Bikers’ group irked with at Navi Mumbai traffic police post

The group claims that this creates a misleading impression of bikers who strictly adhere to safety measures and meticulously follow ethics of professional biking

NAVI MUMBAI

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The Navi Mumbai traffic police’s attempts at self-promotion by publishing its action of penalising racing bikes on social media has got the biking community seething with anger. The group claims that this creates a misleading impression of bikers who strictly adhere to safety measures and meticulously follow ethics of professional biking.

The department had earlier posted photographs on twitter of officials taking legal action against a group of bikers for racing on Palm Beach Road. Similarly, photos were uploaded with captions stating their officials were tutoring bikers about the importance of adhering to speed limits within residential areas and wearing helmets.

The post is termed by the biking community as an absolutely false and desperate attempt by the department to mislead the public. “Enroute our way to Uran Beach, the traffic police flagged us down with no reason whatsoever. No sooner had we stopped, than the officers began taking pictures. In fact, we were even asked to remove our helmets. At that time, we didn’t understand the rationale of the action, but later, seeing the post on twitter, we realized all of it was a gimmick to appease their seniors. The post on twitter with our photographs claims that we were being penalized for racing,” said a youtuber and biking enthusiast Tiger Koul, who runs his biking team, Tiger Tribe. The passionate biker vlogs extensively on the importance of safety measures necessary for being a professional biker

Though the incident happened last month when Koul and his group of 15 bikers were headed for Uran from Powai, the collage of their photos by the traffic police was posted on Monday.

When the group reached Nerul Junction, it was stopped by the traffic police. “As per the picture on twitter, traffic police are shown to be informing us about the importance of wearing helmets when all of us were wearing not just helmets but also complete biking gear. There was no consent taken for clicking photographs and even a lady biker was not spared. We were eventually let go with no fine levied, but the post shared by traffic has brought us disrepute,” said Koul.

Koul found support on twitter from different users. Twitter user @nairsandy said the police post amounts to spreading fake news. “All the riders were in proper gear and following all the traffic rules by stopping at the signal and (riding) within speed limits. You people just stopped us, asked for license and randomly took pics” (sic)

Another user @karthikshetty said this group was promoting safe riding and the police post would end up discouraging safe riding.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Tirupati Kakade maintained that the department had acted within the law and for the wellbeing of the public. “The post is only meant to create awareness and not to humiliate anyone. The reason for taking pictures is also part of the traffic department’s road safety campaign,” he said. Traffic police inspector Prithviraj Ghorpade said the action was part of a drive against racers known to ride recklessly along Palm Beach. “There have been numerous complaints about racers on Palm Beach and we have acted accordingly. There is a speed limit of 60 Km/hr on Palm Beach and this is regularly flouted by bikers,” said the inspector.