15 Useful driving tips for Indian highways - How to stay safe out there

Lastly enjoy your drive. Don't get angry or frustrated for other people's mistakes as that will spoil your day. You are on the road to have a great time enjoy the drive what you like most. Don't let another put you in a bad mood.

BHPian Itty recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Sharing my two cents on how to navigate Indian highways safer and enjoy the drive. That is with the little experience I have garnered over years on the road.

Hope this will be useful to fellow traveller's who LIVE TO DRIVE.

Our highways for nearly 95% pass through rural agrarian parts. Farmers around here having been cultivating their land living here for generations.

We have build highways through them. But to a great extend they still consider they have right of way. We traveller's come second. There is nothing we can do about this.

Cars nowadays are able to achieve tremendous speeds. You have to be alert every second and keep in mind something is going to jump in front of you. Be it cattle, dogs or humans. Something can even fall of a moving vehicle. Whatever speed you are at, you have to be sure you can get the car to stop without colliding with the obstacle and at the same time not have someone coming at the back to hit you. So if in an emergency you sudden brake remember to use the hazard blinkers. So atleast you are able to warn the vehicle coming behind. Remember he is not able to see what you are seeing. And for god's sake those hazard blinkers are not for you to indicate you are going straight. It is when you have to do an emergency stop or when you park on the side.

Now let me give you few tips.

a) Ideally try and start your drive around 5:00am and stop by 5:00pm. This way you don't feel the fatigue. Starting at 5 am helps you to avoid the traffic in cities. Otherwise when you leave late first thing in the morning you encounter traffic and that get's very frustrating. You will take few hours to come out of that.

Stop or halt at 5:00pm as by them slowly your mind becomes tired and concentration will start to waiver. This is because over the last few hours from when you started your mind has been concentrating. 12 hours and slowly your mind will start getting tired. It's inevitable. But you will think let me try and cover more distance. Try and sleep early, so you can wake at 4:00am and be ready to start by 5:00am.

I strictly don't recommend night driving! When the sun goes down, you stop.

b) Drive with your headlight ON in low beam. When you approach a vehicle from behind put it into high beam. This way other vehicles are able to see you before they hear your horn. Remember that some truckers would be driving non stop and fatigue would have kicked in. But they will see a headlight approaching.

Even for people crossing the road, they are able to judge better when they see a light.

Should I cross now or shall I wait for that car to pass?

c) At intervals where not much pollution, turn off the AC air circulation in the car. This will let in some outside air and with it oxygen which will help you stay fresh.

d) Turn the music off in between and listen to the car for any unusual sound. Look at the gauges too to see if anything out of the ordinary.

Carry an electronic tyre air pump and also a jumper cable. Just in case. In some cases for hundreds of kilometres you will not see a soul.

e) Be aware of your surroundings. Look at the rear view mirror to see if anyone approaching you from behind. If he is faster than you, out of courtesy give way. Extreme right lane is for the faster cars 

f) At blind turns most of the time there will be a cutting in the median to enter a village. Always remember there are chances that there will, bikers, cars, people and animals waiting to cross. So slow down, honk as you approach. Like I said before, the people living around here still think they have right of way.

g) In very interior parts, only cash is accepted for fuel. No credit card or UPI payments. ONLY CASH. So carry enough cash and keep checking your fuel gauge and figure out when you need to refuel.

Also in some parts you can go long distances without a fuel station. So plan ahead!

h) Every highway has many fastag toll booths now. If you have a fastag doesn't mean the other person also has one. Most of the toll booths have many counters. When you are approaching a toll booth you are usually doing an inky pinky ponky on which counter to go to. Try and figure out well ahead which lane is moving faster. But chances are that you would have picked one where the person in front doesn't have enough balance or does not have a tag. There is no point getting frustrated or honking. It will take a bit longer than usual.

i) Carry enough water and do not litter or throw out bottles or anything not degredable. Be sensitive to your surroundings.

j) Trucks will always drive mostly on the right most lane meant for the faster vehicles. No matter what you do, he is not going to move aside for you. So check carefully and overtake through the left. Preferably a honk and high beam just to let him know you are passing.

Then comes the most dangerous dare devil's who will drive opposite direction of you is most cases on the extreme left but some are braver and come at you in your same lane. So be aware he is not going to slow down.

They do this as they are trying to save few kilometres travelling in the opposite direction. Now with our highways for the villagers if they have to get somewhere in the opposite direction, they have to travel further few kilometres and do a U turn. To save on this they put theirs and our lives at risk. For them it's something normal and an everyday affair. Believe me it's not just bikes, cycles or cars. Even big trucks.

k) Have a working dashcam. You not only get to capture the beautiful scenery but also are able to get evidence god forbid if anything untoward happens. 

l) Always indicate when changing lanes, so that others know. Put your indicator on is not an instruction for the car behind to pass. Your indicator is only to tell other cars on what you are going to do.

m) Take a stop for 5 minutes maybe once in three hours. Stretch your legs, bite into a biscuit/snack have some water.

n) Plan your meals. If you see a decent clean dhaba or restaurant stop there and have something. I will stop at the next better one might be another 200kms away. Also carry some fruits and eatables with you.

o) In the morning before you start, walk around the car, inspect your tyres, open the bonnet to see if anything unusual. Fill up the wind shield wiper liquid.

Lastly enjoy your drive. Don't get angry or frustrated for other people's mistakes as that will spoil your day. You are on the road to have a great time enjoy the drive what you like most. Don't let another put you in a bad mood.

If any of my information is wrong, please feel free to correct me and share your thoughts and inputs.

Cheers

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