Speed demons, please mind the limit

There is no better way to start your Sunday than be able to watch a film shoot: Big, expensive bikes doing well over 160 kmph, police officials trying to catch them by using barricades, parking trucks on the road and stopping traffic on a busy highway. Except this was no film shoot; this was real.

Yes, on Sunday, the Bangalore-Mysore highway had to be shut for about 45 minutes after 14 bikers on their expensive super bikes shook residents from Mandya to Channapatna. But alert police officials—with timely communication—managed to catch eight bikers who were riding the likes of Suzuki Hayabusa, Ducati Monster, Triumph, Kawasaki Ninja, BMW and Yamaha.

The eight bikers—identified as Aravind, Mohan Roy, Abinandan, Prashanth, Kiran, Murli, Vivek and Sudeep—were stopped at Bidadi by the Bidadi police officials after they were found to be speeding in excess of 160 kmph, which is twice the speed limit.

The incident came to light after residents of Mandya spotted the bikes speeding on the highway around 9am. The residents complained to the local police, who then wired the communication to the Maddur police station.

But the bikers had crossed Maddur and were racing towards Channapatna by the time Maddur police came to know about it.
“The Channapatna police put up barricades, but they broke through and headed towards Ramanagara. This was communicated to the Ramanagara station officials who also put up barricades. By this time, the bikers had crossed Ramanagara, but we stopped the last two bikers for questioning,” said VB Bhaskara, circle inspector, Bidadi.

In the meantime, Bidadi police officials, who were alerted, got hold of two trucks and parked them in the middle of the road to stop the bikers. “We had to stop all traffic within 150 metres from the trucks. Two bikes had already passed by then but eight others were stopped,” he said.

The barricades and the police presence got the people’s attention as well, who then gathered around the bikes. “They were speeding at around 160 to 180 kmph, while the speed limit on the highway is 80 kmph. In some places like Maddur, the limit is 15 kmph as there are schools nearby,” said Bhaskara.

The police booked a case of reckless driving and collected a fine of `5,700 from the bikers. “This case is similar to the one that took place recently on the same road when four drunken African students sped from Bangalore towards Mysore and broke down barricades at Bidadi, Channapatna and Mandya,” Bhaskara said.

Caught and fined, Abinandan, who was riding a Hayabusa, said they were passionate bikers who rode to Maddur and Srirangapatna for breakfast on weekends. “This is the first time we have faced an issue like this,” he said.