[haldar_siliguri]

Early Morning for me, any day of the week.

The number 1 reason behind it -

1. No drunks, joyriders, night buses, and jaywalkers.

Also -

2. The world is quieter, the Earth cooler, and the mind a lot fresher.

3. Spirited driving is much easier and way safer Early morning than at Night.

[NPV]

I've always preferred and enjoyed drives starting early morning. In the late 90's, the long drives would typically start between 5:30-6am and gradually over the years it has been advanced to 5, then 4:30 and now 4am, even 3:30am on couple of longer trips. This is largely because of lower traffic and I can cover a longer distance before traffic picks up, and I feel much safer too driving during the day. On most of my trips, half the distance is covered by lunch time, and sometimes I reach the destination by lunch time
On very few ocassions I've done night driving in India and those were mostly due to some kind of emergency/need.

I would also add that I really enjoyed night driving while in the USA. We would typically start around 4pm, drive through the night and reach the destination by morning or afternoon next day. This was a routine during most long/holiday weekends.

[Amrik Singh]

Early Morning suits me.

Starting from my home, it may take around 2 Hours just to reach Delhi Border (Singhu Border) towards Karnal during normal or late hours. This is covered in half an hour, stress free drive early morning.
After that, the drive to Punjab is very peaceful.

[RaghavEvoX]

I love the early morning drive in the Chennai - Pondichery ECR Route, which is a bliss. But most of the time I end up in the night drive because of my work schedules and travel Chennai - Bangalore in the night time.

The main reason I hate the night drive is the high beam headlights which is very irritating to me & also the truck traffic is quite high during the night.

[anandhsub]

Always a night owl atleast for drives up to 400kms ( 6 hrs)
1) my work hours are from 12 to 11. Am used to sleeping late at around 2-2:30

2) I love the interstate trucks on the road. Always predictable when it comes to ovetaking.

3) Zero local traffic especially bikers and autos.

4) Fewer rashly driven cars. Don't usually see cars driving way above 100 at night

5) Family sleeps hence can do non stop up to 400 kms. Else would need atleast one stop for food and may be one more for the rest room.

6) The drive gets better as you near destination very late in the night or for longer drives the very early hours of dawn. This vs starting early morning and hitting the destination in peak traffic hours (especially
for my most frequent drive. BLR-CHN-BLR)

7) Very important: I try to time the drive so that I am just ahead of the overnight buses). This helps in reducing the traffic and also gives me the added safety that in case the car breaks down I can probably hail one of them if not for me atleast for the family.

[Abhinav V]

I love night drives simply because there's hardly any traffic. Crossing towns and major bottlenecks will be a piece of cake.
Mysore to Bangalore which is a busy stretch takes anywhere between 2-5 hours during the day.
During my recent trips, I started from Mysore at 11:30 PM and was in my bed by 1:15 AM.
I achieved this by not driving at dangerous speeds at all. I just maintained an average of 90KPH.
I especially love driving on single lane roads in the dark. The sight of your headlights stretching as far as it can is the best feeling to experience. But unless I know the road or with a group I wouldn't do it.
I would rather drive up all night to wake up to the sunrise from the Mountains or beaches than start early morning, travel all day and reach in time for sunset.

[vb-saan]

Early morning preferred; overall the fresh feeling after a good night's sleep and there is some added charm of driving in the morning, especially in the cities.

[Chetan_Rao]

Don't want or have to choose, love both.

1. Late-night city drives have always been awesome. There's just something about an asleep city that beckons, better half is like-minded so the habit continues without a hitch (pun unintended). Empty roads, night lights, music, conversations, the occasional cute doggo/kitty to stop and play with.

2. Long drives, we get out by 4.30 AM and prefer reaching destination before night-fall. Sleep-lover better half takes not-so-kindly to this one, but adjusts with sleeping in the car instead as long as the AC is set to her preferences and I don't get chatty until breakfast time

[SJM1214]

I love driving during nights and early morning. I always start my drives in the night or early morning for long drive because i m familiar with the roads and area of 400km radius of my home town. Most of my hometown to Delhi and Mumbai drives were done during nights.

However, I avoid driving in the night in unfamiliar territories.

[turbo]

Late Night. Always.
More of an owl than a Rooster.

Also I like to leave just after office, so sunset gradually descending into the night is something I really like.

[silverado]

Early Morning with Family, Late night without family.

[JojyKerala]

Chose early morning. At night, a lot of drivers from the opposite side keep their light in high beam on Kerala highways. This adds vision issues to the already poorly-lit roads.

I don't want to be featured in the next day's newspaper so prefer being safe and driving early morning.

[carfreak]

I voted for early morning drive. The reasons are already mentioned in the opening post. I like to drive when I am fresh after a night's rest. The empty roads, the view of the sunlight slowly taking away the darkness of the night, no drunk drivers etc. are all the main reasons. To add to it, stopping for a hot cup of tea and snacks at a roadside shack is the icing on the cake.

The main negative for me with night drives is the headlights of oncoming traffic, especially since many drivers keep the high beam switched on. It just gives me a headache every time.

[jagira]

I prefer morning drives. As others have mentioned, high beams on cars, jaywalkers, cattle and wrong side drivers make night driving risky.

If I have to travel on a busy route, I try to leave early by 6 am. However, if I am on a road trip in a not so crowded region, I prefer leaving after having breakfast. I plan my trip in such a way that my next destination is around 7-8 hours away so that I can reach by 4-5 pm and explore the place in evening.

[Vik0728]

It has always been early morning for me and voted just that.

We are early risers and love to start all our journeys quite early to experience the Sun rise. The freshness of the dawn and the lovely empty roads always keeps me brimming with excitement.

How could anybody complain when the view from your cockpit is like this: