[neil.jericho]

Rash riders will ride rashly irrespective of whether they are on a KTM or a Splendor. Yes, there are reckless KTM riders. I also see reckless Discover riders. And moped riders. And Passion riders. And Apache riders. And R15 riders. The list goes on.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Having tints in cars is illegal, not renewing the emission certificate every 6 months is illegal, but somehow getting strobes installed on the front of bikes, high-decibel horns, helmetless riding etc are all fine. Great priorities the traffic police have. Way to go!

For the record, high decibel horns and strobe lights are illegal, its just a matter of time before the law catches up with such people. Since you mentioned helmetless riding, I am attaching the contents of an article in the Hindu dated today. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...175.ece?w=city
I have spotted many cops in the last few days catching people breaking the law. Hats off to the Bangalore police. People often dont know they need saving from themselves.

"The city traffic police, along with Transport Department officials, booked 6,361 pillion riders on Thursday for not following the helmet rule. While the traffic police booked 5,861 cases, RTO inspectors booked around 500. “Ten squads from the Transport Department were at work along with the traffic policemen in enforcing the helmet rule for pillion riders,” said M. A. Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic). “On Thursday, we saw about 75 per cent of bikers complying with the new rule. We are continuing to spread awareness to bikers,” he said. He added that eventually, the authorities would start booking children and senior citizens as well; they are now being let off with a warning.

Documents checked

The traffic police not only booked helmetless pillion riders, but also thoroughly checked the riders’ documents such as driving licence, registration certificate, insurance, pollution certificate, and levied penalties accordingly. They also collected pending fines, if any, from the bikers they hauled up."

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

I think its safe to generalize this tribe of KTM Duke riders, 101% of them (and yes I've seen dozens if not hundreds) ride like they are on methamphetamine. That bike has to be abolished, period.

that's pretty stupid generalization if you ask me, unless of course you've proof to substantiate your claim.

i'm a driver and a rider and although the Dukes and RCs drive me up the wall, i know for a fact that not all KTM riders ride like maniacs. how do i know - i ride with five of them regularly. there is a percentage of them who actually ride like there's fire on their arse and bring a bad name to the KTM riders in general, but not all of 'em.

there are more cars and SUVs driven rashly than bikes, leave the alone Dukes. so let's ban all the cars - VW, Maruti, Hyundai, Tata, Renault et al

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Having tints in cars is illegal, not renewing the emission certificate every 6 months is illegal, but somehow getting strobes installed on the front of bikes, high-decibel horns, helmetless riding etc are all fine. Great priorities the traffic police have. Way to go!

their only priority is to fill their coffers. they don't give a rat's behind whether they do their job or not. they're basically thugs in uniform. lower your expectations of them

[krish11]

My travels in the city take me past colleges and schools. In the vicinity of these institutions I invariably run into rashly driven 2 wheelers ridden by helmet-less student riders - normally fully loaded with 3-4 on-board. They indulge in all the usual bad-practices of speeding, driving on wrong side, racing with each other, wheelies and so on.

If our traffic police can be "nearby" these places when the college starts classes or when the classes get over, they can act as a deterrent. I am sure they can get a good collection of violations and in the process educate/deter these young violators. I am also sure the college management is aware of these happenings - do they not have a responsibility to keep their students safe ?

[Shanenanigans]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

I think its safe to generalize this tribe of KTM Duke riders, 101% of them (and yes I've seen dozens if not hundreds) ride like they are on methamphetamine. That bike has to be abolished, period. 2nd on the list comes Honda Dio riders, well actually they are just as bad.. today I saw one with strobe-lights on the front (he should be arrested immediately for this) and zig-zagging helmetless without a care in the world. Third on the list are the Enfield Bullet guys (not all but yeah a few).

For the record, it is actually not safe to generalize like this. It's not all KTM riders who ride rash. I take the ORR between Manyata and Tin Factory everyday, and I see extremely rash riders on almost all vehicles imaginable. This morning, when I was waiting for pedestrians to cross at the NGEF layout turn near Baiyapanhalli station, there was this rather large woman on an Activa who took the turn at full speed (and a very high lean) and nearly tagged my car on the way to OMR.

I've seen rash two wheelers of all sorts. The number of Splendors, Discovers, Activas, Dios, Dukes, RCs, Bullets/Thunderbirds (yes, them too) that plague the roads are simply immense. It just has to do with maturity (or lack thereof) of riding and not being disciplined enough to leave earlier to get to their destination on time without making another Fast and the Furious movie. The number of Rossis on the road are incredibly high. Ideally all of us here should work together to make sure that, if not anything else, we shouldn't do the same and endanger others.

The four-wheelers are no less. The most notorious guys are the ones with Indicas, Etios, smaller Marutis, cab cars, so on and so forth who drive like Schumis on the roads and try to fit into every gap possible. It's common knowledge that there is no lane discipline in India but everyone tries to exploit the fact that you don't get ticketed for rash driving (unless you argue with a cop that is). When I ride to and from work, I do have plenty of instances where a car very nearly misses me in an overly ambitious overtake while I'm just cruising along. Then we have the tempo travelers and Samsung R&D buses (which I'm pretty sure has already been mentioned) who are simply reckless.

Such generalizations make all riders look bad especially when there are people like me who do respect the rules of the road whether I ride or drive. When there are faults on both sides of the equation (being general here), it is a little rough to make such a generalization on a publicly accessible forum.

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Having tints in cars is illegal, not renewing the emission certificate every 6 months is illegal, but somehow getting strobes installed on the front of bikes, high-decibel horns, helmetless riding etc are all fine. Great priorities the traffic police have. Way to go!

I remember reading lately that cops are cracking down on various offences and randomly stopping riders to reprimand them for whatever offences they may have on record or not. One thing I like about Bangalore cops is that I personally feel that they are far more transparent than cops in Gurgaon so you know that if you've made a mistake (doing 60 in a 50kmph zone, like my side of the ORR) you will pay the price for only that. While one doesn't get points on his/her license here, it would at least hopefully teach something substantial.

However, there have also been instances where the cops have randomly put up traffic offences on random vehicles in locations they haven't been to before. As an example, a buddy who lives in BTM, who is a regular for our rides, got a ticket when he was in office (e-city) for signal jumping in Yelahanka. Like Ironh4wk says, we should reduce our reliance on them.

Basically, proper traffic education can go a long way when disciplining commuters. In that vein, lately I've been seeing people completely get out of the way of ambulances in full traffic to let them pass, and not following them just because they've cleared a path.

[Mashblue]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

I think its safe to generalize this tribe of KTM Duke riders, 101% of them (and yes I've seen dozens if not hundreds) ride like they are on methamphetamine...Way to go!

What has KTM done to deserve such reputation (atleast in your perspective)? Is it because they sell performance machines at affordable prices? Is it because they provide ABS as standard on the 390? Is it because they offer excellent handling with perimeter frames? Is it because they come with superb grippy tyres?
Absolutely baseless to be generalizing KTM riders to be rash. Rash riders are everywhere on every possible machine you can imagine. I personally have seen more SUVs being driven rash than bikes.
Its a problem with the licence system we have in India I feel. Many upgrade from a commuter to a sportbike and try to ride it the same way, recipe for disaster. Only thing we can do is stay alert on the road and hopefully try and spot a rash rider and not an ORANGE MACHINE.

[dark.knight]

I guess a clarification is in order, firstly yes I've seen proper riders who ride with discipline and with necessary safety gear and such people will always ride safe whether its a Hayabusa or a Duke. The problem is also not with speed per se but with misuse of speed, going too fast in choked roads, bumping into other vehicles, bumping into pedestrians etc.

All of you are correct when you say that almost every brand and type of vehicle is guilty of breaking rules and rash driving and as I've also mentioned in the last post, I too am aware that its the type of rider or driver which determines good or bad motoring. I have nothing against KTM as a brand, each person is entitled to purchase the vehicle of their liking without being stereotyped and that was not my intention at all. However when a lot of people display reckless abandon when riding a particular bike it does sort of seem to the common eye that they purchase it purely for speed and not to just enjoy a good ride over most conditions. Also my statement is only related to what I saw and I also know there are much more than a 100 Dukes in Bangalore.

In the end its only a rant in the hope of making the readers of this forum aware how certain types of riders buy powerful bikes and only cause harm and collateral damage in the process. I'm aware all too well that cabbies, Ola drivers, autos and cars drive just as recklessly, who among us has not wished for an auto free day or even a car free day so the roads become a saner place to be in, I sure have. I've myself spoken about good riders and drivers collaborating to make our country roads safer but in the end its just about 10 of us discussing and hoping while the situation grows worse in real time. No insult intended specially towards Bhpians as we're one of the rare forums that constantly hammer through the aspects of safety and responsibility whether its for a pedestrian or high end cars.

[Chetan_Rao]

I prefer the idea of categorizing motorcycle licenses by engine sizes, and having increasingly stringent testing requirements for higher category licenses.
The same license to ride a commuter bike and potentially a liter-class bike is downright absurd. The similarity ends at the number of wheels on the ride.

[Acharya]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

What's with the dudes on KTM bikes and rash driving!

While I don't deny rashly driven two wheelers but I don't agree with generic generalization of specific population, in this case, KTM duke riders.

A bad driver could ride even a Bajaj Chetak in a fast, erratic and rash manner, on the other hand I have seen many KTM dukes ridden just fine.

I see a tendency to find a group which is easily identifiable (KTMs, Cabbies, Autowalas, IT folks) and generalize the bad behavior shown by a certain individual who falls in one of these groups.

In my opinion, every generalization is wrong, including this one (I know it's a paradox) !

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by Acharya

While I don't deny rashly driven two wheelers but I don't agree with generic generalization of specific population, in this case, KTM duke riders.

I see a tendency to find a group which is easily identifiable (KTMs, Cabbies, Autowalas, IT folks) and generalize the bad behavior shown by a certain individual who falls in one of these groups.

Yes sir I do agree. Infact I have made it clear in my post as well that I am wrong in generalizing but did also mention that I have seen numerous instances of the mentioned bikes being in the wrong. Most of the 4 wheeler's drive in such a way that they shame 2 wheeler riders in finding non existing gaps. But having said that I wrote what I thought because I have seen many KTM's driven rashly on the route I take to office most of the days (watch out if you ever drive around christ college or koramangala) and yesterday unfortunately I was involved in one incident.

maybe its got to do with bike color scheme. Very bright and noticeable that people tend to notice it more than any other ones being driven equally rash!

P.S : Folks request all to keep the discussion related to Bangalore and its marvellous traffic condition rather than discussing about 2 wheeler brands & how it impacts riding or 2 wheeler vs 4 wheeler.

[FuelInjector]

Need to visit Bangalore for a day on Sunday. Any help with roads in and around NGEF / old madras road would be very helpful.
Would need to go take a bus from Madiwala at 13:30. Any suggestion on when should I leave NGEF?

[binand]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Need to visit Bangalore for a day on Sunday. Any help with roads in and around NGEF / old madras road would be very helpful.

Sunday noon - ORR via KR Pura > Marathahalli > Bellandur > Silk Board would be generally OK. Budget an hour though on your day, it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes.

If you see anything untoward on ORR then try the heavily signalled OM Road > Suranjan Das Road > OA Road > IRR > Hosur Road > Madiwala. Except for Sony World I don't see any problem junction on this route. This will take an hour invariably.

What you shouldn't try is to go via Indiranagar 100 ft Road or Trinity Circle (unless you are familiar with the various bylanes).

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Need to visit Bangalore for a day on Sunday. Any help with roads in and around NGEF / old madras road would be very helpful.
Would need to go take a bus from Madiwala at 13:30. Any suggestion on when should I leave NGEF?

on Sunday, consider an hour (give or take).

what kinda help do you need with roads nead NGEF/OMR?

[proton]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Need to visit Bangalore for a day on Sunday. Any help with roads in and around NGEF / old madras road would be very helpful.
Would need to go take a bus from Madiwala at 13:30. Any suggestion on when should I leave NGEF?

Taxi from NGEF to Madiwala at 11:30 am will reach at 12:30pm approximately. The traffic is quite light then. Tell the taxi to use magicbox route.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Need to visit Bangalore for a day on Sunday. Any help with roads in and around NGEF / old madras road would be very helpful.
Would need to go take a bus from Madiwala at 13:30. Any suggestion on when should I leave NGEF?

Sunday afternoon just take Indiranagar, Inner Ring Road and reach madiwala. If its the private buses like Kallada, etc that you're taking, go to end of IRR and turn right near the Ayyappan temple to reach the place where the buses depart from. This can take between 30-45 minutes, 1 hour if theres bad traffic. What other help do you need on the roads around NGEF/old madras road ?

[GTO]

Mod Note: Please don't target or put down riders of any particular make (e.g. KTM). Thanks!