[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

I do hope you read the entire post. Anyways if i misunderstood the OP - then apologies for my over-reaction.

Yes I did and again from your quoted post he has just mentioned about street racing. What I had quoted earlier is the only piece where he had mentioned about accidents happening because of high speeding motorcycles.

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

I am just a little sensitive to painting all superbike owners with the same brush for the misdeeds of a few.

As do all of us. There were strong perceptions against pulsar bikes during my younger days and now its against KTM in commuter bike categories. One cannot influence people's mind but its more prudent to be safer and saner.

[marcussantiago]

If the bikes that were damaged include the likes of a BMW Adventure, an H-D Fatboy and a Triumph Tiger, then we can safely guess that the owners are reasonably well-off and at least some of them will be well-connected.

This means that there will probably be some kind of backlash from the authorities in the coming days as this story slowly goes viral.

Because after all, the only way to get anything vaguely resembling justice in our country is 1) get an army of angry idiots to rampage about wrecking everything to make a point or 2) be wealthy and well-connected enough that you can influence the system to work in your favor.

It's a sad fact that I can achieve neither #1 or #2. I can just about afford a nice bike (a KTM), but I'm related to nobody rich and/or powerful and have no relatives or family here.

Therefore, if tomorrow I am struck and killed by a drunk driver / road raging neanderthal on the highway while riding my bike to work, nobody will give a hoot or cry for me except perhaps my widow.

Hamara Bharat Mahaan! etc. etc.

:(

[pgsagar]

We can't blame just bikers or motorists. Pedestrians are to blame, too. In the instant case, we can't blame this girl because at 11 , she was too young to know right from the wrong. But, I would blame her parents. I have a son, too and even before teaching him alphabets, I taught him how to conduct himself while outdoor at an early age of 2/3 years. How to look out for vehicles, how to cross road and at which point to cross, etc. etc. On the other hand I have seen parents just letting their kids out loose with nary a care. And such people themselves are horrible on roads, whether as pedestrians or as motorists. And their number runs into crores. Hence, the mayhem. Our utter lack of discipline, patience, manners shows at every step we take. Driving rashly or darting across traffic as pedestrian is a mere extension of that. And, then failure on part of Govt. to do its bit by not doing away with intersections and crossings on highways. Couldn't they just raise highway and let villages have underpass access/crossover road? No matter how careful a driver you are, you can still kill someone at legal speed of 60 kph if some idiot decides to suddenly throw himself in front of your car/bike.

[stanjohn123]

Really sad for the kids loss but more frightened and angered at Mob's Injustice. I hope the video goes viral and all the accused who hit and damaged the innocent bikers get arrested and punished too.

No use punishing the biker who hit the kid but the biker can heavily compensate the family monetarily.

[bigron]

Frankly, its hard to comment on what really happened sitting so for away from the place of occurrence. The media presents a skewed picture and the phone camera videos hardly capture the story in its entirety.
Unfortunate that a life has been lost. This is the time for instant justice.

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by hserus

One ironclad rule around the world .. guess who has right of way even if they are coming from the wrong side etc? You got it, the pedestrian.

I am commenting as you are stretching a rule to apply to the world. Without a side walk, one can classify people crossing the streets at unmarked locations as jaywalkers. Jaywalking means it is in violation of pedestrian traffic laws. It is a minor offence, but an offence none the less. That said many countries make special accommodation for children under the age of 14 crossing a street at an unmarked location.

Originally Posted by bigron

Unfortunate that a life has been lost. This is the time for instant justice.

How can you say something like this?? I feel horrible for those other riders who happened to be riding on that street on that day! These riders are also children of some other people.

The takeaway for me is that there are too many jobless angry people out there, to take a bad situation and make it worse. An accident is best judged in a court of law, not a street court by a mob.

[bigron]

@Gutsy -Being a criminal lawyer by profession and a biker at heart I agree an accident SHOULD be judged in a court of law. But the times they have changed.
As unfortunate at it may sound the present times are such where mob justice has become the norm. And the scary bit is our acceptance to such barbarism.
My views were limited to the incident. Since I do not have enough information to comment on who was wrong or right.

[paragsachania]

This one today from ToI says the child was riding pillion with her father on a bike when the accident happened:

Three superbikes, including the one which ran over an 11-year-old girl at Bullahalli Gate on Ballari Road near Avathi village on Sunday morning, were attacked by a mob later.

Videos of the bikers being assaulted went viral, spreading panic among the public.

WhatsApp messages warning bikers to keep off Ballari Road stretches were circulated on Monday too.

V Anju aka Anjali, riding pillion on her father Venugopal’s bike, was killed after the speeding superbike hit the two-wheeler around 9am on Sunday. Angry villagers caught the rider Nikhith, 30, a resident of Jakkur, and tied him to an electric pole. They thrashed him, handing him over to Vijayapura police.

A Bullahalli villager said a huge mob gathered at the scene soon after news of Anju’s death spread. The crowd was furious and came across two youngsters riding two superbikes, including a Harley Davidson. The crowd got the bikers to slow down, pushed the vehicles off the road and slapped the riders. A few minutes later, the mob let the bikers go. The incident was not reported to police.

And as usual, the authorities that needs to intervene for such instances thinks nothing happened at all !

Meanwhile, Vijayapura police said they were unaware about the attack on the bikers. They said the situation is under control and no rider was assaulted on Monday

As if the bikers would want to ride that side, that too on a Monday after reports of these senseless assaults went viral.

Source

Also, the name of the biker who was tied to the pole and thrashed has been wrongly mentioned everywhere. I learnt from my cousin that he is is colleague at work.

[Arjun Reddy]

End of the day a young life was lost. Though I do not advocate mob justice, I definitely advocate safe driving/ riding on public roads.

Street racing and over speeding has become a weekend norm on this stretch. I use this road regularly on weekends to go to my farm, though I see a lot of disciplined riders/ drivers, there are always the morons who are doing 160 on an 80 kmph speed limit road. Apart from this I see youngsters with their friends in Zoom cars just racing up and down Nandi Hills like it was their private race track. I used to walk up to Nandi Hills on a weekend. Sadly I have stopped doing it as I just find it extremely dangerous with these guys zipping across the bends at speeds we would not do.

I have a strong feeling that this incident is not adhoc and the locals would have encountered many smaller incidents on the run up to this incident and this is where the bomb just exploded.

I guess there needs to be education on how to enjoy these super machines responsibly.

Sadly mob justice has become a norm. A lot of responsible riders also faced the mobs fury for no fault of theirs.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Also, the name of the biker who was tied to the pole and thrashed has been wrongly mentioned everywhere. I learnt from my cousin that he is his colleague at work.

Thanks Parag for sharing this information, hope wisdom prevails now and people realize that some of us did not blame the biker just for the sake of doing it. I think now there is no confusion about the actual offender, the police should ensure that he gets the highest punishment and should not push for out of court settlement. The excess of money and alcohol is spoiling the youth, as a respected community we should create more awareness about pedestrian safety and do's and don’ts among our members.

Arjun, there is no difference between use of foul language and physical abuse, both are reprehensible acts out of stupidity. I saw the use of word b*gger in one of the post on this thread, what is it conveying? I agree with you that there were some incidents before this and unfortunately a small girl was killed.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Thanks Parag for sharing this information, hope wisdom prevails now and people realize that some of us did not blame the biker just for the sake of doing it.

His name closely resembles the name reported in various media but its not him. Once I got this info, I even checked his FB profile and his pictures confirmed it was the same person who appeared all these days across many forums including this thread. Heck, his cover pic also has a KTM.

The excess of money and alcohol is spoiling the youth,

The norm of the day is "I will buy a bike to go for group rides" and not because I love to ride. I have seen many such examples within my own workplace.

[blackwasp]

A recording by a biker at the same (or close to) spot. Wrong way, that too between the two lanes of fast moving traffic. I wonder what these chaps drink to get the guts to even attempt this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6Gh_hII4tc

[srishiva]

All we need is for the biker to be some rich kid and the opinions would change in an instant !
Nothing is known now except that a Child was killed which is really unfortunate and some bikers were manhandled. The media doesnt even report the exact details after couple days which is sad.

I have seen riders in opposite direction but the above video is absolutely astonishing !

[sub.g84]

We live in a country where human lives have no value. And to be honest our roads are just not meant for high speed driving/riding. No, I am not just talking of the road qualities but also the etiquette. Neither the vehicles nor the pedestrians follow rules in most scenarios. While it maybe human nature to not follow rules at the first go, there is no strict enforcement of the laws by the authorities.

Had there been a proper enforcement against jay walking, over speeding, auditing of road signage, auditing of proper road planning in rural areas to keep animals and pedestrians out, this would not have happened. This is an one of case of a poor child getting run down. But just imagine how many cars have to face stray animals crossing the roads every day and how many animals get run down in the process. If there is anyone to be blamed in this case then it is solely the authorities who do not do their part in ensuring safety.

[Kamran Mohsin]

I am disappointed to read some of the comments made by some of the members about the whole issue where people are sad that the biker got thrashed rather than the poor little girl losing her life!! You mean, just because it could (or could not) have been her fault, she deserved to die for coming in his way? Is humanity dead?

And yes, the villagers are wrong to thrash him & yes this might have been the last straw & yes there is a need to do something about it but the biker just got thrashed, he can live with it for the rest of his life, but that poor little girl is dead!

I am a biker too but I don't think there is any comparison here between a child losing her life and a biker getting thrashed.