[venks]

Thanks SDP for the informative thread and the message. I think people with mightier machines tend to ignore commonsense and get into deep trouble. I believe Indian highways and expressways are not meant to be driven above 90 kmph. Even if the road is completely empty, you never know when a cattle or a dog will cross by. Better to drive safe than sorry.

Thanks

[amitwlele]

Thanks SDP for sharing the conversation and good that it did not go into gory details. Common sense is uncommon.

Originally Posted by mikon

Some weeks back, around 2 AM, i was returning from Mumbai (i was at 90-95 kmph). A honda city zipped past me (must be around 140 kmph), then minutes later while at the toll-gate i saw the same car totalled. The toll guy told he rammed into a stationary truck.
Reason - Drowsiness.

I guess the same is being referred to in the below post in Accidents thread. This also is very sad.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post2947048

[arup.misra]

Thanks for the wonderful post. The insight from the "helper's" perspective just so heart warming. It questions and seeks answers from all our well educated well heeled society who for a joyride forget the basic lessons in life...i.e. to value life.

We would stay away from fire as it would burn us, stay away from high voltage electricity as it'll hurt us, yet we so sublimely submit our lives to the electro-mechanical set of wheels.

As someone in the post above correctly said, "machoism comes from doing something yourself not by showing off the potential of others (read cars) to the world".

Sorry about the rant but the memories of a "great escape" on the expressway just came flooding back

[BinFord]

Good Informative post.

It is all about that “1 seconds”. I often feel the same. When I started driving years back my mind rules over body and now a days it’s the other way. I had few narrow misses and thinking back it haunts me a lot. After I settled in life got to know that as everyone says “speed thrills but kills”. I was under the impression that if we drive at 120-140KMPH we can reach much faster than we drive at 80-90 .But in reality it just a matter few minutes at the destination and for this you need to rush up your blood pressure and endless other things.

So I am a very sedate driver now and life has learnt me a lesson .My impression now is one has to enjoy the driving rather than driving over powers you. I guess experience makes one think like this and I advocate everyone for a safe and enjoyable ride all in your life.

[lohithrao]

SDP thank you for this wonderful post, It is like a wise man talking and you have been able to capture the conversation beautifully. am sure the readers will get a clear message of the gentlemen.

As i read the narration, could feel the chill running through my bones and a flood of questions on how a person has to go through the same experience regularly, something which most of us may not want to experience even once in our lifetime!

[teknophobia]

Pretty much common sense, but a lot of drivers are guilty of having violated most of these rules at one point or the other, yes, I have as well. I still remember an extremely narrow escape I had once, thankfully, nowadays I have developed the discipline to drive in a sensible fashion, after having witnessed a horrifying accident first hand.

The line that shocked me was about people reaching for mobiles or water bottles while driving at high speed, seems incredible.

You do come across a lot of annoying drivers/situations on the highways, the best thing to do is to ignore them and keep to yourself. When I'm doing long drives, I play a little game where I congratulate myself every time I keep my cool when faced with annoying situations. It's been nearly 2 years now, and I can proudly say that, except for one single trip, I have not driven in an unsafe fashion during this entire time.

[tckanth]

A very useful post for all those who frequent highways (like me). I am not aware of how beautiful Mumbai - Pune highway is, but I surely know that Bangalore - Hyderabad highway definitely tempts you to redline your car.

My top three learning from this post (Thanks SDP):
1. Control your temptation to redline the car "Better be Mr. late than Late Mr."
2. Do not brake when your tyre bursts while you are doing approximately 80Kmph (I was not aware of this, I would have applied brakes )
3. Stick to the middle lane - helps in avoiding parked vehicles in the night while allowing faster vehicles to overtake you from the right.

Thanks again SDP

[silverado]

What a thread

This thread is a big eye opener for everyone using e-way.

Just back from mumbai.
Saw a totally smashed up Eon and honda city.

I had stopped using e-way untill i had to go to mumbai with my car since my parents wanted to visit lot of places.

After recent reports on accidents, i have been a reluctant user of e-way especially since i own a nano.

People get in to trouble when speed becomes a ego issue.
My neighbour who owns a AltoK10 did 2 trips on E-way at night and after that has decided that they will never travel on e-way after dark in their car.

Where are the policemen with speed guns?

Shouldn't govenment appoint some one to analyze the pattern of accidents?

Why cant the middle lane be fortified so as to avoid vehicles going to opposite side of the road?

From the conversation can one conclude that HUMAN FACTOR is the biggest reason for accidents on e-way and that there is nothing wrong with the road?

Below are the things i feel.

1) Know the limit of your car, but dont try to reach it on e-way.
2) Make a mental note of not to get tempted.
3) Keep an eye on Rear view mirrors at all times ( Not only when overtaking )
4) Dont get in to overtaking battles, they might boost your ego's but dont help in keeping your
mind in healthy state while driving long distances.
5) Stick to middle lane on most occasions if possible.
6) However good track record you might have, take breaks on regular intervals.

Drive safe and read team bhp a lot.

[shashank.nk]

I have a CA exam in 2 days, but I simply couldn't stop myself from reading through the entire post once I started, its probably one of the best posts I've read here on tbhp.

I loved the way you summed it up as well. We are all aware of the importance of safety and sticking to sane speeds on our highways, yet its all forgotten and we end up speeding on the highway in those few hours where all that matters is getting to the destination as quickly as possible. The car, the driver, limitations of both are all forgotten unintentionally.

I will certainly keep this post in mind the next time I hit the open road and the urge to speed comes. However little it may be, I'm sure it will make a difference to many who read this post.

Thank you very much for sharing it with us.

[Kwanza]

Thanks a lot for this post. Seeing things from his perspective is really an eye-opener.

As much as I love speed (like most of us here), I've always thought that driving fast is okay if you drive responsibly. Knowing the vehicle's behaviour and control are the most important factors. Add to that a safety-kitted car. That's about the maximum we could do. However, in India, with the kind of traffic manners we have, I feel even a 50kph is scary enough.

Not wanting to be picky, but as a fact: that guy having seen so many loss-of-lives as part of his job still didn't voluntarily belt up? ThePeopleOfOurCountry; sigh!

On the sidelines, could anyone please shed some fact on what conditions tyre-bursts happen? [Mods, please remove if off topic/answered somewhere else]

[tictactoe]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

The rule is simple, the right hand lane is for overtaking, and NOT the fast lane (as some fools mistakenly call it). You should and must stay in the left most lane available. Anything else is against the letter and spirit of the law and rules and etiquette of highway driving.

In India, the left most lane is quite dangerous - espcially at night with all the trucks parked in the way. Having said that, statistically most accidents happen on the right most lane. I pondered about it. The only possible reason which occurred to me is that vehicle in the right most lane has the least visibility of the vehicles in the lane (apart from the vehicle right in front of him) and also the least manuverability to avoid a collision. Whether it is city road or the expressway - centre lane is the safest.

[humyum]

From driving on the expressway for years as we go to Lonavala almost every week once for a drive, I have learnt one mighty lesson

Always drive in the centre lane. If a tyre burst does happen, you have space on the left or right to go to depending on which side tyre has burst

Always travel at a speed which you are most comfortable with. When I got the Swift D initially the power used to overwhelm me and I used to Push it to 160's and 180's at will on the expressway. Luckily nothing happened and maturity set in and now I find even 160 as mentally so stressful that I stay away from it like it was some virus.

now I cruise at maximum 120 on the expressway and enjoy the curves of the ghats on the e-way with safety being the at most thing on my mind. The childishness of racing with people and going militant over straights has passed with age.

Excellent conversation with the expressway guy.

PS: samarjitdhar @ I agree with you. If people are driving on the right most lane, I honk and pass them from the left. I have seen umpteen number of times people honking and flashing for a long time to make the dude on the right move to the left and in the bargain they almost go inches from the guys rear bumper and literally muscle their way to make him move. I would rather just over take from the lane which is empty than go through all that.

[nkrishnap]

On one of the recent bus journey to Mangalore, I was on the last Volvo bus which was a new B7R Mark IV. The drivers name was Kishore. The journey was on a weekday and the bus had only 30% occupany, may be due to the last trip starting off at 11.55 pm.

Since the bus was empty and the co-driver went to the last seat to take a nap, I slowed slipped myself into the conductor seat. After the toll naka on the nelamangala expressway, slowly struck a conversation with the driver.

He was from a village near the Hole Narasipur. Initially driving the leylands and tatas, he was selected for his accident free record to be trained by Volvo. He was damn proud about his job and he was a regular for this route and the bus too.

He was doing decent speeds up to Bellur cross cruising around 100. I expected him to do that once the 4 lane roads ended and the 2 lane started. But I was completely put off by his superb driving manners on the 2 lane highway. He simply told its too much of a risk for him with the passengers lives at stake.

Very few drivers will be in this category, as most of the other drivers I have seem think otherwise with the power at their disposal.

[sankdadevil]

Great post. I generally feel there is a lack of common sense on the roads around us. Look around and the streets are filled with idiots.

A few months back a colleague asked me to accompany him to Mumbai as he was not confident of driving on EWay. He took the driver seat and I was guiding him through a few lessons that I have learnt. Mentioned below are some of the points that were discussed during our way to Mumbai

* Right Most lane is for over-taking and for that alone. It can be hogged only if there is no possibility to safely drive on the slower lane.

* At all times without exceptions both hands on steering wheel when speeds exceed 70KMPH (I am still amazed how come such a simple rule is mostly unknown)

* When tyres burst you have more chances of survival by merely having both hands on steering wheel in 10-10 or 9-3 position than by any other means

* No sudden lane changes and NO lane changes without proper prior indication

* Absolutely NO lane changes inside tunnels. Lights ON in tunnel and more caution as well due to the roads being mostly wet through water seepage from the hills/rocks above

* Keep distance from truckers and pass only after proper indication by dippers or honking or both

* Even if nature doesnt call, take a break. A small 10min break every hour and half or two can make world of difference on long hauls

* Driving under 100 wont get you to your destination much slower than driving over 100 would get you faster but it would certainly spare you heart burn, high BP and most certainly your life.

* First take care of yourself and then attend to others. If you spot a danger on the road be prepared to work around it and be kind enough to warn others by any safe means. Even a small hand gesture by waving outside the window might alert an otherwise lost driver and might save a precious life

* Life is not fair and streets are filled with idiots. Cant complain!

I was surprised as most these instructions were meted with startling surprise. Cant stress enough that we need proper road tests before handing every drivers license. Simple awareness would also suffice.

But to that point I have routinely seen absolute safe drivers abroad turn into mad monsters in India. Seems like rules are meant to be followed only in "phoren" and that "India toh apna hai, yahan sab chalta hai" If only we would treat our country and its countrymen with same respect as in "phoren" countries we would too be as good as any other country.

Thanks once again for this wonderful thread and sharing the experiences of the IRB gentleman.

[LithiumSunset]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

.... But I was completely put off by his superb driving manners on the 2 lane highway. He simply told its too much of a risk for him with the passengers lives at stake...

I am sure you were not 'completely put off' but 'surprised and happy' at his responsible driving, nkrishnap.

Hope you don't mind but could not hold back the correction.

And a great thread by OP. Cheers