[bblost]

My Home-Office is about 18 kms.

I usually commute by cycle.
Slower speeds. Not much traffic. Not a care in the world.

All I have is the lovely blue sky, a carpet of tar, rocks and stones.
Trees and birds that sing for me.

Every line on the road, patterns in the sand. I even spot the same clouds at times.

I am just a very lucky guy.

[SDP]

Interesting thread!
As far as I am concerned I have sort of a tunnel vision and remember ONLY the things that are directly related to the road, traffic and journey. So potholes, speed-breakers, which lane to take in which stretch, signals, important milestones along the route.

Sometimes I am amused when I take a bus/auto on the same route and notice a whole lot of peripheral stuff like shops, stalls and surrondings, which I had failed to notice earlier.

[NaveenKBorra]

Very Interesting thread!

From last couple of months I have been traveling to Chittoor from Bangalore almost every weekend. Very recently I have observed that I am able to visualize the road at least 100 mts ahead. I can think of every single pot hole or a speed breaker on my way and maintain my speeds accordingly.

Last weekend I had to travel to Anantapur from Chittoor and I was not at all comfortable accelerating above 80Kmph thinking what you have got after that turn. Thanks to Indian roads.

[noopster]

Super thread!

I seem to be in a minority on this thread. I remember landmarks on any route but NOT the order I spot them in. This is very annoying if I need to guide someone to a specific place (e.g. is Mayor's Bungalow BEFORE or after Tamnak Thai when going Northbound on Cadell Road? I have no idea, just that they are fairly close to each other).

I used to think I have a lousy sense of direction. I have got lost on the narrow streets of Central Bangalore hundreds of times when I lived there. Even in Bombay, the city I grew up in, take me out of my comfort zone of the western suburbs and I am LOST! Pune is probably the city I am most comfortable driving around in and there is a reason for that.

I took a self development course a couple of years ago and one of the things the instructor kept harping on was to be IN THE MOMENT and always aware of my surroundings. It was an epiphany. There was nothing wrong with my sense of direction, I realised. As a driver, I'd always been focused on the destination and not so much the journey (am talking about city commutes, not long drives). This is probably the reason I didn't register half the landmarks on the routes I even regularly took, nor the order they appeared in. After that I have started keeping my mind open and my eyes even more so! Since this coincided with my move to Pune, no wonder that I am rarely lost here.

The best way for me to really know any locality is to traipse around on foot (or bicycle, bblost?) or drive around in a leisurely manner, exploring various streets and bylanes till I get a sense of it.

[Jignesh]

Yes. I too have a good memory. Infact I just need to drive / walk on a road twice & I shall remember most of the landmarks like Bus Stops, turns, shops, etc on the stretch.

Even while driving on regular routes, I generally remember most of the good & bad patches specially speed breakers. I specifically note for places like Bus stops & junctions so that I next time I am careful & avoid sudden hinderances. I also remember most of the huge pot holes enroute & I am generally well prepared to give them a miss.

Originally Posted by bblost

My Home-Office is about 18 kms. I usually commute by cycle.

Hello Bblost,
36 kms of cyclying in a day , simply amazing.

Thanks,

[mmxylorider]

I remember my daily commute road extremely well, and in that sense I have a relatively good memory for most roads travelled.

Good overtaking stretches, typical points where 6 seaters pick up passengers, correct lane to be in - these are done almost subconsiously.

In fact, have started noticing ST buses, local company transport buses doing their scheduled runs also regularly.

One of my favourite past times is to keep noting driving distances between different points on the route. eg house to highway, then to next exit, company gate to parking etc. Something to pass the time!

[Latheesh]

@aargee - Yup I know what you mean!

I remember my query on Chennai city travel thread and your answer/details were simply awesome. We could reach the destination without any confusion/help and the details provided you were perfect.
My colleague who used to make fun on my TBHP addiction was surprised to see this.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...queries-3.html

[pganapathy]

On roads I drive on regualrly I know where most of the potholes and speed breakers etc are on the road. I have an ok, though not great sense of direction. I don't really pay a great deal of attention to stuff off the road, though I do know roughly where are the bigger things, but not necessarily the smaller ones.

When I force myself to pay attention I actually note a lot more details.

One thing I have never been able to do is tell which direction I am travelling in (north, south, east, west) and when people say they are north/south bound I have to ask where they are coming from.

[LoveMyBaleno]

I remember almost every minute detail on the roads frequently traveled(if the commute is less than 20 KM). However, if the commute is more than 20 KM - I seem to have a blurred memory for some specific stretches of the route. Looks like I have 20 KM road detail memory buffer. Am I alone here?

[mempheS.D]

Ironically, the finer detail just got the better of me during my drive back home from work last night.

1. The potholes are the landmarks on Bangalore roads. Almost so many distinct and unique ones that you could direct a visitor coming home for the first time by just indicating potholes. So, one cannot miss this finest of detail. The finer details of the pothole itself would be: the shape, the depth, the side of the road, etc. Over time, I've just mastered potholes en route to work on Outer Ring Road.

2. The pattern in which signals go green at a junction, so that I know whether or not to switch off the engine. This helps a lot at those signals where there are no timer displays.

3. I've quit choosing the "best" lane as it has been proved time and time again that there is no such lane. As someone put it - Murphy's Law. It always existed and it did even this morning on my way to office and I cribbed as usual, "Why Me?". Yet to master the art employed by these BMTC drivers to get through the worst of bottlenecks, but thankfully I've learnt to outsmart them when on the BIRD.. Secret. Secret. (Clue: ROOTS horns)

4. The very common faces I see at the bus stops that I pass by - some of them for almost close to 4 years. Geez! Is it that I have not moved on in life, or they haven't? Wait a minute! Both of us haven't. Hooray.

5. How can anyone miss the finer details of the locations of interceptors and speed guns when one involuntarily decelerates to 60kmph without even looking at the speedo?! hahah..

That's just a few I can recollect. Thanks for opening this thread.

[babu.sundaram]

Interesting thread!

I remember many things and not remember many things at all! I know and remember after on same route for 5/6 times things such as:
- bad stretches & pot holes,
- signals & such
- places where I saw good / bad things (accidents..),
- many times even people whom to expect in my frequent times (yes, there are regulars!

But, though some of these small things are remembered I miss even landmarks others wouldn't (mostly shops.. no, not selective memory!)

I guess, different people tell same route in different ways depending on how we remember this. For e.g. some say, "when you see abc shop, turn left", while others might say, "take right at 3 signal". I even know an instance where someone told me, "take right when you come at 4th speed breaker" .

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Yes. I do remember the roads quite well. Infact they somehow work in the sub concious mind now! But if someone were to ask me the very same route, I would fumble and would end up telling the longer route. I get annoyed by this a lot of times! :(

[DueLLeR]

Roads that I travel on frequently tend to get 'registered' in the mind with details such as speed bumps, pot holes, signals etc. I believe it is true for most drivers.

However, I have an interesting story about my memory of roads and their finer details. Now, I've traveled on the Mumbai-Pune expressway a minimum of 125 times to-and-fro (actual calculation) and tend to know the bends and twisties by heart.

About two weeks back, it was a thunderstorm in Mumbai, Pune and everywhere in between. I left from work at about 9 pm and started to drive toward Mumbai. As I entered the Lonavala twisties, the weather grew increasingly worse with dense fog and obviously no street lamps. Driving in fog around those areas tends to produce a "tunnel" effect where one can't decipher distances between the car and obstacles on the sides. It was impossible to see more than 10 ft ahead and all drivers were simply following one another at very low speeds. I was driving my Polo Trendline (and not the i20 Asta) which lacks a fog lamp and rear wipers, making driving even more difficult in those conditions. There were poorly maintained trucks in the middle of the road with no tail lamps, making them almost invisible. As I overtook the slower moving vehicles, my only guide on the road were the lane markers and my memory of the twists and bends. Even then, it was a pretty scary experience. I can't even imagine how difficult it would have been for someone who doesn't know those roads to drive in those conditions.

Cheers!
DueLLeR

[gypsyFreak]

Yes I do remeber all the finer details of the road daily used.

Acutally, I make it a point to mentally note down all the finer details of the road (potholes/signals/bus stops/bus routes/bus numbers/shops...) so that i can compute a best possible route for daily commute.

From last few months i have been driving between Bangalore and Mysore every weekend (sometimes twice in a week). Now, i know where the road humps are and which hump can be taken in which gear.

I guess knowing the road helps a lot to reduce driving fatigue.
My office commute is 30KMs up and down.

[anujatwork]

It's true. One does remember every detail of the road used frequently. It's much like naturally knowing which side of the bed to get up whether you are sleep walking or going to attend the nature's call or just get a glug of H2O! It's hard to err :-)