Team-BHP - Day Driving or Night Driving?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirAlec (Post 800027)

Ofcourse! that a fact isn't it!
you have the control of your car only not others car! isn't that a fact too.

Yea, thats a fact. But overtaking truck drivers are anytime anywhere on our highways. Not only at night you're having this situation.

At night, all vehicles use headlights (hopefully) which gives you a better view of the upcoming vehicles. What about the road sides? Probably you're at less risk in such a situation during daytime because you can swerve out of the road if you want to, or rather if you have to, since the you can easily see the sides and plan where you can swerve. At night it is too risky to maneuver this, because you don't see the sides properly. You may end up toppling the car, falling into a big pit, or into a sewage if you drive an M800 :) (once happened in Blr during heavy rains), or hitting some milestone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover (Post 799088)

My personal opinion is that long distance night driving, especially in highways, should be done only if you have enough experience in the same.

and how would one gain experience witout driving at night?
night driving suits me better because I think I can maintain a steady speed without driving very fast and its a lot more peaceful, so less stress. what is applicable for one driver might not be suitable for another. We all love to drive and should try to follow what is comfortable for us... so it cannot be stated that day driving is better than night driving or vice versa, its entirely a personal opinion and there is room for a lot of debate either way.

I love night driving .... I usually drive down to my home town ( trivandrum) from Bangalore and rarely take a the train / bus or flight just for the night drive part . i usually leave Bangalore( electronics city ) by around 1800 Hrs and drive steady to reach Trivandrum by about 0600 Hrs in the morning +/- 1 Hr. inclusive of the frequent but short tea and bio breaks.

For me the advantages that i have had are listed below
1. Less traffic ( especially bipeds / mobikes and autos), very clear roads
2. Easy signalling
3. Clear visibility on oncoming vehicles ( from powerful headlights 130W/110W)
4. Less strain.
5. Lesser travel time
6. Merry trip as i always have company to keep talking to me all the way - usually my wifey , she dozes off at time but then i have the ICE to keep me company .
7. Better running conditions for the car's machinery thereby higher FE

Disadvantage:-
1. Security aspect , safe if your are in south India and stick to national highways
2. if you dont have a GPS , it very easy to get lost.
3. Its a literal nightmare if there is a mechanical failure.
4. tendency to fall asleep.
5. Loose out on the wonderful scenery enroute.
6. Encounters with wildlife can be very scary if its at the dead of the night when the creatures are more active

But as someone said , unless you have some night driving experience , its not recommended that you try it especially so if you plan to do it alone, as a very talkative partner / navigator can keep you focussed an sharp which you need to be . This is very important as for all you know the next truck coming opposite to you might have a driver who has dozed off, and then you need to be ready to do some evasive driving :-).

Once while at the Krishnagiri Toll plaza a truck driver who dozed off shifted into reverse gear and accelerated back into me luckily there was no one behind me so i could engage reverse and scramble out of the way of the truck ..just in time ...and this was at about 0330 hrs .

For me night driving is a personal choice .....

I love driving long distance at night. I started to answer this thread and wrote so much that I decided to blog about it instead at A howto on driving at night : Pass with caution!

Of course you need to use proper driving techniques but my reasons of why I prefer night driving in short:
1. Low differential speed traffic like cycle / pedestrian
2. Pleasant temperature
3. Less traffic density
4. More time flexibility

My reason of driving at night mostly is to reach my destination so that I am rested before my next appointment or am home before I start with my next days schedule. And of course I love to drive.

:thumbs up I always prefer Night Driving on Highways.

Sharing an account of what I call as Doze Driving.

Quote:

Originally Posted by btirthankar (Post 690649)

The best thing about doze-driving is that I have developed a braking system which works like this.... whenever I am close to fall asleep the foot muscles relax and accelerator gets let off and the car slows down and I brake a bit in reflex which gives me a jerk and am back from the momentary hibernation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by btirthankar (Post 709568)

Happy Days
City Driving Vs. Highway Driving
Highway driving is much different from Intra City Driving as we all know. We just need to shift to a different mode altogether. While City Driving is more about, swerving carefully, cornering and bumper to bumper performance skills, what we need to keep in mind all the time is that it pays nothing to race in the city esp. zig-zag maneuvering. This is because every stretch of road (Red light to red light or crossing to crossing or turning to turning, straight or meandering) has its own in built speed limit which cannot be exceeded beyond safety considerations.

Indian trucks: The good side
They are like heavy locos and would be happy to let you pass, the way you would do to a biker. You are just an irritant just as a biker would be to you. There is a hell of a difference in a car braking and a truck braking. Though I have never seen one, I presume their wheels lock and they shudder to a halt more unexpectedly than a car would. I mean they maintain more constant speeds than cars so they behave differently.

More Doze Driving esp in areas where u cannot halt more than a minute!

Quote:

Originally Posted by btirthankar (Post 703417)

..... the way we do our trips..and thru totally un-inhabitated areas....sometimes there is no place to even park the and catch a nap.... so we lug the car @ 60-70 and try to reach a gas station and fill fuel and ask permission to sleep for an hour or so..

I tend to doze only on straight clear roads in the night..like this one (Gujarat ---Del-Mum)..where you have enough room to veer L or R and halt. . on ghat roads I am awake as its interesting...

day driving it was till last easter,

we decided to give our parents a surprise visit.
the day trip would take about 10-11 hrs from bangalore & this time it took 7.5 hrs.

if the route is known, then im gonna drive at night hence forth.

pros
- less traffic
- can zip through towns/villages
- save time
- less use of ac.thus more fe,better power

cons
- can be tough on your eyes - high beam menace
- unmarked speed breakers
- risk of getting lost-taking the wrong route/turn
- oncoming traffic on the wrong side
- difficult to find help in case of breakdown.

Quote:

Originally Posted by esteem_lover (Post 801826)

As if we dont have the usual spedbreakers, especially the unpainted ones can be a real surprise during night drives. Alec sir, what are these herds apart from the cows that you had mentioned ?

yeah bump are a real problem. and most are not painted. so i have added hella in each of my vehicle.

camels, goats, sheep, you name it.. even tribal ladies....they are all in Rajasthan