[NST440]

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, [/b]

Well done Sir, you did the right and perhaps the only sane thing possible at that very moment. Who knows what her next target was, probably your head , chest or worse, she could have accidentally hit her child in this rage, the onus of which may have come on you.

It is discomforting to see what the World has come to, seems like that Hollywood movie in which their is a virus outbreak and all people become zombies, blood hungry and full of rage.

Sometimes i feel that the stress of daily life, both personal and professional, coupled with a need to boast off one's ego and esteem is expediting such road rage incidents regardless of age, gender or location.I Still remember the BBC Topgear "India Special" which shows the absence of law abiding citizens in our country and how dangerous it is to drive here.

Women in general have a shield of being a woman and many times this shield empowers them to say anything, do anything, park anywhere, break any law on road in our nation and this tendency is just increasing everyday. For the one who drives/ rides everyday should be thankful to the almighty after reaching home safely.

I have also noticed a strange and appalling rage of 2 wheel drivers against a person who owns or drives a car. Their is an immediate sense of rivalry they have formed against car drivers may be out of jealousy or sheer complex of not owning a car and then hitting, scraping, keying our hard earned 4 wheels for no fault at all.

It is really a good day if your vehicle and more importantly you return home, unharmed. It is an alarming situation. May God bless this nation and may some sense prevail.

[charanreddy]

OP, you were super lucky it was just a windshield and not a prolonged tussle..

These days, when you get into an argument with a lady, you are guilty by default No one till take your side for the fear of appearing anti-women which is taboo these days regardless of what evidence you have. and less said about the various laws the better.. all you need is an un-substantiated compliant and our police don't even check basic facts before leaping into action..

I would get over the incident.. it is sadly one of the prices you pay for existing in this country ( and I hear it is not very different abroad as well)

[pinin]

Originally Posted by KVNair

Not sure what crossed this lady’s mind, but she just said, “What do you think of me? I can hit the windshield again”. In a second, she hit twice on my windshield shattering its left side. I was dumbstruck, and then she started calling me a loafer and what not and even threatened to hit me with the helmet. 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. I told her that let us call the cops and asked her to park on the side.[/b]

Came across a similar situation sometime back. Was on my way to office and there is this particular cross road near Karnavati Club (on SG Highway, Ahmedabad) which is always gridlocked during rush hours if there is no one to man the traffic. I waited patiently for around 5-7 minutes for some sense to prevail. Seeing some improvement in the situation, I moved forward. Suddenly a lady in her Verna (with a child in the front seat) suddenly cuts across to block me (she was coming from the clear side of the road). She murmured something, I could read her lips 'Kahan se ajate hain'. I lost it then (a mistake), lowered my windows and gestured to her that I have been waiting here for 5 min with no avail. She in return gestured back with her hand as if to slap me. Lesson learned, never ever react on the road.

Kept wondering all the way to office what examples we set for our kids.

Pinin

[SoumenD]

Congratulations on coming out of this safe

Else with the latest fad of mob-justice you never know what would happen where.

I had an incident last year where a 14-15 year old kid(ofcourse without helmet) came in from wrong side blind curve and banged into my car damaging the front bumper. Since I was at crawling speed, could stop but a Scorpio right behind me banged into my rear, no points for guessing he was barely maintaining any distance. So I ended up with front & rear bumper broken plus rear hatch damaged (thanks to the Scorpio bullbar).

I checked if the girl was Ok who actually was scared if her dad gets to know. Thankfully nothing happened to her and she ran away in minutes. The Scorpio guy shamelessly fled the scene while I was attending the kid. The local villagers saw the entire episode and knew very well I was the victim so just suggested me to leave before further trouble.

Totally helpless I just thanked my stars that the girl was not hurt and left the scene. At times there's very little you can do inspite of knowing it's totally wrong.

P.S: Knowing local language is very important these days as that can save you some trouble.

[dark.knight]

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.

Reasonings like these may hold some reality but in the end it is only justifying psychotic behavior. On top of that in this case a lady was flying off the handle (literally) and all of society will only gang up against the man and beat him up in a second if the lady complains. Unfortunately the greatest enforcers of the wrong aspects of feminism are men themselves, while women in lower society get exploited and suppressed without being noticed.

Everyone becomes a parent in due course.. but if they become physical, psychotic and "strong" just to prove a point to their children then I'm afraid that intense counselling and psychotherapy are the only recourse. A child picks up traits from the parents and its essential to teach civility, humility and fairness over and above aggression. The female rider in question had all the rights to prove injury to the OP, take it to the traffic police or file insurance in case of damage to the scooter.. but to take a helmet and threaten and smash the windscreen all of 2 times, leading to breakage.. that amounts to destruction of property, criminal intimidation, threat to life and hit-&-run, in America she'd be well behind bars by now and pleading to the judge.

I've been flipped the bird by women merely for honking (not a long honk) and one even took video from the front sitting pillion on the scooter.. why? All because I honked because they were riding the lane line blocking both lanes in the process, again not a long honk, I've never gotten a traffic driving violation in my life and that is proof that I never drive/behave aggressive on the road. Sure 1000 times more men have created bad incidents for me on road but usually not for mere honking. Also if it is a man and if he is being unjust and harassing me, I can usually step out and gauge his mental stability.. with the women all I can do is shiver out of fright.

Ideally the rider should've been booked and behind bars by now.

[vroomsome]

There are gentle folk and there are abominations, irrespective of gender. Congratulations on being the former kind. You are a minority. You did the right thing. Karma is a beautiful thing

[coriollis]

Originally Posted by KVNair

she just said, “What do you think of me? I can hit the windshield again”. In a second, she hit twice on my windshield shattering its left side. I was dumbstruck, and then she started calling me a loafer and what not and even threatened to hit me with the helmet. 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. [/b]

You did well KVNair ! Its good that you kept your calm.
In India, We should assume these kind of experiences. Its not right, but is sadly true. I always keep a small budget for these kind of expenses in my yearly planning.

Also, I am just thinking that, Will that child turn out to be a responsible citizen with a reasonable amount of civic sense? Children are generally imitating their parents.

Cheers,

AB

[Asish_VK]

Sad incedent !

But you did great by not making a big road rage , which might have turned against you .

A dash cam might have helped you to capture the full situation and the number of the scooter , but even with that, chances of getting Justice is less (given how our system works).

I too work in Bangalore , as far I can see, Bangalore traffic and civic sense is horrible and getting worst day by day .
I have even stopped riding bike to office, instead walk 50mins per side through the scroaching sun (still better than fighting out in the mad traffic ).

Lately I'm observing that the cabbies and auto guys behaves better than the so called educated folks on the road.

[avdhesh15]

Originally Posted by KVNair

The only lesson learned - expect the unexpected in Bangalore traffic and never try to talk to anyone after an incident even if you are calm. Fellow motorists in Bangalore have lost sense completely. Don’t fall for their gender, educational qualifications, or any thing that makes them look civilized. Almost all driving around here are utter morons in disguise ready to go to any extent to damage and inflict injury on others.

My similar incident happened in Mumbai.

I was driving in my lane on a 2-way street and this biker from the opposite side was driving on the wrong side trying to overtake cars in traffic. He was gesturing to everyone on my side to move to the left so that he could get by on the wrong side. I refused to do so.

This moron then simply came to my car, smashed my side view mirror, his pillion kicked in my rear door, and escaped before I could do anything! I was left with a smashed side view mirror and dented door for no fault of mine.

Lesson learnt: Brainless morons are in every city in this country. I believe the only thing is to pray that some whacko doesn't come in front of you and spoil your day / life.

[wildsdi5530]

Originally Posted by KVNair

Never wanted to post on this thread,
gone over her right foot.
I got out to

I'm surprised that you have posted about this incident in a public forum. You have posted in good faith, but the fact remains that you have committed 'injury', possibly 'grievous injury' if she had any foot fractures. The police will surely add 'outraging the modesty of a woman' to the charge sheet. and god forbid 'prevention of atrocities act'.
Please be aware that Bangalore police are very tech savvy and will surely keep an eye on popular forums like Team-bhp. You may get lucky if the lady doesn't file a complaint, but if she does, you can easily be traced through this thread.
You will probably be acquitted of all charges due to lack of evidence, but that's going to be after a long court case, and possibly a few days in jail. Not worth the trouble. Please be careful about what you post.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

I'm surprised that you have posted about this incident in a public forum.

He has posted that lady"claims" that he ran-over he foot, he didn't admit it as far as I can see!

Best thing to do when such things happen and women gets involved is to just keep quiet and move on, even if we have dashcam, they could say we abused them verbally or something just to get us men in trouble!

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

[rejeen]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

I'm surprised that you have posted about this incident in a public forum. You have posted in good faith, but the fact remains that you have committed 'injury', possibly 'grievous injury' if she had any foot fractures. The police will surely add 'outraging the modesty of a woman' to the charge sheet. and god forbid 'prevention of atrocities act'.

Some things I would consider:
1. Who offered to call police?
2. Who took the law into his/her own hand in this incident?
2. Police will look for proof. I still belive in the law of the land.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by KVNair

The small price and hassle that I had to go through is nothing compared to having an intact skull.
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
Now, it’s time to forget the bad and move on with life!

True words of wisdom; well done KVNair! What you did is the epitome of being a good human being and an intelligent one at that. Loads of good karma credited to your cosmic bank account. The opposite for the other person. I have a hunch that the lady is repenting now. Better to think that she was under stress due to several reasons (all of us who have a family can think of any number of them although none can justify what she did). I further wish that the repentance and reflection changes her for the better.
PS: Continuing on the good human being perspective, it is better to treat the dash cam as a defense against false accusations; it should not tempt one to get in to a righteous frame of mind leading to escalation of such altercations.

[navsjab]

This is the best you could do KVNair.

I commute around 20 kms to my office everyday in the usual Kolkata traffic. This seems to be the norm with most of the two wheeler riders. I try to keep my calm but I lose it very often. I have made a few observations and try to act accordingly. Some points from my side:

• They move through the gaps and are the first in the stop line at a signal. Even if they are last to move when it turns green. You can honk as much and nothing more than that.
• They swerve right after crossing your car most likely to the opposite side. Your car touches them, they fall, you will be to blame. Or jam your brakes, save their lives, maybe get rear ended. Your call. If the sense of revenge prevails in you, you do the same, they can shout and attract other motorists or get out of control and fall off the bike. Again you to blame.
• On a flyover with two lanes, they would take the middle of a lane and get irritated if you want pass. I do not blame them completely here. Kolkata traffic police restricts bikes to 50 and cars to 60 on such flyovers.
• While on a road without a center divider, they often come onto the opposite side of the road and if you are driving on the opposite lane, you are expected to stop or slow down for them. They need to be at the place they are going at the earliest all the time.
• Do not try to teach them rules, be it helmets, lane disciple, center line violation etc. They can get the entire two wheeler crowd on their side in a moments notice. And for some reason there is no one to support you. Also, the consequence I fear the most is that they can cause damage to your vehicle that can cost you alot.
• Often, their first modifications is to free the rides from rear views. So beware.
• Riders are not often drivers and cannot think from your perspective. Most of the time they do not know that what they do is wrong. So there is no point is getting angry or to let them know.

The comments I mentioned here are obviously not for the entire two wheeler community, I ride too. It is for those people who either get the license to ride (too easy) without actually knowing the rules or are backed by some political background to support their deed. I am sure there is a lot more to add to this.

[frewper]

Originally Posted by noopster

Which is why I am surprised that you let this go so easily. That woman needs to be prosecuted for her criminal actions. Too often we sit mum because we sense the mob is against us. Sadly you don't even have a starting point in terms of a registration number for the scooter. Maybe you can go file a complaint with the local traffic police anyway.

@KVNair -- Its a nice thing you kept calm, and din start shouting yourself. And I will tell you did do the right thing.

@noopster -- He can't do that for things can always be misinterpreted, and one thing that we should remember is that people can lie through their teeth to save themselves.

Lets say that he goes ahead and decides to file a complain against the lady, the cops are required to take a statement from the lady too. And given the way she has behaved, it is very likely that she is gonna give a false complain that he tried to harass her and used bad words etc.

This in the cops language, is hurting the dignity of a woman. This can lead to an FIR being filed against him, because the cops will always take the side of a lady. And it will be very difficult to prove in front of the cops that he never did such a thing. Obviously there wont be any witnesses.

If an FIR gets filed, the lady goes scott free and the decent gentleman, will have to walk around the rest of his life branded as an offender. The only way to quash that FIR is to go to court. i.e. you know what will be your next 5 years is gonna be like.

Its better to let such things go. Cant really do anything about it. Cos it can backfire.