[abhijitvp]

Originally Posted by raycers_honda

I always stick to the fast lane most of the time and let other cars make the effort of doing the lane changing etc. But I make my self clear to those who flash their. Headlights or even honk by giving my right signal just one flash. That way I indicate to them before hand that they have to do the lane changing and not me. Because I am in the stipulated speed limit and if they want to go faster its them who have to do the hard work not me.

Sticking to the speed you are comfortable with is fine but practicing road hogging is just ridiculous. Rule says always overtake from right and let others overtake you from the right. Even if you are sticking to speed limit doesn’t mean you can stay in any lane. If others are doing 100/120 (or whatever for that matter) let them do. You are not there to enforce the law. I am not encouraging speeding here. Every other weekend I do Pune-Mumbai and my blood boils when I see someone blocking the right most lane. Most of the time those are tourist taxis. Never saw any car with Team-Bhp sticker doing that. Right most lane is just for overtaking. BTW I usually drive at 90-110 KMPH on expressway.

[raycers_honda]

Originally Posted by abhijitvp

Sticking to the speed you are comfortable with is fine but practicing road hogging is just ridiculous. Rule says always overtake from right and let others overtake you from the right. Even if you are sticking to speed limit doesn’t mean you can stay in any lane. If others are doing 100/120 (or whatever for that matter) let them do. You are not there to enforce the law. I am not encouraging speeding here. Every other weekend I do Pune-Mumbai and my blood boils when I see someone blocking the right most lane. Most of the time those are tourist taxis. Never saw any car with Team-Bhp sticker doing that. Right most lane is just for overtaking. BTW I usually drive at 90-110 KMPH on expressway.

Well there are reasons i stick to lane 1 when doing the legal speed limit, i dont exactly drive precisely at 80kph it varies from 80-95kph.
The main reason is that i am doing the proper speed limit and if there are others who wish to drive fast and risk their lives it should be their problem of switching lanes and not mine. Besides when i do sometimes shift lanes to let a faster car go i invariably have to slow down because there is some car in lane 2 who is going slower than the lane 1 speeds.
So i think that why should i let those tailgaters pressure me into changing lanes so their highness can pass.
Remember you will never get fined for travelling at the proper speed limit in lane one. But you may lose your license, get fined or lives if you speed.
So think about it. Which is the wise option.
Its not about hogging the road. I am not here to enforce the law but following the law is good for starters.
Besides your blood shouldn't be boiling if you stick to the limit and drive safe.

[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.

[ariesonu]

The things mentioned by him are SO very basic & the most basic rules are the one that we don't follow.
Guessing by his first impression of XUV and his position as Helper this gentleman is probably not highly educated too but his observations about traffic rules & how & who flaunt rules is very informative. Proper to say that it comes from the most ground level.

Raab rakha.

[sourabhzen]

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.

Staying in left most lane posed more challenges (read obstructions like parked tractors/trailers/trucks, slow moving rickshaws) than a 100m huddle race. I stay in the middle lane to be safe.

[mikon]

Excellent post. Whatever the person said was very accurate.

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.

Sometimes, I also see, people brake hard in order to avoid collision with the slow moving vehicle on the fast lane.
Similar incidents with heavy vehicles without tail-lights at turns.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Originally Posted by mikon

Sometimes, I also see, people brake hard in order to avoid collision with the slow moving vehicle on the fast lane.

Has happened with me!
The rightmost lane is for overtaking, and overtaking only!
That lane isnt meant for cruising along an other wise beautiful highway.

A Santro was merrily cruising at 80 in the right most lane. When I gave an indication to overtake, he simply braked. No, make that, slammed on the brakes for no apparent reason. Had no option but to brake behind him, as there was a bus in the next lane overtaking me from the left .

The points made by the person arent rocket science. We all know these. Yet, most of the times Ive seen people hell bent on defying logic, only to prove that their cars are capable of doing 180+ speeds.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

In a nutshell what he says is, "Better be late Mister than be the late Mister"

I think that should be "better be mister late, than be late mister"!

Every word the patrol man uttered are pearls of wisdom. From someone who has seen it all.

[ashwin.terminat]

This ought to become a sticky I feel.
We all think what happens before the accident, no one really cares about what happens after the accident. These guys have been there, done that. They know how terrible the scene looks immediately after the accident.
It takes a lot of heart to have a job with a work description of this nature, but someone's got to do it.
He's given a lot of tips, tips we already know but choose to ignore at the sight of a long stretch of good, empty tarmac. I'm pretty sure he drives very carefully everywhere now. Just hope this post makes sure that some us drive carefully as well without necessitating the horrible sight that must constantly remind us to drive with a light foot.

EDIT: SDP, thanks for the translation, you have still managed to capture the essence of the conversation. Something that is frequently lost whilst translating anything!

[dZired]

Excellent post. Frankly speaking, I never thought about the life of such people. But now I have a sense of respect for a job which indeed looks very difficult to me.

The things he said are truly basic and we all know about these facts but this piece of article should be a must read for all owners and passionists. Hats off for sharing your experience SDP, usually most people just listen and forget about it.

[kaiserketkar]

SDP,
wonderful post and almost every point is common sense but not commonly followed.
It goes without doubt that we the people who use the e-way need to exercise some self control. However the other side of it is that, implementation.. nay.. enforcement of discipline is sorely lacking on the part of the authorities, as is an effective deterrent by way of penalty.
Although the IRB Highway patrol guys are omnipresent, they have no authority. The police who do, don't care.

Trucks hog all 3 lanes, especially in the ghat section, Volvo buses drive at 140 in the first lane, heavy vehicles drive without proper tail lights, and the worst of the lot, us- car owners drive like we're God! I don't see any change in any of these till discipline is enforced.

Suspend a few licenses, charge a hefty fine, make this a continuous exercise, and see how everyone starts falling in lane [pun intended]

[selfdrive]

A deep insight here into the lives of supporting staff whom we fail to notice, but would be most likely to help us in our time of need. Maybe even after it has passed. I have one thing to say here for anyone who is reading, try to be sensitive whether you are driving or not. There is no excuse to show someone else down due to what they do. In their own ways, each one of us is contributing to everyday life. Not everyone is a manager or a businessman, but the work they do is essential for someone else.

As for the expressway itself I have ranted long and loud about this topic elsewhere as these two gents I have quoted below would attest.

Originally Posted by mikon

Sometimes, I also see, people brake hard in order to avoid collision with the slow moving vehicle on the fast lane.
Similar incidents with heavy vehicles without tail-lights at turns.

I used to tell people to be very selfish while driving on such roads. Selfish and defensive. However, there have been umpteen cases on this stretch where oncoming vehicles have jumped the divider and crashed into other cars or a toppling SUV has impacted some others. So I dont really know what kind of defensive driving can help these days. I am just not pleased about that stretch of road, so I just chicken out and take the train when I have to go to Bombay. Been doing that for 5 years and a bit now, but I do understand this is not the solution, its only escapism.

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

The points made by the person arent rocket science. We all know these. Yet, most of the times Ive seen people hell bent on defying logic, only to prove that their cars are capable of doing 180+ speeds.

SI, I too have had it with people here who boast about doing their 180/ 220/ whatever speeds.

To be honest, if someone wants to show off I would rather see someone who can run 100m in 12 seconds, or swim well, or shoot well in a shooting range. Show us something that is your ability, not that of the car. And if one wants to show their driving skills, there are designated tracks for those. Please dont use public roads and endanger others. And if someone tells me next about endurance and riving non stop for x hours, be ready to hear a retort about choosing the worng profession.

After all, even if the car is capable of those speeds, our roads (yes including this expressway) and traffic and drivers (and..., you get the gist!) are not capable of supporting such speeds.
I see such morons even in town every day, speeding hard & swwerving between cars when one signal turns green to reach the next red signal while the rest of us boringly drive up and wait next to him/ her. Only to see the same routine repeated. Why does everyone have to save time on a commute? if one wants to reach 10 minutes early, the best best would be to leave 10 minutes earlier, correct?

Finally, please dont get someone else into a position of living with guilt for the rest of his/ her life just because one wants to try a stunt somewhere. Sorry, but I dont want to be hurting anyone else for no fault of mine. So whoever you are, please be alert and drive safe.

[adises]

Your post made me think back to all the times that I have traveled down the Mumbai - Pune highway, and been foolhardy enough to try and push vehicles to their top speed.

I'm an average driver at best and truth be told only started driving/riding responsibly after people close to me got involved in accidents, sometimes even losing their life as a result. Having said that, I certainly wouldn't want people to have such experiences to start driving responsibly, one deterrent would indeed be stricter law enforcement and speed cameras which penalize the registered owner (I believe the Bangalore traffic police have such a system in place).

[shomshree]

Note from Mod: There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the board experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[samarjitdhar]

In an ideal world passing from the right is the norm but then there are lots of obstinate drivers who hog the right hand lane and simply won't let you pass when they are driving pretty slow (I am not saying that I am doing break neck speeds myself). There is no way one can move ahead but pass such drivers on the left. No amount of flicking the headlights and exercises of the horn would reform them. The most considerate ones among these morons would probably turn on their left indicator which might mean that victory is in sight for you. But no sir, all they are saying is if you got to pass them please pass them from the left side. What do you do then? Continue driving at their 40/50/60 KMPH speed and be delayed? The only option is to pass them on the left since we really don't have time to stop and teach them good driving habits. They really do not care about good driving habits. Also no point spending time arguing with them or gritting your teeth while crawling behind them because all it would do is increase your blood pressure. That's the last thing you want while driving on the highway.

Most of our highways are either 2 laned or 4 laned if we are lucky. With illegal parking, animal husbandry and traffic invariably coming down the wrong side one needs to be alert like one is in a battlefield. Aside from driving at speeds where one has total control of the vehicle, one has to constantly hone their anticipatory senses when driving on our highways.