[MX6]

@jagan06777: The toll charges are what they are named after. Take a Toll on you! Jokes apart, for an uninterrupted smooth drive, I don't mind paying the toll as it helps a lot in safe driving and returns better fuel efficiency.

[jagan0677]

Originally Posted by MX6

@jagan06777: The toll charges are what they are named after. Take a Toll on you! Jokes apart, for an uninterrupted smooth drive, I don't mind paying the toll as it helps a lot in safe driving and returns better fuel efficiency.

Agree! They are well worth it!

Cheers
Jagan

[coolclouds]

A simple example where you will enjoy night driving is Cochin-Trivandrum. You can do this stretch in about 2.5 hrs when compared to 4-5hrs or even more on day. Similarly, Calicut-Cochin, Palghat-Cochin, Calicut-Mangalore.. all these are highly populated two lane roads and day drive is a pain.

But roads like Bangalore-Chennai, Bangalore-Coimbatore, Hubli-Mumbai, Jaipur-Delhi etc etc its always a breeze to drive in day.. as they are not crowded and you can maintain better average speeds.

[atul_31]

I would ugre people never to drive at night on highways - unless it is a "real" emergency. Maybe a lot of accidents can be prevented that way. Better to start early - 4am or so and cover good ground before others wake up. That allows you to take it easy for the rest of the journey and reach your destination comfortably by sunset.

[anachronix]

I would prefer Night driving any day... at least I can be sure that there no morons to jump on my way in the middle of the night!

Plus, the smaller vehicle traffic is much less and cruise becomes easier!

[myashu]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

A simple example where you will enjoy night driving is Cochin-Trivandrum. You can do this stretch in about 2.5 hrs when compared to 4-5hrs or even more on day. Similarly, Calicut-Cochin, Palghat-Cochin, Calicut-Mangalore.. all these are highly populated two lane roads and day drive is a pain.

But roads like Bangalore-Chennai, Bangalore-Coimbatore, Hubli-Mumbai, Jaipur-Delhi etc etc its always a breeze to drive in day.. as they are not crowded and you can maintain better average speeds.

You are right if you are just taking the speed angle to the drive. On Indian Roads I would say Safety would be a bigger concern. Since I always had a low profile zen which was not effective in fighting lights with others, I always avoided night drives especially in Kerala. The roads are single lane (mainly the NH17 which covers more than half of Kerala),trucks, buses with their blinding lights and killing speeds are always a threat to smaller 4 wheelers or 2 wheelers. I would prefer a day drive in Kerala and night drive on highways with multi lanes.

[contactme27]

I prefer night driving.. Two things comes in my mind.

- lovely music in dead silence.
- no traffic in the night and travel time is much short compared to day

But, I have always pick up the time based on the road I select. If I feel there is a safety concern on a particular stretch, i like to do it in the morning time.
Otherwise, night drive is anytime better.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by myashu

You are right if you are just taking the speed angle to the drive. On Indian Roads I would say Safety would be a bigger concern.

This is not from the speed angle even though we get good speeds at night.
I don't like bumper to bumper traffic and drive in a convoy as we often see in these roads during day.

[Fornax]

Night Driving - for reasons already discussed + the ones below:

1. Cows and dogs are diurnal and hence less than likely to be encountered
2. I've observed that some (might be more) transport operator make their truck drivers rest in the night, so overall the traffic is much lighter.
3. Although debatable, I believe that drivers - unless drunk - tend to be more careful in the night. Speeding on highways is also least observed in the night. (Mumbai-Nasik-Dhule / Surat-Kolkata )
4. Love the moonlit landscapes - if I'm with a driver ofcourse.

[dr.faramroze]

Exactly Fornax, but one more point, our cars need to be in their best condition, in order to withstand a whole night travel without any breakdown. I had read about a BHPian who got stuck on the highway due to fuel pump failure, seems he had to spend the night inside his car.

And, one needs to be carefull of the glare of the oncoming traffic.

[abhinav.s]

I used to swear by day driving earlier. But in one instance had to do B'lore - Mysore at night due to an emergency. Left at 00:10 at midnight on Friday and reached Mysore at 02:00 flat. The traffic was almost nil and I did not do very high speeds. Maintained my comfortable speed of 100-110. I was surprised as there was not much strain as well.

So for B'lore-Mysore atleast on the weekends, night driving is way better than day driving.

[CrackedHead]

I needed to get to Lucknow (from Delhi) last Monday due to a family emergency - I drove the 600 odd km's on NH2 at speeds hovering around 100km/hr and had a couple of nasty surprises. Came across a couple of bovine road kills and some live neel gai's that would pop out from nowhere. They were probably feeding on the young plants planted on the median!

Such unexpected surprises make night driving very very dangerous (even on roads as good as NH2).

[indiagenie]

well, there is 2 sides to every coin, right?

While I agree that night driving allows you to cover longer distances with lesser stress, but thats in ideal conditions - no traffic, safe area, good roads, car in good condition, fuel availability on the road etc - usually not found in most scenarios

Hence, my rules -
while in India - drive between sunrise and sunset as much as possible
while in US,UK - drive after dinner and before breakfast as much as possible

works beautifully - i once did Tampa to Warwick in 20 hours, absolutely comfortably.. major driving in the night time.. those who are aware of the US geography, would know that you can't imagine doing that during daytime

[vaisakhr]

Originally Posted by myashu

You are right if you are just taking the speed angle to the drive. On Indian Roads I would say Safety would be a bigger concern. Since I always had a low profile zen which was not effective in fighting lights with others, I always avoided night drives especially in Kerala. The roads are single lane (mainly the NH17 which covers more than half of Kerala),trucks, buses with their blinding lights and killing speeds are always a threat to smaller 4 wheelers or 2 wheelers. I would prefer a day drive in Kerala and night drive on highways with multi lanes.

+1 to that
High ways in Kerala becomes even more deadly during night. Because of

1. unexpected portholes on a silky smooth high way,
2. truck drivers who will be in half sleep state,
3. drunk people crossing the high way carelessly
4. KSRTC buses which will be in the same state as of the trucks,

The accidents rates in Kerala shoots up during night ( most of them happens due to high speed, and while they try to avoid a porthole or some dogs/cats).

But the roads besides high ways will be free during night. With the less traffic one can flat out if the road is well known and good. (For eg: The road near my place from Arookutty to Cherthala, is a heaven to ride in night. It is having the same kind of quality as a high way and have nice curves.)

[architect]

Safety is a prime concern, so nobody is advised to do "dangerous" stretches at night. Similarly, having proper lights and keeping the car in good condition is equally important. Regarding sleep, each one has his own bio-rhythm, for example, I am freshest between 10 PM and 3 AM.

Above factors being favourable, 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.

But I am repeating myself here.