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-   -   Highway driving etiquette and rules (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/57644-highway-driving-etiquette-rules-18.html)

I don't know about you folks, but I find the habit of switching on hazard lights in the north Indian fog to be a highly annoying trait - it hurts the eyes, ruins clarity of vision, and becomes very mesmeric after a time.
Not when driving, Nick!

LOL, My sides are aching from :uncontrol, this is a real riot!

Now before someone reads us the Riot Act, let me clarify - Thad's last post (so gleefully quoted by me here) is written in jest.

DO NOT USE YOUR CELL PHONE TO MAKE A CALL OR SMS WHILE DRIVING.

Cheers,

No you did not get what I meant. Read my previous post word by word again. You have written the exact opposite of what I have written :uncontrol. The person driving behind puts on the blinkers to let the guy ahead know that he is stopping. Samajhdaar ko ishaara and stuff.
If it is a short tunnel and the driver ahead does not want to put on the headlights then the brake lights are the only way to know where the dude in front is. Hence the blinkers tell everyone behind where he is and what are the dimensions of the vehicle if anyone wants to overtake.

All this needs a lot of highway driving experience in India where driver protocols are wierd and sometimes funny. That will teach you which yellow plate driver is safe and not. Of course not to tailgate any and everyone is not rocket science.

Takes the same effort to put on tail lights as switching on the hazard warning lights. So why the hazard warning lights and not the tail lights?

About the car at the back wanting to stop - there are quite a few ways to signal the driver in front (1) Flash lights, (2) Tap the horn a few times, and then hang back a little and switch on the left indicator. One can also overtake and then do the slowing down (not too soon) and putting on the left indicator.

Dunno man, you gotta ask them who practice the above mentioned methods. These might be effective in the driver/trucker circles, not us.
But these are highway techniques followed in India, and it'll be good if we know this so that we know what the trucker means when he blinks his right or left indicator just 2 or 3 times instead of showing the signal for overtaking. We need not join the gang and do what they do.

lol:

You are right: I missed the point entirely! But hey, I'm not going to re-write my cell-phone jokes to match!

As to the rest. Yes, I guess I still have a lot to learn!:D

Actually you should definitely avoid higher tyre pressure for that specific reason. With the tyres heating up the air in the tyres tends to expand and which actually increases the tyre pressure furthermore. Especially if you have tubed tyres where friction is higher. In such cases there are more chances of tyre bursts. Hence, when traveling on the highways, where the speeds would be higher than normal and the roads are also heated up, its advisable to maintain the specified tyre pressure.

The only advantage you can get with overfilling your tyres is a bit of an increase in the mileage.

Experts can correct me if I am wrong...

I can only tell what I have seen.
A truck accident I had seen was because of high air pressure in front tyres.
The front right side tyre was burst pulling the truck towards right causing a hit to the huge banayan tree which killed all the 3 three people sitting in the front except the cleaner on the extreme left.

On high ways when you drive, stop the car every 3 hours under a shade and allow it cool down ,engine as well as tyres, perticularly in Indian summers.
You must check tyre pressure in the petrol bunks and adjust accordingly if you are on a long journey.
One more caution is to change the tyres, once in every 3 years or 4 years , you shall not neglect if the tyres on the front worn out.

If your tyre air pressure is very low (many people drive like that)
the steering (rock and pinion type) will be ruined completely,with steering becoming very hard.

BTW, even lower pressure results in the sidewalls getting subjected to constant flexing and building up the heat internally, which may eventually cause tear/burst

Cannot agree more regarding the correct front tyre pressures and condition of tyres. My aunt's Santro bust its front left tyre and the car instantly veered off to hit the side wall of a bridge. Only minor injuries, luckily.

Hi guys

We discuss all these in length and breadth. I haven't seen any driving school or the test drive observed by the inspector before issuing the licence asks or brief the drivers during the test drive. It has to be initiated by the RTOs and given a book let. We got 3 Dl in Chennai none of the RTOs gave us a booklet on it.

I don't know how many of us have the Driver's Manual by Dr.P S Pasricha - lot of info contained in it

One of the ways I was told to do this in the UK was that while you overtake, continue in the right lane (overtaing lane) till you see both the headlights of the vehicle which you are overtaking in your rear-view mirror. Then switch to the left lane. This provides adequate distance so that the person you are overtaking does not have to touch his brakes.

Completely wrong information. Never check/fill air while on the move and tyre is already hot.
And yeah, no need to stop your car under shade to cool the engine or the tyre. Totally not needed, unless you are travelling in an old Amby.

Use nitrogen instead of air to fill tyres. Nitrogen does not expand with heat being inert. The tyres remain cool to the touch even after a scorching fast drive !