Highway racing is recipe for disaster, death

At least one rider was seated in every cart and one of them was a woman

An illegal horse-cart race was witnessed along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway recently. Eyewitnesses said there were around six carts, being pulled by two horses each. The horses were whipped mercilessly by riders to make them speed up. Meanwhile, motorcycle-borne youth, including young women, cheered the riders.

A report cited people who were traversing the route saying there was absolute mayhem on the highway. The race took place on the recently inaugurated Versova bridge in broad daylight and the large group on motorcycles was chugging beer and throwing empty bottles on the stretch.

According to the eyewitness, none of the bikers were wearing helmets and their reckless riding caused a major inconvenience to everyone using the road. The horror story goes on with the motorcyclists seen performing stunts on their bikes, while the women cheered the riders by standing on the footrests of the moving two-wheelers, with their hair blowing in the wind, according to an eyewitness heading from Thane to Vasai.

Such activities are horrific and invite major accidents with fatalities. This is a certainty given that the riders are going fast, racing in carts. It is also shocking that the supporting group, these so-called cheerleaders, seem even more dangerous than the racers. From riding without helmets, reckless, posing a danger to all on the road, to drinking beer, they seem to have a death wish.

We need quick action and those who are hand-in-glove must be nabbed too. It seems incomprehensible that the police have not spotted this and have no clue what is going on. This certainly smacks of turning a blind eye to the situation. Highway racing is a recipe for disaster and we dare say, even death.