[rajinibm]

Hi Guys

I would like to consider myself as a good driver and to top this I am quite prudent when driving especially on the highways.I dont get ruffled up too much and dont usually try to race with every car who overtakes me or get worked up when a smaller car overtakes me and whizzes past.

To just go back a couple of days, I had official work in Bombay and from the past one year I always had a dream to drive down from Chennai to Mumbai!My wife was totally against this drive of mine from chennai to bombay and back and would never let me do it and I too for peace sake did not purse it further.She wasnt against the drive as such but she felt it would be better I did not drive alone-would be better if she could come along or I had some collegue of mine with me.

But I always had this thought that I just had to do this trip and I felt it was something which would make me feel good!So I waited for the day when I would actually be doing this trip!

Two weeks back I learnt I had to go to Bombay on official work and immediately my thoughts started on whether I should do this by car.I got excited as this time my wife is out of country and there was no one to stop me from making this trip.

I went through the travelogues of persons who had done this trip to check the route etc and felt ready to hit the roads.

Planned to do the chennai-bombay-chennai by car and finalised the departure date etc.I reached home only by around 1 am the previous night when I intended to leave and hence could not leave at the planned time of 4 am.Got up at around 6 30am and left at 7 30 am.

Drove quite leisurely and reached bangalore by around 1pm.Located the NICE road easily as was described the fellow BHPians.

Somehow I dont know why but I wasnt enjoying the drive.I am normally chilled but this drive was kind of making me feel stressfull.The roads were filled with lorries/buses vehicles.Just as mentioned in t-BHP I faced vehicles coming in the wrong direction and they were plenty of them!

The kms seemed to drag on and this drive looked as a big weight hanging on me and now I just had to complete it and I had no other option apart from reaching Bombay and then driving back.I thought umpteenth time that wish I had taken a flight and it would have been so comfortable.

I reached belgaum around 9 pm and started to look for a place to eat.I guess the highway takes a bypass and I just drove on and around 11 pm saw a dhaba and stopped there!This was my first stopping since starting from Chennai and I still had close to 450 kms left to reach Bombay!

The food was really bad so just left it and had a tea and started again.I just wanted to reach Bombay.Drove through the night and reached pune-bombay expressway and the expressway was just not what I had imagined it to be.The way the vehicles were being driven it was like a video game and very rash driving by the lorries and the buses.

Got to Vashi around 5 15 am and to my surprise and horror there was a traffic jam at 5 in the morning!My car was in between atleast a thousand trucks and buses and I was just praying nothing happens to the car and I reach safely.Finally after around 30 mins of crawling and praying I finally got free as I turned towards Nerul.

I reached my sisters house at around 6 am.This was one of the most stressfull drive I have ever made and I have no idea why it was so!I have never seen so many lorries on the road next to me and I wonder was this maybe a wrong time to enter the city?!

Reached Bombay-now had to come back after two days!This time started from Nerul at 11 pm and got to the expressway and found it relatively free and the drive was good!No mad cap buses and lorries this time.

Now I had seen how long it took the other BHPians to do this route and I had the same calculation and I calculated that I should reach Chennai by around 5-6 pm the next day as I planned to drive non-stop.

All through the night I drove and this time the drive was without any stress and the roads/traffic was fine.I stopped to have a tea around 6 am and then started off again!

Around 7 am I felt drowsy and I thought let me stop the car someplace and sleep for an hour or two,so I fwould feel refreshed and would feel better to drive the remaining way.But then decided against it and drove on thinking I would not reach Chennai then by 6 pm!

I drove on and I was so sleepy that my eyes were closing on its own and I knew this, still all I did was I said to myself 'dont sleep' as you are driving and it would be dangerous!Hmmm atleast half a dozen times my eyes shut the next second when I was telling myself not to sleep and I would wake up with a jerk and see the car rolling to the right/left.Once I opened my eyes and I was like 20 ft away from a truck and if I had not woken up,I would have hit the truck head on!After this I told myself what the hell are you doing?!Be awake!But the next second like a reflex motion I dozed off and when I open my eyes I was just a second away from crashing the car into the road divider!

This brought me to sanity and I stopped the car and washed my face and had a couple of teas and started off again!

I reached Bangalore at 12 30 pm and reached chennai at around 5 30 pm!

So I did the return trip quite fast!

The whole purpose of this thread is that:

a.I am very well educated and have a good career and a great wife with whom I have loads of dreams ahead in life.I know my wife would be shattered if anything would happen to me.But still when I was extremely sleepy/drowsy I did not stop the car and stop the madness I was doing.
In my mind all I had was I wanted to reach chennai by 6 pm and if I took rest,I would get late.But late for what!!!!I had no one waiting for me at home(wife not in country).So whether I reached home by 6 PM or 2 AM how would it matter?!

Now looking back I feel I was so incredibly stupid and a second was all it would have taken to change my life and everyone close to me and it would have been for nothing!

I could have taken a room in a hotel and just slept off for couple of hours. Trust me at that time I felt -why do i spend a thousand rupees odd for a hotel am for a couple of hours!I will reach home and sleep!I Have lost lakhs punting in markets, we spend so much on just a evening out but on a important thing which I needed I put it off!

I realised that I am really someone who is very human and very fragile and my body has limitations and I need to respect these limitations else one day I might end up paying very dearly.

I feel blessed and lucky nothing happened to me on that day.

I was thinking this past week that more than writing a travelogue,I felt I really needed to give this message that 'lets do what we like but lets do it responsibly and after great planning and thought whether we are capable of doing so and not just because someone else has done it!'

I felt there would be so many keen drivers among us who would want to drive long distances and perhaps dont think much of how much this drive could sap us of energy.

Guys please travel safe and always remember we have just one life to live, so drive safe!

BTW I told my wife of what I did and promised her never to do so again and told her how much I loved her and what she means to me!

[rnidumolu]

Rajni,

. I am totally agreeing with the points you raised. I would recommend to take rest for sometime at least in the car if not found any hotel. Sometimes we need to accept the brutal facts and need to part with driving to take some rest.

[MAS]

Hi Raj

Interesting thread. You are very lucky to be alive. Most of the highway accidents occur due to the driver dozing off.

I'm surprised how you could drive non-stop to Mumbai other than the occasional Tea breaks. Even on your way back, you drove for a continuous 18 hours. You must have been crazy to drive your car like a locomotive. Starting at 11 pm in the night on Indian highways is very risky. God forbidden, if something had gone wrong with the car in the middle of the night, you would have been kicking yourself for attempting the journey.

Chennai-Mumbai-Chennai by road is a dream drive for me too. But after reading this thread, I know I have to plan my trip better and enjoy the journey.

Which car did you drive? Seems to be a tough, reliable motor!!!

[selfdrive]

It is not about how many hours you can or should drive. If one is sleepy, always rest. Would one continue driving if one were hungry/ thirsty and had no food/ water in the car?
The basic point is that man is likely to die sooner due to lack of sleep than lack of food or water (even without being in a car)
The worst part in this is that you could have ended up hurting somebody else for no fault of theirs.
I am glad you have learnt your lesson without any harm to you or anyone else.

[camchennai]

Rajni - I am happy that you got back safe.

While reading your thread I was thinking why have you not taken any rest in between and at the end i read you realized your mistake. I have made two trips in the same road, one was from Chennai to Mumbai and the other was from Pune to Chennai. And in both trips I made it a point that i will take rest in Bangalore for at least 6 hours. I work in grave yard shifts and still when it comes to long drive I do tend to take rest just to avoid any fatal errors. Its practically difficult to drive without a rest in this stretch and even Volvo buses have 2 drivers in this route.

Everyone would love to reach their destination at the earliest and there is nothing wrong in that, however we need to ensure we don't risk our lives just for the sake of reaching on time.

Do tell us about your ride

[alto99]

Lucky that you got awake at right times.
Worst part about dozing off is that one does not realize what is happening around and that one has to stop. Even if there are passengers they are likely to be in the same condition.
I have experienced it and I still dont remember the drive from Kankavli to Goa on NH17 after which I have decided not to drive after 1 am.

[basilmabraham]

Happy to know that you are back home safely, thank your guardian angel for that.

Very happy to know that you realised the stupidity of driving for long hours without breaks

Extremely happy to know that you put up this thread, which I am sure will be thought provoking for many of us. At times we have to realise that the life we are living is the most important, everything else is of any use only if you are alive.

Drive Safe, godspeed.

What car did you drive?

[ptushar]

@rajinibm
Well, glad to learn that you do realise that what you did was quite silly. The most important thing is that you have a tremendous learning. As they say in Marathi "Anubhav vikat ghyava lakto", which means "You need to buy experience". Well, there you go, we have a more learned rajinibm with us now.

And I too have some pointers from your experience. Completely agree to all your points. And in hindsight, your wife's advice of having a co-driver along with you makes a lot of sense. On such long drives, it is good to do it with atleast two drivers.

[ImranShahnawaz]

Good to know that you are back and alive.
Surprised to hear that you took Mumbai-Chennai trip non-stop, what was the motivational force behind this madness?

One of the line in your thread says "don't usually try to race with every car who overtakes me or get worked up when a smaller car overtakes me and whizzes past", don't you think what you have done was a race with time? (sorry to be harsh)

At lest you learnt a lesson.

The general rule of long highway drive is to take proper rest before starting your trip and halt in-between for proper rest after 7-8 hours of drive.

Drive Safe

[Reisender]

Thank God that you had Guardian Angels traveling with you.
The rush/guts to 'drive-out' the whole distance without a break or after long day is usually due to the fact the people would like say ' Hey i completed the bangi-Chennai leg in 5 hrs flat' as an achievement or something.

The unlucky ones who doze off (met with accident) , won't be able to tell this rather get into spot of bother.

Folks, drive safe... there's lots of fun awaiting for you

[2500cc]

Rajini,

Glad that you reached home safe. Lesson learnt a hard-way.

Guys, Chasing our passions is good, but not at the cost of our life. Remember, its not our life alone, there are others waiting for us at our sweet home. You can always get a second option to chase your passion, but you wont get the life back once lost.

I suggest all of us to keep our family pic on the vanity mirror/console/dashboard. So that we would be well within our limits.

All of here are good drivers, we all know that. But we cannot expect other morons on the road to be as good as we are. Be Alert!!

Life is very precious, it doesn't come back at any cost. So please drive safe.

Originally Posted by rajinibm

.
.
.
a.I am very well educated and have a good career and a great wife with whom I have loads of dreams ahead in life.I know my wife would be shattered if anything would happen to me.But still when I was extremely sleepy/drowsy I did not stop the car and stop the madness I was doing.
In my mind all I had was I wanted to reach chennai by 6 pm and if I took rest,I would get late.But late for what!!!!I had no one waiting for me at home(wife not in country).So whether I reached home by 6 PM or 2 AM how would it matter?!

Now looking back I feel I was so incredibly stupid and a second was all it would have taken to change my life and everyone close to me and it would have been for nothing!

I could have taken a room in a hotel and just slept off for couple of hours. Trust me at that time I felt -why do i spend a thousand rupees odd for a hotel am for a couple of hours!I will reach home and sleep!I Have lost lakhs punting in markets, we spend so much on just a evening out but on a important thing which I needed I put it off!

I realised that I am really someone who is very human and very fragile and my body has limitations and I need to respect these limitations else one day I might end up paying very dearly.

I feel blessed and lucky nothing happened to me on that day.
.
.
I felt there would be so many keen drivers among us who would want to drive long distances and perhaps dont think much of how much this drive could sap us of energy.

Guys please travel safe and always remember we have just one life to live, so drive safe!

BTW I told my wife of what I did and promised her never to do so again and told her how much I loved her and what she means to me!

[ghodlur]

@rajni,

Good to know that you managed to reach home safely. Its also good to know that you realized the effects of over stressing your body and mind. This trip should be an eye opener for you.

Regarding the truck traffic which you encountered is more of a common thing for the Mumbaites. Even during my daily office drive at least twice a week I see this huge procession of trucks of all sizes blocking the road and making the life miserable as early as 6 am in the mornings. But till date have managed to keep cool and get out of the traffic without any major problem.

[thedreamcatcher]

Good to know your journey resulted in a safe return. Please note, it is not some kind of endurance session or something to boast about that I can drive non stop for so long and so forth. We all need rest and it is very important during driving

Many times when I do night driving, there are some days when I am a bit tired. For instance recently, we went for a drive to Chennai. We left at around 0830 or so from Bangalore and reached Chennai only at around 0600 in the morning

Reason. I was tired and sleepy. So every few hours, when ever we saw a truck stop or some otherplace, like just after a check post, we stopped the car, rolled up the mirros to 3/4 and took quick 20-30 minute naps. Did about 4-5 of them and it kept me fresh and alert. And surprisingly, at one point when is stopped after a checkpost i found a few other cars also, where people had done the same thing.

[lohithrao]

Raj, good that God gave you a second chance, from your explanation it feels that you were all set to screw up.

The golden lesson what i have learnt is "never be in hurry" when your driving riding! if you are so much in hurry then travel by air...

i think its normal to get carried away but i guess we need to know to get ourselves back! but the great part is you have realized!

[Surprise]

I voted this thread with a 5 star rating just for putting it out flat on this forum. Iam sure many would have attempted to fight against the sleep & even had narrow misses in the process. But everything would be forgotten once they reach destination in one piece

Which car do u drive? What is your previous longest distance traveled solo on a highway? Do u enjoy solo rides or prefer someone having along with you during the drive? I hate driving solo, but would like to have a guy along with me, who does not know how to drive a car

The stress is primarily due to the fear factor. You almost lived in future (i want to reach mumbai safely) rather than enjoying every moment of the drive. Probably you made a big mistake by not preparing for the trip...how did u missed HVK in this forum:( . (discussing with him is half trip done even before you start your car)

I agree with you that now it sounds stupid to have ignored all those easy options...take rest at a hotel/ stop driving for 1-2 hrs & sleep inside the car itself.....but key is to do a real time evaluation at the crisis hour which is the REAL Challenge.