re: Accidents in India | Pics & Videos Another unfortunate late night accident that resulted in death of 2 precious lives and incidentally in this case, they are someone who a BHPian is a friend of. May their soul Rest in Peace.
Time and again and I have lost count on how many threads we have discussed on how unsafe it is to drive at night, (Wait, I am not done )….How unsafe it is to drive at night when you haven’t got a good sleep, when you are stressed, when you have not got enough experience to drive at nights, when your natural eyes take time to adjust between Daylight and artificial light.
Sleep is the most vital aspect that can be your life saver whether it is driving by the day or night. It all boils down to your “ability to react” for untoward and unwarranted situations prevalent on our country’s roads to be precise. - We are a country where people believe in keeping their high beams on and putting on the Hazards and driving on the wrong side of the road
- We have drivers who would not know how effectively to use flashing of beams to overtake and yet install LCD screen in place of rear view mirrors
- Lack of driving experience on single carriageway roads can often make it too difficult for one to adapt to dual carriageway roads without markings – This can be effectively witnessed when you see them zoom past at high speeds and struggle later when the road becomes single lane whenever an oncoming vehicle passes and he is unable to judge the shoulder of the road
- He is on high beam, why would I lower my beams??
- We feel proud that we took a U turn legally at the next available break in the median but how many even know that your indicators are useless to oncoming traffic when you are on high beams? (I switch to fog lights only in the Ertiga or low beams in my WagonR in such situations). The indicators are housed as part of the headlight unit and it becomes too difficult to distinguish the indicator blinking separately.
- We are safe when we install 100-90w bulbs over the OE Bulbs (I have) but we still fail to understand the use of Headlamp leveller- How you illuminate the rain drops or fog rather than see the road right ahead of you!
- We think remaining on the rightmost lane next to the median is safe – Ever imagined a stationary truck right at the apex of a right handed curve and you doing even 80kmph? – There is zero room for escape as there is only one thing next to you – The Median
- We are OK for Pedal to Metal at night on roads that we are driving for the first time – while others will see mangled metal at the next curve
- 8 out of 10 drivers I have known don’t even know how important it is to wash the windscreen (on regular basis during a single night drive)
- Keeping the headlights and tail lamp clusters clean is a detailing task for them which they will do when they visit a showroom next time!
- A clean, fresh windscreen reduces so much stress from your eyes. A clear set of headlights will make your beams more effective and focused
I am one of those who has driven mostly at nights than day time - Perhaps one of the reason I may never be able to suggest a good hotel for an overnight stay where I may have driven. - At nights you don’t have miscellaneous traffic
- Multiple Reflectors installed all over the road surface and around the roads help a lot in hinting a trucker of your approach
- These days, due to RTO Mandate, almost 95% trucks have reflective vinyl stripes even if they don’t have a functional tail lamp (next time you get closer to that truck with a Horizontal red reflective stripe, read what's written. Most likely it will be a logo of a particular state's/region's RTO)
- You average almost the same every hour even without crossing 100kmph
All of the above advantages fail miserably too – Lack of sleep, driving experience, getting carried away with empty stretches etc.
What matters most at night is steady and sedate speeds and a very good amount of concentration – Something that can happen only when you are less stressed – Something that is a possibility only if you have slept well!
EDIT - This was the same stretch (Chennai - Nellore - Ongole - Vizag) that we did last October. Was raining very heavily and the road work was still in progress. Similar case with no lane markings (often becomes difficult to judge the median or shoulders).
We were in a Palio MJD and we knew that the dual barrel headlights were not focusing well. We pulled over soon after one of the toll booths, with rain downpouring, we managed to set the beams right to focus well on the road (both High and Low). The patrolling jeep came rushing towards us with its blaring siren and asked us what were we doing. When we told them that we were adjusting the beams), he just continued.
I had another encounter with a herd of cattle in similar conditions (Rains, unmarked roads) while driving back from Pune last June at around 7pm in the evening too. Can very well imagine the hazards!
Last edited by paragsachania : 29th December 2014 at 19:17.
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