The incidents of road rage constituting unnecessary brawls and also serious accidents in some cases are continuing to spring up every day, especially in big cities like Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, etc. After one such incident was reported from Bengaluru, Karnataka the city police have suggested that vehicle owners install dash cameras in their vehicles as a deterrent against miscreants.
This is after a video went viral over the internet from Bengaluru in which the car owner could be seen suffering due to a road rage incident. The car owner was abused, thrashed and also his vehicle was damaged by 3-4 bike riders who initiated the scuffle and then provoked the vehicle owner to engage in a brawl.
Caught on cam: Car damaged in road rage incident in #Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/75GKWVkiWz
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) July 14, 2023
Road rage basically means showing aggression on the road. It has become quite common these days. Numerous cases of unnecessary brawls and serious accidents due to road rage are reported these days. In the recent one, a Twitter user happened to share his dreadful experience that happened at Queens Road, Bengaluru in the first week of July.
On July 2, one resident identified as Pranay Kotasthane said that he was attacked by two bike riders while he was in the car at the Queen Road signal. Later the same bike riders attacked him on July 4 below his building. The resident stated that this was a new kind of fraud and that the offenders were identified only because he had a dash camera installed in his car.
“We were waiting for the traffic signal to turn green on the Queens Road signal, turning towards Alliance Francaise. After turning, one guy on an Activa stopped us aggressively and started accusing us that our car had gone over his leg. I am a cautious, slow driver, so I was surprised. In any case, I apologised profusely, thinking that I might have made an inadvertent mistake. As soon as I did that, he got more aggressive and started shouting expletives. He clearly wanted me to get out of the car and confront him. But somehow, I maintained my calm and just went ahead. After some distance, he took another route and let us go,” the resident said sharing his experience on Twitter.
He added that on July 4 (Tuesday) at around 5.30 pm, the same thing happened to him, this time on Wheeler Road near Thom’s Bakery. He also happened to identify the attacker and confirmed that he was the same person who had attacked him on July 2 at the Queens Road Signal. “On July 4 (Tuesday) at around 5.30 pm, the same thing happened to me. And guess what. It was the SAME guy again. What are the odds!” he tweeted.
He swerved ahead of my car. And he let another accomplice of his, on another two-wheeler, try the same trick. The guy started banging the car windows and made the same accusation.
— Pranay Kotasthane (@pranaykotas) July 9, 2023
Now I was sure that this was a fraud. Luckily, there were quite a few traffic policemen nearby.
Further in the series of tweet he added, “He swerved ahead of my car. And he let another accomplice of his, on another two-wheeler, try the same trick. The guy started banging the car windows and made the same accusation. Now I was sure that this was a fraud.”
The resident then stopped the car near a place where the traffic police were ceasing the vehicles for traffic rule violations. The two two-wheelers seeing this ran away from the spot. On explaining the entire scene to the traffic policeman, Kotasthane was advised to register a police complaint but he could not identify the number plates of the bikes who attacked him.
However, he recalled that he had dash cameras installed in his car which helped him obtain the bike plate numbers and a police complaint was filed. “I had a dashcam on my car and was able to identify the number plate of one of the two fraudsters. Sharing this in case you notice something similar on the roads,” the user wrote.
The Bengaluru Police is said to have taken cognizance of the incident. Following the incident, many Twitter users shared their similar experiences of road rage in Bengaluru.
Please share your contact number via DM.
— ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ನಗರ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ BengaluruCityPolice (@BlrCityPolice) July 10, 2023
A few policemen confirming the incident said that the incidents of road rage have increased in the city. “It happens at signals where police are rarely deployed. The miscreants confirm that no police is around before staging these incidents,” the officer was quoted as saying.
Police have also warned residents from confronting strangers or rolling down their windows in their cars during such situations. Instead, they advised making a complaint by driving to the local police station. As a preventative measure against such miscreants, they also have recommended installing dash cameras in cars.
Having video evidence will help catch and then punish the miscreants. The footage will be vital in proving that the car driver was not at fault, and the bikers caused the confrontation intentionally. Moreover, if the goons spot the camera, they may refrain from attacks also. In Western countries, dashcams have become a common feature. Footages of accidents and other such incidents caught on such dashboard cameras routinely go viral on social media.
