middle of the road, even though I maintained safe distance I had to panic brake since he was too close and was heading towards me after U-turn, my newborn slipped from hand when I applied brakes. I saw what happened and beast in me came out and reacted (probably the only time I lost my composure during my lifetime) very rudely. I could have been civil when the guy riding scooter profusely apologized (well, later he begged innocence with some instigation from his friend) but I was in no mood to forgive and continued to show rage/aggressiveness.

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

Parents with kid onboard turn overprotective when an incident like this happens, this is a natural instinct and viewing it from civility point of view may not always give your correct perspective.

In this case despite her wrongdoing, you faced wrath for two reasons, first- she played the victim and hid her err by creating a ruckus, secondly, she had to portray (to her kid, be it wrongly) that she is a strong individual and able to give back when odds are against her.

I am sorry, but this behavior is unacceptable. Irrespective of you being with a kid or not, if you are wrong, you own up. That's how kids become better individuals, not by showing a false sense of bravado when you are clearly in the wrong.

She was probably lucky it was the OP, what if it had been some local goon?

Kudos to the OP for maintaining composure though

[Thilak29]

Originally Posted by arvind71181

I am sorry, but this behavior is unacceptable.

Absolutely, I am not supporting her behaviour, she was wrong. But I am just giving a perspective of thought process involved.

[selfdrive]

I also have my two cents worth of incidents and a little more (in count, not in worth) to add. This will almost become the next 'metoo' thread here considering the topic.

In my opinion, this lady is already the next gen mutated traffic monster that we fear her kid will become. I am sure she has seen and experienced this with other people (perhaps earlier generation in the last 15 years or more) before trying it out herself. She just got lucky that she got into a fight with someone who chose not to retaliate. Otherwise, we do see a lot of fights nowadays involving women where people dont shy way from hitting back at them or their vehicles. Her next generation will hopefully not walk in these footsteps; but we never know.

I do agree with the fact that for parents involved in such accidents, it is quite embarrassing and they would confront rather than own up to their mistake. Kids would learn better from that rather than seeing their parent(s) beaten up by a random stranger.

Last week, a lady tried to run over an Activa (of another woman rider) by backing up twice and then intimidating the other lady. Some other people rushed to help and took the Activa lady away, but the car did hit the Activa twice. Overall it was just odd to see that people can be so stupid and insensitive.

[the_skyliner]

Originally Posted by KVNair

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, so I did not want to pick up a heated argument with her.

Salute to you sir for your composure. You must be a nice person to have such understanding unlike the idiot who costed you a windshield repair.

Of all the fools we have on our roads, raging parents on road with kids with them is the worst sight. This lady is not only a bad citizen, bad rider but a worst mother who keeps her ego first instead of her kid.

I hope the kid doesn't carry it as a bad memory and more so doesn't take it as a right thing to do.

Once again, well done sir!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Ramsagar

Moving auto which is ahead of me, decided to "chit-chat" with the driver in stationary auto and halted abruptly in middle of no where and I had no other choice to bump him.
...
This being in the bustling by lanes of Bangalore(KR Puram to Devasandra road) maintaining a distance is absolutely impossible. I need not explain any further.
...
We had to cough up 500/- without any mistake of ours.
Wondering where are we heading towards.

Will agee with @noopster here.

While the actual situation might be something only clear to you (and those at the location), but the rules are pretty clear - the vehicle rear-ending is the one at fault.

[CaptainPrice]

I am so sorry to hear about your experience @KV Nair. Your composure even now, is appallingly calm and kudos to you for that. It's too bad that scooters can get away with pretty much anything these days.

As you then proceed to mention that getting a dashcam is a good idea, I'm also convinced now that it is, and will be hunting actively for something soon.

Good luck with all your future endeavours, and thank you for sharing

[hondaford]

Originally Posted by KVNair

So, guys, be aware; doesn’t matter who is involved in a road incident, please be in the car and be calm. I also got a dash cam installed (bought Transcend Drivepro from Amazon) for my wife’s car after this incident. I already had one on my other car.

Now, it’s time to forget the bad and move on with life!

Well said, KVNair. Kudos on staying calm and preventing the situation from escalating.

Nowadays, the dashcam is one of the first things I get installed on delivery of the car. It takes a load of my mind knowing that there is evidence to support me as most of the time I am not at fault and driving defensively.

Also, most normal people have a tendency to jump out and see if the other party is hurt and needs help. Maybe we need to wait a few seconds before engaging with the other party.

If we see they are going into a rage, we stay in the car and not interact at all. Just drive to the nearest police station and file a case if need be with the video evidence.

The police can file a FIR and charge the person under IPC 319 and 320 and initiate criminal proceedings.

Reference article may be helpful:
https://thevakil.com/know-your-right...rom-road-rage/


Regards.