[valhallen.282]

easiest way to let another person overtake is to move to the left and if there is no vehicle behind you leave the accelerator for the period of the overtake and the gradually speed up again.
May be slightly OT but i have noticeda great many genius drivers driving around town without their headrests in place. this in one the SILLIEST things you can ever do. In the event of an accident or even getting bumped from any side, without the headrest there is nothing there to hold your head in place. At impact your body will do a whiplash.that is the motion of moving forward towards the steering and then being yanked all the way back into your seat. YOU will risk severe damage to your neck and head. in the event of a bigger crash you can just have your head snapped off. not a pretty picture as you can tell.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by fiery enzyme

Engine braking is especially vital if you are driving down a hill. ... ... ...

However with highways I wouldn't recommend a lot of it (except in an emergency) as it strains the transmission. you usually do have enough time to plan out your braking in a highway anyway.

Every time you release the accelerator to slow down, you are using engine breaking.

Even if you use the breaks as well, engine breaking is the best way to control your car. Changing down and light breaking, is better than heavy breaking.

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by Ankoor

I kind of agree with paragsachania on this one... Don't know about KA but the AP, TN, and the KA trucks and also the KA buses love the fast lane and they refuse to move. Infact once I was there was this KA bus who for a change was obdiently driving in the left lane before he hit the express highway and the moment he was on the expressway, he nicly shifted on to the fast lane... I really wanted to learn his logic for doing something that stupid.

Probably, there is something about NH-7 and NH-47 that scares these guys to behave well..

[ashishy]

very useful tips there.. I still don't understand how some people can buy big cars and still do not know the general rules on the highway.

while coming back from Goa this guy in the Corolla had gone insane. When the cars go into the right side of the road to look for oncoming traffic, he used to run up to the space on the left. Many cars got irated by this behavior including me. And in the end we all blocked him and gave him some driving lessons that he would never forget.

There have been times, when I have found a very good driver and then I just used to follow him with a distance. I don't know yet if this is a good practice though.

[venuraja]

I read somewhere that highest number of accidents on the highways occured during
noon time for the silver coloured cars. In my experience, I found that during summer times, perticulary when there is bright light outside reflecting on the road , I did not immediately notice silver coloured cars compared to other vehicles.

Slow moving vehicles cause accidents not to themselves but to others.
So for any reason, your vehicle is a slow moving one, you must stick to a left lane.

If it is a very overloaded truck, be very kind hearted, the truck can not do a weaving , he can not move to left and then come back again to right etc., , he would most probably give a left indicator on continuos basis, while going at the same speed that a heavy loaded truck would go.
So you would overtake from left without bothering him.

There are many road bridges on our classic Indian roads. The danger is that the road is wide and suddenly narrows to an unexpected level, that is to the level of the width of the old road before expansion;these are road bridges where you have an underground drainage system to let the rain water pass from one side of the to the road (higher elevation) to other side of the road and to the feilds below.

If you notice, and you better notice for safety, that a car is coming with great speed, you better stop your car at the road bridge, so that oncoming highspeed car fellow , pass through the road bridge.

In my experience , I did the mistake of coming with very high speed ,while the RTC bus stop fellow stopped at the road by swerving to left, to let me pass the road bridge.
At least two or three times this incident happened to me. Eversince , I slow down lot and switch on head lights, to check to pass through , if there is an oncoming vehicle. Mostly if it is a turck or bus they almost stop,parking to their left and allow me to pass , even though I may take a minute more to pass through this arera.

But if the oncoming vehicle is a car and he is also coming with considerable speed , then you have problem. You better slowdown completely and allow his car to pass and in case if you are already very near you shall switch on the head lights.
On the highways, this happens perticularly when there are diversions due to repair or for any other reason.

[Perakath]

Originally Posted by fiery enzyme

Contrary to a claim that I read earlier that the vehicle in front might not be aware of a hazard, usually he is in a better position to identify a potential hazard than we are, driving behind him. Isn't that the whole point of using signals?

No, the point of using signals is to indicate your intention to do something.

Originally Posted by fiery enzyme

And honestly, about the indicators, if you have driven long enough and know highway driving, you will be able to recogonize the intentions of the driver before you no matter which indicator he is using.

So if I'm driving in front of you and I put my left indicator on but cut in front of you in the right lane instead, your driving experience will tell you my intention beforehand, is it?

Wrong assumptions about a driver's intentions can lead to a crash. And indicators, as the name suggests, indicate a driver's intention. Therefore, they should be used for their intended purpose only.

[sdmn]

Originally Posted by Glass
1) If there is a cycle on the left of the road ahead, slow down. The cyclist will definitely take a sharp right swerve just when you are a couple of meters away from her/him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is so true. In the last 10 months / 17000 km that I owned my latest car that has ABS, it activated only twice. And both times it was a two wheeler suddenly turning from the left end of the road, to the center of the road.

Every time my ABS is activated, I consider it as a negative on my safe driving - and as a mistake that could have been worse if not for the ABS.

Sandeep Menon

[sdmn]

Originally Posted by Blur

If it's at a blind corner, and I spot an oncoming vehicle, I flash the left indicator to warn the overtaking vehicle.

That's dangerous. If I were behind you, I would take it as you flashed the left indicator to signal that you are going to move left / park on the left, and I would look forward to overtaking you more strongly since you have communicated that you are going to give me way by moving left.

Like mentioned by many in this thread, indicators must be used to signal your intention to move left or right, not to communicate to other drivers what they must do!

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by sdmn

Like mentioned by many in this thread, indicators must be used to signal your intention to move left or right, not to communicate to other drivers what they must do!

That's true, except that our truckers on the highways don't read these threads. So when they communicate with you through indicator signals, they use a unique language all their very own.

As Blur said, I flash the left indicator to warn the overtaking vehicle... if the vehicle behind is a truck, the driver would understand and pull in behind Blur. If it's a car, he would respond like you said you would - expecting him to pull in to the left, so looking forward to overtaking more easily.

Since we are in no position to re-educate our truck (and bus) drivers, we might as well try to understand the ITIL (Indian Truckers' Indicator Language).

[fiery enzyme]

Originally Posted by Perakath

No, the point of using signals is to indicate your intention to do something.

I'm not sure what your 'no' means here. I was responding to a comment made earlier that the vehicle in the front should not indicate when it is correct for the vehicle in the rear to overtake. From what I can understand you mean the same thing.

Originally Posted by Perakath

So if I'm driving in front of you and I put my left indicator on but cut in front of you in the right lane instead, your driving experience will tell you my intention beforehand, is it?

No offense, but yes it will.

Originally Posted by Perakath

Wrong assumptions about a driver's intentions can lead to a crash. And indicators, as the name suggests, indicate a driver's intention. Therefore, they should be used for their intended purpose only.

Ideally yes. They should be used for their intended directions. There is no debating that. The question here is do we go tell the majority of the highway users who use it otherwise? Unfortunately since we can't do that it is more effecient to use it the way they use it lest we end up getting rear ended because of someone else getting confused.

Of course you are perfectly entitled to disagree.

[fiery enzyme]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Every time you release the accelerator to slow down, you are using engine breaking.

Even if you use the breaks as well, engine breaking is the best way to control your car. Changing down and light breaking, is better than heavy breaking.

I drive an 800. It has pathetic brakes. On a flat highway I plan my braking (I do make good time nevertheless), however there are times when a speed breaker looms up suddenly. I do use engine braking then. I have to.

There is a difference albeit a subtle one between taking your foot of the accelerator and using the engine to slow down the car, I'm sure you know that.

There is a comon misconception about engine braking. I have a cousin who got a new swift. I showed him how to use the engine braking since his car isn't ABS. A month later sitting on the passenger seat I watched him shift down from 3rd/55kmph to 1st. If you don't how to use it properly, it will kill the transmission.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by fiery enzyme

The question here is do we go tell the majority of the highway users who use it otherwise? Unfortunately since we can't do that it is more effecient to use it the way they use it lest we end up getting rear ended because of someone else getting confused.

. They don't teach us ITIL in driving school, but truckers go to a different driving school! And when a 20-tonne behemoth is communicating with us 1- or 2-tonners in his own language, we had BETTER understand his language... or get driven over!

[subbarp]

Originally Posted by neeld

If headlamps in daytime are unnecessary then why are so many European countries going forward with the daytime running lights law.
As per my personal experience on Indian highways it does improve the visibility from far be it a rainy day or a non rainy one as I have seen so many pedestrians / vehicles stopping for crossing much before than they do when my headlamps were off.

I agree. Low beam even during the day is a good practice especially on curvy roads. Lights on attracts attention faster giving extra time to other vehicle to react.

Unfortunately it is viewed as aggressive intent and the opposite side vehicles flash their headlights when they pass.

[janitha]

Originally Posted by fiery enzyme

I drive an 800. It has pathetic brakes. On a flat highway I plan my braking (I do make good time nevertheless), however there are times when a speed breaker looms up suddenly. I do use engine braking then. I have to.

There is a difference albeit a subtle one between taking your foot of the accelerator and using the engine to slow down the car, I'm sure you know that.

There is a comon misconception about engine braking. I have a cousin who got a new swift. I showed him how to use the engine braking since his car isn't ABS. A month later sitting on the passenger seat I watched him shift down from 3rd/55kmph to 1st. If you don't how to use it properly, it will kill the transmission.

Will require double clutching/ (double de clutching?).

[valhallen.282]

you can double declutch but the new synchro system brings it up to speed instantly. but in your 800 it would be silly to do it without the double D.