Stunters, a nuisance on road…
On Sunday morning I was going to Qutab institutional area to attend weekly BCM Touring Meet. I had barely ridden half a kilometer from my home when I saw a guy pull a wheelie on his scooter, while coming down he almost knocked down couple of cyclist who were riding ahead of him. This reminded me of the time I was associated with the “largest biking club in India”. While the punch lines of the club use to be ride safe, the weekly get-togethers were anything but that! Stunters were given full freedom to do as they wish and to perform stunts where ever and when ever they wanted. This was done to appeal to the wider audience ie. Teenagers with ragging hormones, little or no attention was paid to the safety of the stunters or other road users.
While I respect every biker, respecting a person who puts others life in danger is some thing that I cannot do! Which ultimately became one of the reasons; which lead to my exit from that club. As I could no longer identify myself with an entity, which not only allowed such things to continue, but also actively promoted it!
It is disheartening to see few if any have changed their ways and it is now becoming a growing trend among teenagers. While I am not against stunting in general, I am sternly against stunting on public roads and sadly this is what goes on in India. Most kids try to pull a wheelie to impress the opposite sex or to boast in front of their friends. Without realizing the consequences their actions can reap. After all, all it takes is a little miscalculation and one could end up on the road and on a busy road that could mean taking down a pedestrian or crashing into another vehicle.
With two wheelers becoming more accessible and powerful every day, stunting is also growing by leaps and bounds. While movies glorifies it and media applauses it and covers it with great interest, it is becoming a shortcut to fame for many “biking clubs” who use it to not only entice people to join in, but also to garner media attention. All this while there is little or no attention paid to the safety of stunters or the audience.
While stunts done in a safe and controlled environment can become a good source of entertainment and can even be considered as sport. Street stunting will never be anything beside a new form of hooliganism.
How Old are you uncle-ji ??
totally agree with you.just yesterday i saw a group of young people whith no protective gear,not even helmet,doing or trying to do wheelies &stoppies in the hi-tech city main road,which is very dangerous,considering the traffic flow.what can we say about those people,who is immature and put other lives in to serious danger?i say,those who perform stunts on the streets shouldbe punished by law.
Kavita (are you a girl or a boy?) If behaving in a mature manner and thinking about the consequences your actions bring not only to yourself but to others as well classifies one as an uncle, than so be it.
Kamal I guess the comment posted above shows the level of ignorance some people have. And this is one of the prime reasons why incidents like these are on the rise, I guess its only a matter of time before police starts taking strict action against such people.
Controlled and safe are the two main keywords! We need to spread the word.
A good point, no doubt. However, we need to think about the conditions that prevail here in India. Stunting, is a form of art when seen from the ‘freedom of expression’ point of view. Just like we have art galleries for paintings and opera houses for singers, in developed countries we have enough racetracks and legally organised stunting competitions. How does the poor indian biker let off steam if all he can drive on is a public road ??
I agree that street stunting is dangerous and promoting it for the sake of increasing website members or earning a little fame is not just disgusting, it’s also a crime as serious as drug pedalling.
Maybe, what we need is organised stunting grounds where stunting is not only legal but also much safer than the roads. A hospital near such a site might just save some young lives. Maybe we should setup such sites near existing hospitals !!
What say ??
what he said!!
Pulkit it’s not about law of the land, the more serious issue is safety of others. If some one wants to express his/her creativity or skills then he/she should do it, but if that act puts other innocent lives in harms way then there is nothing in the world that will convince me to condone such expression!
You want to do stunts, find an empty stretch of road, watch for pedestrian and vehicular traffic and perform stunts as much as you want. If you fall it’s your body and your machine!
However most stunters don’t like to do this, why?
Because it’s not convenient for them and they won’t have as many spectators this way!
Such careless attitude is what I am against, not stunting in general!
good point there…..very good point…..the only way that this can be put to an end is to develop a track for stunting…..stunting does not require a large track….all it requires is a large piece of tarmac….
like say a 200 metre stretch of 2-way road….so if something like that is made outside the cities it’ll be a grat thing for everybody….
sadly these “largest biking clubs” will keep raking in money by performing different media centred events …but will not spend or atleast organise some way of buying this kind of land….
[...] I wrote Stunters a nuisance on road a while back in Sitting Idle and had sent the same post to Overdrive. This month Overdrive has decided to publish it in their mailbox section. [...]
[...] I wrote Stunters a nuisance on road a while back in Sitting Idle and had sent the same post to Overdrive. This month Overdrive has decided to publish it in their mailbox section. [...]
Navpreet I am not asking/expecting any one to develop stunting grounds (which would be great if it happens), however watching out for traffic or people is some thing that could be done easily and with little effort.
[...] It looks like my previous article “Stunters a nuisance on road” has created quite a stir and sadly it has been labeled by some as my attempt to get back on a few people that were a part of life a year or so back. While that was never the intent of that article and I had never thought it would be interpreted by some in such a manner. I will not be editing it as few have suggested, since I still hold those views and believe in what I wrote. You might or might not agree with me, but that is the beauty of democracy and freedom of speech, we agree to not agree with each other all the time. [...]
Just saw this today. Two pedantic peeves:
a. didja ask permission of that dude before posting his pic - matlab nahin banta to use some safe stunter’s pic to make a point against stupid kids who stunt arbitly!!
b. That is the kinda stunting which is okay IMHO - on broad roads, on one corner, with no traffic around. Doesnt get much safer than that.
Hitanshu agreed, photo removed