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-   -   Safe Driving on Indian Highways & Ghats (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/131014-safe-driving-indian-highways-ghats-11.html)

I have been driving in the GCC for almost 25 years now. Somewhere down the line, I got an idea of this mirror re-positioning technique and I have been using it ever since. Has it helped me? a big re-sounding YES.
I wish to explain it a little differently than the "90 degrees" mentioned in the attachment.
Once you are comfortably seated on the driver's seat and on a straight stretch of road, adjust the driver's side OVRM in such a way that you just manage to see the rear side of your vehicle, further to the rear passenger's door and even further to the rear wheel . Next, do the same adjustment to the co-driver's side OVRM as well. If you have done it right, you will appreciate the following:
a. When viewing through the mirror above your dashboard, you can view the vehicle behind you
b. If and when the vehicle changes lane to overtake you, you can view the entire operation
c. When the car gains speed and overtakes your car, you will notice the car moving from the rear view mirror to the side view mirror. And then as the vehicle overtakes you, you can see the physical (actual) side-view of the vehicle while also noticing the rear part of it in your side view mirror. In short, the entire transition from rear view to side view to actual view can be seen without any blind spot.
Wishing you safe driving.

Hello Everyone,

The topic header is a bit odd, I agree but let me elaborate on it.

Recently I had the chance to drive the Ritz from Pune to Nashik. Since my usual ride is an Indica, I took some time to adjust to the new car. This set me thinking that in order to drive safely and confidently, how well should one know his/her car ? Since I have been driving my car for 7 years now, I have become aware of her characteristics and those come in very handy in daily driving.

Let me paint a scenario - suppose that I am driving behind a state transport bus on a flat stretch of highway and need to overtake the bus. I pull out carefully and start the maneuver. Just as I have changed the lane, I see traffic in the distance. Now I need to know the following things:

1. My car's responsiveness (pedal push to acceleration)
2. Braking abilities
3. Maneuverability - to quickly change lanes
4. Other factors like the distance and speed of oncoming traffic, the speed of the bus that I am about to overtake.

If I know the car that I am driving well enough, it will help me tremendously to make or break the decision to overtake.
This is all the more important on a single road with no dividers.

Hence this question - what characteristics of my car should I be completely aware of in order to have a safe drive ?

Thanks for a very informative and useful thread. Most of my driving is done on the highways and the lack of attention to road safety and good driving etiquette is a big pet peeve of mine. Hope more people read this thread and abide by the good advice in it.

I would just say, if you are not sure about the car characteristics, its better not to take a risk.

As in your scenario, I would not overtake at all if I see traffic ahead. That is the best I could have done if it is a car I have not driven before or I am not accoustomed to.

My 2 cents. :)

Well i do have one question.

In hilly regions the golden rule is the gear on which you climb up you should use the same gear to come down which will act as engine braking so the usage of brakes will be less, hence the brakes will heat up less and and chances of temporary failure is less too.
Now my question is what should one do while driving an automatic like a Polo GT tsi or i10 automatic or any other car? Using brakes on steep inclines for a longer time can be highly unsafe and result in temporary brake failure due to heating up of the braking system.

Most ATs come with a hill assist feature (I don't know the actual term). Or maybe they all have this feature - correct me if wrong.
Try driving your car down a hill and slowly apply the brakes. The transmission will shift down to accommodate the decrease in speed. Now let go of the brake. You will notice that the car is pulled downhill by gravity but will not increase its speed and it won't shift up - engine braking is applied and you can complete your descent safely.

EDIT: There's also a 'Sport' mode on some ATs (like in my DSG) that makes the transmission pick the next lower gear for a particular speed. This also helps in hill descents.

Thanks a lot for your reply.
Actually i do not own an AT. I may be visiting Bangalore for few days and from there i planned a trip to Ooty via 36 bends road in my friends I10 automatic. Plus he is a new driver so i have to drive the car. I have done a lot of hill driving including the Himalaya's but all in geared cars so i was a bit worried.

Even if there is no hill assist - check the i10 AT thread for more details - in ATs you can always select a lower gear manually e.g. D3 for going downhill or even uphill. Because even when going up the hill, the AT will tend to upshift as soon as you let go of the gas pedal when slowing for a corner, then again it is irritating when it will downshift when you apply the accelerator. By which time you have lost the momentum of the car. Depending on the incline you can select 3 or 2. I am sure you will figure it out in 5 minutes of driving it.

ICICI Lombard has come up with a campaign to promote awareness about safe driving. They seem to have a really interesting way to tackle road safety. Check this out: http://bit.ly/13RmXDM

See what the driver unit of Indian Army has written :

They do drive safely, but some of their heavy trucks hog the right lanes on most Pune roads and then they have written this at the back of the truck
" No overtaking from Left"

What do you expect other drivers to follow them at 40kmph or fly over them ?

No amount of signal makes them move even if the left lane is vacant or more so for slow moving vehicles.

On Indian roads "Only Size Matters !!"

Cheers
MKP

On a lighter note, came across this post elsewhere. Its a compilation of some quite humorous road signs in India. Not sure if it has been posted before (did search through the forum), hence putting it here. I must add, such signs do add zing to an otherwise mundane drive. Two thumbs up to HIMANK/BRO (most of the signs are from mountainous roads).

http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/driving-in-india

P.s : Mods, request to move it to the correct thread if its inappropriate here. Thanks

The worst times to be driving on the highway are dawn and dusk.

Apart from fighting physical and mental fatigue for lack of sleep or continuous driving, the lighting conditions change drastically.

Switching from headlight illuminated roads to the sunlit scenes or from the fading twilight to pitch dark puts a lot of strain on the eyes. I have often struggled to adjust to the lighting. Best way I have found is to kust take a break, allow your eyes to get accustomed to the change in lighting and then move on.

Sometime back, I heard of this girl who took the car keys from the family chauffeur on the way to their Lonavla house. Young, inexperienced & 116 horses on tap. Bad news. Apparently, she rammed straight into a stationary truck at over 140 kph.

This video shows exactly how horrific such a crash can be. Drive safe, people:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmRkPyuet_o

MKP - its not only Pune or MH but a pan-India phenomenon
Having followed some of these behemoths over time, I figured out why they are not given to maintaining left lane when trundling along at 40 kmph.

On most of our highways, there will always be the unavoidable slower than 20 kmph auto or jugaad or other form of local transport. These stop often and don't pick up much speed between stops.
Passing such slow transport by moving to the right lane and getting back to the left lane, requires considerable agility and saps their momentum, so they would rather stick to the right lane.
Truckers, also know that their brakes take a long time to act, so if such a vehicle suddenly comes up on the left, they know they won't have much time - this is another reason many of them prefer going on the passing lane.

This is what worked for me when passing such trucks:
If we need to pass them safely, honk briefly twice behind them and then slip out on to the left lane.
Capture the spotter's attention by honking again while on the left lane.
Increase speed, flash your indicators, and after giving the truck a wide berth pass him