Cops owe you the cost of your destroyed Royal Enfield Exhaust!

Yes! you read it right, I want to call this an illegal war by the cops against the bullet riders in India. This article is not against the legal department or the law but against how it is being implemented by the few traffic personnel who themselves have bent the rules to suit their needs and benefit.
I am voicing out the questions and concerns on behalf of millions of bullet riders who are being harassed and made to feel like culprits on the run for just pursuing the passion of biking!

Breaking a law to set right another is like killing one person to save another!

This is exactly what few traffic police personnel are upto these days. The law is common to all and so has it been for the time we know in India. While there will always be those who will applaud the traffic police who are showcasing their creative side on how to destroy others property by cutting it into pieces, crushing it under the road roller or just dumping it in garbage, there are millions like me who feel this is absolute atrocity by the cops to take law in their hands and bend it as they like. The law restricts the use of exhausts that have the sound level beyond 84DB, which is fine, however the cops who are asked to implement the rule have resorted to the method that they think is correct and not what the law has laid down which is wrong and ILLEGAL.
Firstly, the traffic department is not seen using the Decibel Meter to determine if the after market exhaust is really above 84 Decibels or not (Immediately there are people who will argue that all aftermarket exhausts are above the limits so why they need to check? chill.. there are few aftermarket exhausts such as the one from Barrel Exhaust which come with a DB Filter which restricts the sound level to meet the standards so the rider may choose to use the exhaust within the city while having the DB filter and remove it easily while taking the bike beyond city limits). The cops who implement the rule on the roads unfortunately neither have any clue about this feature nor have an ear to listen to when explained about it. They have been just following the order to catch hold of vehicles that do not have a stock exhaust and they are executing it in a manner that is harassing and embarrassing the owner of the vehicle.

The images of the riders who have fitted an aftermarket exhaust on their bullets have been shared on the internet and social media similar to the ones of chain snatchers and bank robbers. After-market exhaust is NOT an ILLEGAL product and buying it or making it is NOT ILLEGAL and the cops have been referring to the product as illegal which is misleading the public!
Let me explain to you why I say this! A product that the government approves as legal to manufacture and use are the ones that have a HSN Code given and a GST tax rate assigned to it. In case of aftermarket exhausts, the HSN Code assigned by government is “87089200” and the tax rates defined for the product is 28%.
Coccain / Weed / Hash and items similar to these are illegal in nature and hence the government has not assigned any HSN Code or any tax slabs to it. The traffic department has comfortable used the word “Illegal” to refer to the aftermarket exhausts and this is wrong. Also the customer who buys the aftermarket exhaust pays to the government 28% tax while buying the exhaust and the traffic police do not have the rights to destroy the property of the common man just because they deem it to be illegal.
Liquor and Cigarettes are not allowed to be consumed in public places, and a fine is applicable if found to be smoking/drinking in public. Does it in anyway give rights to the cops to snatch the cigarette packet from the smoker and destroy it ? NO!!! Then why are the cops showcasing their talents in how to destroy others property for the sake of likes and shares on Facebook and twitter?

Image – Ajay Acharya

Another question that is to be asked is, if the cops are so hell bent on the 84DB mark, why are there so many other vehicles including the private Trucks, Busses, Auto rickshaws, tractors not to leave out the super bikes that ply on the road with loud exhausts let to roam free? So is it that only the sound that comes out of the bullet harms the human being? If so then how can super bikes and bigger capacity and tractors that idle at 90-95DB be registered by RTO?
I also fail to understand, the cops who decide to snatch the exhaust from bikers and slap a heavy fine are not even trained how to check the Decibel level of the motorcycle! Normally the 84Db mark is measured from a distance of 5 meters from the vehicle at a 45 degree angle from the exit mouth of the exhaust while the motorcycle is in motion. However the handful of cops who use a DB meter (God knows when is was last calibrated) insert the mic into the exhaust and show a high DB level to prove that the noise is greater than 84DB. Upon this, the cops comfortably give a full throttle on a stationery bike and smile at the rider like an eureka moment. At full throttle, does anyone expect the sound to become ultrasound?? lol..

Using this method of checking the DB level, even a Honda Activa shows a reading of 95 DB so can we start pulling up the Activa Exhausts too and crushing it under a bulldozer? I am not here trying to say don’t follow the rules, we all respect the law and want to abide by it, however we want the ones who implement it do it the right way! These days the traffic departments in most states look like they are reporting to Facebook and showing their performance to please the ones on social media than just ensure the roads are safe for the public.
Why this much action is not taken on the politicians who put big hoarding and banners covering signal lights, traffic sign boards? Why are the cops always standing in groups after the signal to just wait and fish out the ones who jump the signal and slap a fine rather than just be at the signal and make sure no one jumps it or in the process gets killed or kill someone? Why are the cops easy on private busses that ply on the city roads without any proper license to operate and honk like lunatics? Why does the loudspeakers during political rallies / religious gatherings not harm the poor common man’s ear and only a passionate bullet rider who choose to follow his dreams look more terrorising to the eyes of the cops?
Why do we bikers who have bought the legal products by paying tax to the govt fear like we have bought drugs? The traffic department has now began a drive against non ISI helmet which is a very welcoming move and we all support it a lot, however the cops themselves wear a plastic half face helmets mostly without a strap fastened. Now how does law bend for the ones who implement it? Who get’s to question these lapse in the implementation of the law?

After collecting all the exhausts, the cops destroyed them in full public view by crushing them under a road roller.

Why are we bullet riders victimised all over the country? Does anyone realise that if all the vehicles on the road were electric, there will be more accidents on the road and pedestrians who now hear the vehicle before they see will not know what knocked them down?

If all vehicles on the road become electric, there will be more accidents and roadkills! Be heard, be safe!

Just for the sake of fun facts, I did check sound levels of the common things that happen around us in the daily life and see the results of the same below! It’s astonishing!
– A tractor idling to full throttle : 95 DB / 115 DB
– Avg DB Levels at a cinema hall : 100 DB
– Auto Rickshaw at throttle : 105 DB (plus that irritating shrill noise)
– Loudspeakers in religious houses (all faiths) average : 115 DB (plus this goes on for hours sometimes)
– A dog bark from a distance of 1 meter : 90 DB
Are we going to silence the dogs as anything above 84DB will harm the human ear? The stray dogs keep barking all night and disturb a million people sleeping. lol…
All said, yes there are few idiots on the road who do the so called phataka sounds and use air horns in city limits and ride rash putting others life on the road in danger. We are with the cops when they catch hold of them and slap a heavy fine! But why harass a normal biker who is following his passion and dreams?

Most of the bikers whom the cops have caught and destroyed their property (exhaust / headlights / handlebars) are normal bikers who commute to office and home enjoying the sweet thump that has inspired them to work harder to earn it. They are normal riders who travel long distances on their bikes during weekends and stay happy at least while they are on their bikes as it’s a way of nirvana for most bikers!
The sad truth is that the traffic department has one of the most stressful jobs on the earth. They have to stand all day on the road irrespective of rain or shine. They are more prone to lung infections and varicose veins due to prolonged standing. Due to constant exposure to smoke and dust their health is at great risk! We have great respect towards the noble souls, however why do they want to for the sake of following law, harass a particular breed of bikers without even lending an ear to listen to what we say?

Mahindra two wheelers recently launched “Mojo” which comes with a factory fitted dual exhaust system that has a DB filter within. The bikes exhaust system gets a nod from RTO only when used with the DB killer and without the DB killer it is supposed to be used only outside city limits. Similarly, the exhausts that comes with a DB killers, irrespective of any bike model must be allowed to be used without any issue! However this is not the case with the bullet riders!
It’s time we ask the questions that we were just holding back! I am writing this for the entire community, and this includes both the makers and the takers! If you reciprocate my thoughts and feeling as a fellow biker, I am happy! If you just for the sake of riding a different bike brand or may have seen one off example of a retard bullet rider annoying you with a phataka retaliate to this article, you are still welcome to go ahead because I am sure you would have also seen a biker who rides a similar bike like yours being a pain in the neck on roads!
Bikes don’t cause problems to people, it’s people who do! So I urge every biker from every fraternity to join your voice and stand for a common cause! The intention is not to stand against the cops, but to make them aware that the method adopted by them to implement law could be better. After all, when any biker on the road meets with an accident, we are those who don’t see what brand biker he is before we extend help!
Let us unite for the betterment of the passionate clan of bikers in INDIA!
– By Giridhar Soundararajan