[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by architect

... I am quite comfortable with night driving. It is less stressful because you have lesser number of things to watch out for. It is easy to concentrate on the road if you don't have to worry about a dozen different people on the roads doing crazy things at the same time.

Most importantly, on night drives I have much better average speeds despite keeping much lower top speeds. That, in itself, increases my safety margin.

I felt the same too when i did the B'lore - Mysore stint last week. It was less stressful as there were very few vehicles on the road and i did better time with equal or lesser top speeds compared to day driving.

But if the same had to be done in a highway which I am not used to or know much about, i would think twice as safety on the route would be of prime concern.

[rjalihal]

this is actually a trick question. Most folks who live in hilly regions say that night driving is good as you can easily see the head lamps of the on coming vehicle at the turns. During day times, they rely on honking. And some guys (especially those from Coorg) are such night time punters that they will tell you the type of car approaching and judge accordingly! (i kid you not).
For me, i have glasses, and tend to twitch my eyes after keeping them open too long. So i would definitely prefer day time driving any day!

[_raviShankar_]

I love driving any time . We all do, dont we ?
Thats why we are all here.
I used to do a lot of long trips with my friends driving at night. But when it is with the family i would stick to the daytime.
Night driving can be very enjoyable on four lane or six lane highways with medians to rescue you from the high beams of other vehicles. Helps you cover long distances with lower stress levels. But on two lane roads with no medians it can be very stressful to drive at night.
On planned trips i prefer daytime driving, but in case of emergencies you might not be able to avoid night driving.

KEEP DRIVING SAFE DAY OR NIGHT !

[prince_pervez]

I drove all night last night. NH4. Truckers were amazingly helpful and quick to respond to dippers. Less traffic so made home in quick time. Only thing to beat is fatigue and sleep.

[architect]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Truckers were amazingly helpful and quick to respond to dippers.

My experience is that truckers are the most decent and most predictable of all people on the highways. Long-distance buses, tractors, smaller trucks, tempos are a big pain. Bikers are plain suicidal!

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by architect

My experience is that truckers are the most decent and most predictable of all people on the highways. Long-distance buses, tractors, smaller trucks, tempos are a big pain. Bikers are plain suicidal!

+1 truckers are cool. But the bus drivers are the pain value, they dont let you overtake, come in at the wrong time and make unpredictable moves day or night.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by architect

Long-distance buses, tractors, smaller trucks, tempos...

Correct, smaller truckers specially the 407s are a pain with massive egos.

[wildsdi5530]

Worst of the lot are the mini tempos. Also called cuttiana (small elephant) or thotti auto. They reach upto 100 kph and have no brakes. Bus fellows are good as long as there is no vehicle ahead of them, the moment they see something in front, they occupy the whole road till they overtake. and tractor drivers, especially the combines are blind. I prefer to start at 2 am. All the buses would be halfway and I'll have to cross them early in the morning when they'd be near their destination and tired. and the other riff-Raff is not around. On the plains, trucks are fine. On ghat sections trucks overtaking one another can block the road for many miles in spite of warning for heavy vehicles to stay to the left.

[DieselFan]

IMO Night driving is best avoided for the following reasons -

1. Poor visibility, hence increased chances of accident
2. Chances of getting help in case of breakdown is almost NIL.
3. High chances of getting waylaid/dacoity/robbery even on tolled roads.
4.High speed/Rash driving by others would result in compromising your safety.

So I prefer to start driving earliest by 5 am and stop driving latest by 9 PM.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by DieselFan

IMO Night driving is best avoided for the following reasons -

1. Poor visibility, hence increased chances of accident

NHs can be exempt, for large portions of good roads at a stretch. These can be done at night so as to encounter the bad stretches during the day.
Last time I did NH4, I started at 3 and reached Chitradurga at day break.

2. Chances of getting help in case of breakdown is almost NIL.

Yes. I know people who have abandoned their rides and walked down towards the nearest puncture shop or dhaba for company. My friend walked down, shirtless and a pet bottle in hand to resemble a drunkard.

3. High chances of getting waylaid/dacoity/robbery even on tolled roads.

Scary.

4.High speed/Rash driving by others would result in compromising your safety.

This is something you cannot avoid mostly. If you see a terror driver on the road its best to stay away or keep distance from him. Whenever I see a charging Volvo, I give way.

So I prefer to start driving earliest by 5 am and stop driving latest by 9 PM.

[KSM-Vtec]

True but like PP also said -

Originally Posted by DieselFan

IMO Night driving is best avoided for the following reasons -

1. Poor visibility, hence increased chances of accident - True to some extent. Like PP said doesnt matter on many roads, you need to choose well.
2. Chances of getting help in case of breakdown is almost NIL. - True on most cases.
3. High chances of getting waylaid/dacoity/robbery even on tolled roads. - Very True, but these days its happening in the day also.
4.High speed/Rash driving by others would result in compromising your safety.-Well this can happen even during the day.

So I prefer to start driving earliest by 5 am and stop driving latest by 9 PM.-Good idea but cant help it sometimes.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by DieselFan

IMO Night driving is best avoided for the following reasons -

1. Poor visibility, hence increased chances of accident
2. Chances of getting help in case of breakdown is almost NIL.
3. High chances of getting waylaid/dacoity/robbery even on tolled roads.
4.High speed/Rash driving by others would result in compromising your safety.

So I prefer to start driving earliest by 5 am and stop driving latest by 9 PM.

1. I wear contact lenses and have 60W +30% (earlier +50%) bulbs. I don't quite agree with the poor visibility. Rather, all the village bumpkins without road sense are safely off the road.

2. My experience with daytime breakdowns isn't much better

3. Complete and utter crap - atleast this side. I've even done some parts of western UP at night so I'd completely disagree. Small village/minor roads - maybe in UP - else no way

4. Sorry. Much lesser vehicles at night = lesser botheration. Daytime = more high speed morons on same road + unlimited village bumpkins darting across.

Most of my ~22k on the highways arnd delhi last year (excl commutes) in car, and almost all the biking (~30k km arnd Ahmedabad, ~10k in Delhi) was with late night starts which never pinched at all!

How does the scenario change for you - i'm curious.

esp since i'm sure i'd work in blr for 1-2 years in the medium term for sure!

[prince_pervez]

One thing about night driving on good well marked and reflector equipped roads is sleep. It gets monotonous and if you don't have something or someone to talk to you tend to get sleepy. If roads are bad and broken you are kept awake anyway.

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

One thing about night driving on good well marked and reflector equipped roads is sleep. It gets monotonous and if you don't have something or someone to talk to you tend to get sleepy. If roads are bad and broken you are kept awake anyway.

well i face this problem more during the day and specially after lunch..lol

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

well i face this problem more during the day and specially after lunch..lol

+1 to that. I feel very sleepy exactly after lunch so while driving long distance, I try to make do with energy bar and light refreshments rather than heavy meals.