Illegal bike race: In one night, Bengaluru traffic police seize 129 bikes

BENGALURU: Following DC's expose on 'Join the death race for a price Rs 10,000', some 200 city traffic police detained over 20 youngsters indulging in unregulated bike races, performing dangerous stunts like wheelies and drag racing on city roads, on Tuesday night.

In a massive crackdown, the traffic police seized 129 vehicles during the special drive and arrested 22 youngsters across the city for their alleged involvement in drag racing, wheeling and triple riding. The drive which was conducted across the city on Tuesday night began at 10 pm and ended at around 5.30 on Wednesday. Deccan Chronicle's reports on May 28 and again on June 3, highlighted that the death races were on the rise in the city.

“At a single go, over the last five years, the traffic police haven’t seized this sizable number of bikes and had not caught up with such offenders at such a large scale. The traffic police seized 120 motor-cycles and have arrested 22 youngsters who were found performing dangerous stunts on streets which is the highest so far,” said DCP Traffic, (West) S Girish.

According to the traffic police, the police decided to begin the crackdown on the night of Shab-E-Baraat, when youngsters tend to perform stunts on the road causing great inconvenience to the road users. To enforce greater safety norms, some 200 traffic policemen including, 30 traffic inspectors, 60 PSIs, 60 ASIs along with senior officers were deputed across major pockets like RT Nagar, Bellary Road, Yelahanka and Hebbal.

“During the drive, the police had closed down on all the flyovers in a bid to catch these bikers who perform wheelies and drag racing on the flyover and arterial roads. However, in order to evade police, the miscreants had raced onto the service roads during the drive where they were caught and nabbed by the traffic cops,” added DCP S Girish.

Relieved residents welcome the drive

Welcoming the move by the city traffic police, the residents thanked the city traffic police for conducting the special drive. Soon, after the drive ended, thousands of Bengaluru residents applauded the Bengaluru Traffic Police for nabbing the young bikers who involved in reckless riding posing danger to the other motorists.

The official FB page of Bengaluru Traffic police received a thundering response over the special drive conducted against the illegal bike race menace. Thousands of followers posted congratulatory messages with over 4,000 likes, and 500 comments.

One such elated city resident, Deepak Nair wrote, “Indeed, a very good initiative which was long pending as these young bikers do not just cause danger to themselves but to other travellers as well. This should be a non-bailable offence.”