You are painting all locals with the same brush. I don't want to start a mud slinging match but it is enough to say there are bad apples everywhere.

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I deliberately restrain myself to take any precaution when there is such a violation in front of me..just  tap them with my car..and give them a cold shrug that I couldnt help it!

Again its just a tap is needed and not a shove, which could lead to fractures..it gets complicated then!

Also I can afford to do that cos my car is an old one..cant try this with new vehicles though!

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This is unfortunate and scary. To prevent incidents like this in the future, I feel you should go ahead and lodge a complaint. Did you note down then registration number of the bike?

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...if you are speak Kannada or not (though that might be a good excuse for the to start a fight). Such thugs have mis-treated me a few times even though I'm a Kannadiga.

I'd say go file a complaint, especially if you have the license plate number. But you can never say for sure how connected these thugs are, so stay alert.

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 Don't scream at or give advice to anyone on the road.  People are in no mood to listen.  People who ride like that are likely to come under someone's wheels one day.  Just try and make sure it isn't yours. 

Srivathsa

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The frustation of non-inclusive development and prosperity is taken out on innocent 'outsiders' especially those who speak hindi. I also encountered same thing but with a MNC's cab driver who clipped me from the left (I was on the right most lane and at around the speed limit, he was speeding). My car/mirror was scrapped and somehow it was my fault. The cops came and blatantly refused to talk to me unless I speak Kannada. Luckily I know and also have a used a lawyer here. Its needed as that is the language the bribed and corrupt cops understand (cops r same everywhere !). The constable talked dakani now (learnt hindi very quickly on hearing about the lawyer !). I did feel that the non-inclusive development has made few people in Ktaka rich while most are languishing below poverty line (again same everywhere). To make matters worse the education imparted here does not inculcate civic sense into or even common sense. Lastly, the caste divide and politics is rampant. You wont feel its a 21st century civilized society once you encounter such instances but then that is where we live in either in BLR/MUM/HYD/CHE. Its feels bad if you face this in Oz but in your own country you feel worse and sick. I felt that day that US was far more better, was cursing myself as to why I returned back. What can be done ? Not sure, am not a pol science or IAS. Have no clue. To be safe on road I follow "defensive driving" and do not teach/tell others attitude  (u can take a horse to water, if he is thirty it will drink, try doing that with a donkey !) but then it makes me a bangalorean now(as I don't complain). Totally indifferent with a don't care attitude (realized that when back at my home town, my father asked me why I don't say anything to anything wrong. He had taught me to stand up but I had changed). If u c a person w/o helmet, driving on footpath and then u c someone explaining them not to do that. U know 2 things. The person explaining is new to bangalore and that is how they drive in bangalore !(drive slow in mumbai and they say 'nava hai kya') I have seldom seen anyone else complaining about these things. Ask the cops, they know better that is why they wanted to encourage a complaining culture in banglore as no one complains which never took off. I dont care of other cities as am a bangalorean. Ppl here would say it happens in every city. But lets not stop @ that. This is our city and we need to figure out how to do inclusive development so that these people dont feel left out. If we we start that we end up with MNS/Marxist and others org whom we can avoid. Bluru has the most RnD centers, we are the topmost thinking city in India. Lets think, find a solution which other cities can replicate.

[Edited: Sorry if I have projected it in wrong way, am a passionate Indian, eng is my second language & do get carried away]

BCP related

http://www.karnataka.com/node/489

Defensive Driving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJW-mc9O5V0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGz9C7Cp2sY

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If you have no constraints, I would recommend you to get a lawyer and pursue the case with the police. Inaction will only encourage this kind of behavior.

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Though it is tempting to suggest to go to the police I would suggest otherwise. Going to the police is a lot of pain with no gain. This I speak from the experience of a close friend of mine. A guy almost killed a girl and my friend told him to drive properly. That guy got two guys and there was fight. My friend went to the police (so did the other guy) and believe it or not the case still going on for more than 3 years. My friend even got an arrest warrant though he had told the court that he could not attend one particular hearing. The hearing is always postponed because the "witnessess" disappear always. This is a ploy by the other side to drag the case and force my friend to withdraw the case. And fighting a case is an expensive affair.

I also used to advice or shout at other road users but I have realised that it is just waste of time and energy. If anything has to chage then it should start somewhere else. May be with the licensing authorities or schools and colleges.

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Can't paint all the locals in same brush (as afalak has done above), and even though this seems to be road rage more than kannada valor incident, I do hear that using kannada for cover in such cases is on the rise. However, road rowdies are rowdies. Once you cross the kannada barutha check, they usually find something else to poke you with. Better to stay away and avoid as there is absolutely nothing you can win in these incidents.

By not focsing on rash driving at all, traffic police is not helping matters either. Agreed, that enforcing lane basd driving, sped checking etc is not easy, but traffic police needs to move beyond paper checking, signal jumps and automation.

BTP can start small by fining for lane indisciplene 30-40 meters before 20-25 big signals. Very much doable, instead of seting trap after the traffic light, do it before the light.

Rash driving is about lanes and speed. Speed check is relatively easy to automate (speed guns), but there is no automation short-cut available to BTP for forcing lane disciplene. Have to mingle with traffic and catch some examples. Given that we are going to see some signal free coridors in an year or two, I say it is time.

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I once had a scary encounter similar to yours with a auto driver. And since I am a woman, was alone at about 9 p.m in the auto, it was scarier. But a local helped me. She not just waited with me till my family picked me up but also valiantly argued with the driver. Unfortunately I couldnt understand a word they were speaking (am from Maharashtra).

Such encounters are getting common in a metropolitan like Pune too. Parks and bus stops are notorious for bossing around non-mahrashtrians. So this is not just Bangalores problem.

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Agree with others - these sort of encounters are not unique to bangalore alone.

I recently came thro' chennai int'l airport & the customs officer promptly decided to "inspect" my luggage when he realized that I couln't speak tamil. What he hadn't realized was that I could follow some spoken tamil words.

It was amusing to hear him tell a colleague that I was an "outsider", so here was a candidate they could use for the mandatory random checking of luggage for "bombs" !

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