[dass]

1. Bad roads on which toll is still collected.
2. Less trees
3. Shady fuel pumps
4. Trucks hogging the right most lane, especially when they are trying to over take one another in an uphill.
5. People speeding on blind curves

[Tony2298]

Originally Posted by sibi6613

Hi BHPians,
Iwanted to start this thread to understand what issues do you face as fellow highway users (apart from the usual reckless driving / slow moving trucks / bad infra).

To kick things off, here are a few issues I’ve encountered regularly:

Originally Posted by GTO

Superb thread idea .

- Too many stops & breaks that destroy your momentum.

- Leaving late & getting stuck in traffic, outbound from the city and on the highway. My road-trip style is to start early, beat the traffic and enjoy the empty roads.

- The wrong car for the wrong roads.

Fully agree with each of the points, too many stops are pointless especially when you're in a slow moving ghat roads filled with old, ill-maintained smoke belching trucks which you manage to overtake and the moment you see the open roads and make some progress you're prompted to make a halt and while others relax you curse yourself seeing those trucks going ahead in snail speed.

I've adopted that method too of leaving the town during wee hours of the morning with deserted streets helping me leave the city limits as fast as possible. The worst time to enter/exit city is morning and evening rush hour with traffic at its peak.

And yes you do need the right car for the right trip, sadly for people like me it ain't viable to keep multiple cars and need kind of a Swiss knife one-car do it all type, this is where I feel SUVs like XUV700, Kodiaq etc are PERFECT since they allow you to have little fun for every genre of drive(off road, on road, twisties etc).

Originally Posted by SmartCat

I get annoyed when I invariably pick the slowest toll booth line out of 5 or 10 lines. Especially so when I notice that all the vehicles I had overtaken are now creeping past me.

Man this is oh so much frustrating, it happens to me especially in the notorious Khed-Shivapur toll plaza ever so often, most of the time it's due to blacklisted tags, local pass users etc but irritates the hell out of me and at times the toll booths just hang and stop reading the tags causing formation of long queues. Very irritating especially after paying so hefty tolls

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Few things that annoy during my long highway drives:
1) High-Beamers and the frequent flashers; blinds oncoming traffic and vehicles in front.

They've become another nuisance especially the yellow plate Ertigas/Dzires, I don't know why they do this even though they themselves run out of breath post 80kmph on their anaemic CNG running engines, they just get some sadistic pleasure by incessantly flashing their super powerful retrofitted LEDs and honking the pressure horns, it sometimes irks me so much that I get a strong impulse to install rear flashers in my car too but the ethics of a responsible driver and TeamBHP prohibit me to do so and I just give them way and refrain myself from doing so or do it moderately to alert fellow road users without jeopardising the safety. I just follow the quote of the M.K Gandhi which my dad taught me as a kid

Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind

Other than these things, other factors which annoy me the most is TRAFFIC CONGESTION AND GRIDLOCK ON A FREEWAY, just by the name of it a Highway/Freeway should be EMPTY with fast-flowing traffic but more often than not our highways are congested, not just due to diversions or increased vehicles plying on the road but due to large number of old, ill-maintained vehicles on our roads and it includes everything from noisy motorcycles, auto-rickshaw, cars, tractor, buses everything which just abruptly break down in the middle of the road in the right lane, causing the traffic flow to be disrupted and eventually causing a gridlock and it's even more frustrating than being stuck in city setting cause in the latter situation you know that you'll end in traffic jams but in the former you expect a smooth sailing experience and seeing a congestion makes you crazy.

Apart from that what I really hate is implementing atrociously low speed limits on otherwise smooth highway and those mobile interceptor Ertigas of Police/RTO which knowingly position themselves next to a smooth patch of downhill slope to slap you a speeding ticket saying for driving at 65/70kph at a 50kmph zone. Simply ridiculous.

Leaving that the usual nuances of wrong side driving, rash driving, poor road conditions are there as usual.

Thank you
Tony

[troublemaker]

1. Slow traffic in Right most lane ("The American drivers")
2. High beam usage by trucks and small cars with reflector+LED
3. Random barricades
4. Toll booths - slowness, extreme narrow car lanes, pathetic Chinese gadgetry
5. Clean washrooms
6. Low quality roads; especially the bridges

[manojrajakrishn]

There are many things that annoy me on the highways :

1. While you are slowing down as the toll both approaches, there are others who accelerate & overtake you rashly just to get infront of you
2. While you are following two heavy-load vehicles trying to overtake eachother, there are others coming behind you flashing the lights and honking as if you were blocking the way!
3. Experiencing bad potholes on highways for which you pay a good amount of toll for plying on
4. When most of them are relaxed and driving sanely, creating a ruckus for no reason just because you have a new or a fast car or for whatever reason
5. Highway hotels charging more food is still fine, but the lack of taste and quality for the price you pay annoys me.
6. When tolls are paid for every vehicle in a 50-kilometer interval. Lack of clean toilets and restrooms every 25 km.

[saisree]

One thing that annoy me in my long highway journeys

Annoying Co-Passenger - If your co-passenger is annoying and if he thinks he is a car enthusiast and questions
Why this Alto needs a powerful headlight? Small car == should be driven sane and have a low life
Why is a BMW/Merc/Audi/Volvo running at speeds less than 90 or 100? Luxury car == should be always driven at high speeds.
Why is the poor guy crossing the road when we are coming and throws some explicit? Pedestrian should not walk; we have to make them run.
There is a Creta coming at the back, do not allow them to cross. Let his headlamp stalk come out dipping

Real experience you see. I still travel with them and at times it becomes a source of talks post the travel

OT - I never allow them to drive my car

[rajivr1612]

Originally Posted by Kashief

Good thread @sibi6613. I like to share my experience in highways particularly Coimbatore to Chennai via Salem.

For example, people travelling from south TN/KL to Bangalore or Chennai would have to go via this bridge in Salem. This is a major turn from Salem which is connecting two big cities, Bangalore to take left and Chennai to turn right. But the sign board is provisioned after the divider. I have seen many vehicles took wrong turn and without hesitation reversed to take left or right for course correction.

Hehe...I remember this. I took the left road and ended up on the Bangalore route. As they say - when life gives you lemon, make lemonade.

My son is a foodie and he utilized this opportunity to make me stop at Grand Estancia for a nice lunch, after which I detoured back to my original route to Chennai.

[skrao]

1.Trucks in fast lane, i totally get why they stick to the right most lanes,just that in 4 lane highways it essentially becomes a choke point

2. Toll Plazas with non functioning FastTag readers, why cant we have on the go plate readers like in the US?

3. Local/opposite side traffic/pedestrians, I blame the highway design for this. i know of villages and towns that are cleaved and traditional crossings are taken out without provision for people to get from one side to the other without dangerous moves

4. Road quality/surface- large improvement, but unexpected bad patches, breakages are a nightmare esp when traveling in the night

5. NHAI mandates no humps/speed breakers etc on major highways, local municipal and other govts get around this by building elevated pedestrian crossings

6. broken medians for local traffic to cross, happens even on access controlled highways like the Bangalore/Mysore expressway

7. Lack of proper rest/fuel/food stops

8. No enforcement of "no build zones" around highways, local towns and cities slowly creep tot the edge of the highway

[Mystic]

My 2 cents:

1. Vegetarian only restaurants are sometimes difficult to find on some routes.

2. I feel that safety standards of vehicles on our highways are not uniform. There is too much variation. Most vehicles don't have ABS / seat belts / airbags. Until all vehicles are equipped with basic safety measures mandated by Govt, no one is safe on highways.

3. Civic sense / road sense / common sense is a rare commodity in general because of the juggad ways of breaking laws. DLs must be issued only after a very strict written exam and proper driving tests.

4. Even though our truck drivers are very efficient but the trucks are over loaded and not well maintained by the owners. Many donot have even brake lights. This makes all the vehicles on the highways around them vulnerable.

5. Clean toilets is something that needs effort by all of us. Everybody must make it a point to keep it dry and clean for the next user. This is an issue all over the world in public rest rooms. It is all the more challenging in India because we use water in WC.

6. Stray animals and random people crossing the highways is a problem without proper fence.

7. Real time warnings on high ways should be made mandatory of the extreme weather conditions / information on road accidents ahead etc so that we can take detour ( we are left to the mercy of google maps suggestions ).

8. Highway patrol must be boosted with powerful vehicles and people must be afraid of them. Cameras must be everywhere on highways so that no one can escape if breaking any law.

9. In India, many are not aware of the road signs even though I see in some places YIELD signs.

10. Quality of highways is not great due to various obvious reasons. The camber is not properly maintained because of a huge variety of vehicles that travel on our roads. We cannot just have autobahn type of roads even if we have a budget for the same.

[mbhalara]

1. Truck driving utilizing all available lanes to overtake each other even at difference 0.5 km/hr.

2. Never completing construction works on roads (some fly overs, bridges never get completed and creates traffic jam near it, finally defeating the entire purpose of constructing a new road as the journey time remains almost the same.)

3. No lane marking done, for many months after completion of roads. Many drivers utilize both lanes and not giving side even after honking.

4. Many petrol pumps keeping toilet doors locked! Others having uncleaned toilets!

5. One two lane roads, cars coming in opposite lane dangerously near before going back to its original lane.

[the.dogfather]

1. High beams. I avoid driving at night due to the glare from the lights. LED projectors have only made matters worse. When I read in reviews that people are dissatisfied with such lights, it really makes me wonder why we can't design better lights which help the driver without troubling others with all the tech in hand.

2. Toll booths: Many a times I have been stuck behind idiots whose fastags are blacklisted or are showing some I card and arguing.

3. Entering back in the city: My drives start early, so I manage to avoid traffic while exiting, but I would be returning in the evening, and get stuck in bad traffic, ruining the entire holiday experience.

4. Wanna-be racers: I often come across drivers whose ego gets hurt when a 'so called boring car' overtakes them. They often start tailgating and driving too close for comfort. Once I let them overtake, they would slow down forcing me to drive much slower to avoid them. If I need fuel or a break, I usually take one, for my peace of mind.

5. Distracted drivers : Have noticed many distracted drivers on the expressway talking on phones or even watching videos while car is on cruise control.

6. Tractors and trucks coming from the wrong side.

[kruzr]

1. Over speeding cars changing lanes/cutting me out too narrowly without any indicator.
2. Too many breaks.
3. Someone else taking over the music playlist I listen to.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by sibi6613

....
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
...

A lot has been already said - I am just throwing specific examples that falls in some or the other points already raised: the lack of driving etiquettes and discipline on the road is a major reason in my opinion.

I often encounter the EVs hogging the right most lane and driving at a speed of 60-80 kmph to maximise the range! OR the heavy REs hogging the right most or middle lanes and driving at the speed of 60-80! These guys force others to overtake from their left.

Facilities, infra is one thing but the people and their road manners is totally different! While infra is not in our control, manners definitely are.

[royalbeat]

Great thread.

1. Never ending road constructions. This coupled with poor quality service roads/ diversion roads provided to allow flow of traffic

2. Poor driving etiquette: Heavy vehicles hogging right-most lanes or all the lanes, driving in wrong direction, drivers distracted by phone calls or videos, drivers changing lanes randomly without any indicators, drivers cutting lanes on tolls

3. Unclean washrooms

4. Village and city roads opening directly on highways

5. Speed breakers, barricades, rumble strips on highways

[C1985V]

I think most of the points like unclean washrooms, high beam LED lights, toll plazas etc are covered.

Apart from these two specific things I hate about the highway (Mumbai-Ahemdabad) which I frequently use are:
1. Never ending repairs. Don't know what the are doing but from the last few years you will find some section being under repair.
2. The recent irritant is even after the toll of Dahisar being cancelled, the booths are still there - removing those will marginally ease up the traffic bottle neck (in my opinion)

[attrip2008]

My single biggest gripe on a trip is rutting on the highways / expressways. Reference image below.

I am surprised not many are calling it out.

Whenever I see rutting, there is a this discomfort I feel that I might lose grip or control while driving over them. Traction is not ideal either.



Source- engineeringdiscoveries.com