[2000rpm]

WagonR / Celerio drivers in the first lane @60kmph. (No offence)

I have found the demographic to be the most unaware of the road manners (because I assume most of them are first time car owners in the family). Any drive who holds the steering in the "Training School pattern" (10 and 2 pattern), I try to stay away from as much as possible.

On the contrary, I have found Alto drivers to be very very seasoned and drive on the road like they know exactly

[locusjag]

Only one thing that slow and steady drivers like myself and truckers hate these days - all those honking and white light flashing drivers who honk/flash/zig-zag and finally whiz past in frenzied wolf packs. It's fine that some people want to experience accidents and die young, I wish they would achieve that on their own. I never RSVP'd to attend their party.

[AmarFlying]

Most of the points have been covered by others. For me, I hate the white Fortuners/Innovas. Now not specifically just because of these cars but the drivers or the owners who are in them. Pune/PCMC residents might be able to understand where I am going. These cars are mainly owned by politicians/wanna-be-politicians/land lords, at times goons or people behaving like ones. The way they drive, change lanes, flash their headlights from behind when there is no place to move, speed-up bully other road users can be too much at times. These used to be Scorpios as well but don't see these often these days.

[shan_ned]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Only one thing that slow and steady drivers like myself and truckers hate these days - all those honking and white light flashing drivers who honk/flash/zig-zag and finally whiz past in frenzied wolf packs. It's fine that some people want to experience accidents and die young, I wish they would achieve that on their own. I never RSVP'd to attend their party.

How many TBHPians here are ready to take a vow to drive defensively ?. Yes, the most annoying part is the high speed driving. I highly respect drivers who maintain lane discipline and safe speed (80 kmph on most of the highways). Patience is GOLD which will stop creating widows, widowers and orphans.

Bangalore-Mysore-Bangalore expressway used to be a road full of brainless drivers. With NHAI imposing a strict speed discipline (with AI cameras at multiple locations), the expressway has become more safer and pleasant to drive. Even other highways too should be converted like that to stop high speed driving.

Of course there are a few more annoying things , but high speed driving is certainly a bigger evil which needs to be eliminated.

[that_sedate_guy]

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.

There's a running joke in my entire family that whichever lane I choose in any toll booth automatically becomes the slowest lane or gets stuck altogether. It's almost like magic watching the guy right in front of you magically get his fastag declined or the sensor magically fails. Happens every single time

[Raghu M]

I love highway drives. While finding a decent eatery with clean washroom remains my biggest annoyance, irate drivers who keep flashing their lights right behind you while trying to overtake by hook are crook take away the award for the 'what drove you to nuts on the highway'!

[letz.rappy]

In my limited driving experience (from sep 2023), bikers occupying part of the left lane causes me much annoyance.

I believe that the disturbance caused by bikers is the reason why trucks move to fast lane leaving we car drivers to negotiate with the bikes.

This is especially true if our part of the divided highway has only two lanes.

[VNair]

Originally Posted by Kashief

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.

Oh I have missed this many times years back when the flyover was new, thankfully, now approaching Salem I am careful. Most of the times, I turn on navigation, just to be alerted in before time.

Most of the pain areas have been pointed out by Bhpians, my biggest pain area is slow moving traffic in wrong lanes, I hate honking but thats where I do the most. Once I have even educated a driver whom I confronted in the next tea stop.

Another one, specifically I have noticed in TN, barricades (some of them without reflectors) on the fast lane of a four lane highway, near intersections. It might be safe for crossing, but can be dangerous too.

[NomadSK]

What annoys you most on highway journeys - Driving on the non-engineered highways, that’s the only place I feel most unsafe about and add to that it’s simply stressful to drive on Indian roads. Visibility at night is so poor that you will get a headache by the time drive would be over. So thank you Gadkari, your weird roads aren’t for me anymore.

10-15 years ago used to love driving, not anymore. Me and my family prefer taking rail/air just about our safety. I simply avoid it from the core. Don’t want any dumper/bus mowing us down or some oversized SUV showing his muscle to push us in the non existent drain or to save numerous Rossi’s on the highways.

[Bagheera]

Since most of the obvious ones are already out there, here are my most irritants while frequenting the North kerala strip of NH66.

The most irritating thing about it is that it's a regular 2 lane road going directly through every village, town and city in the way. Thankfully the highway expansion, bypasses and flyover works are underway.

Bullying Limited Stop Buses
The inter-city limited stop busers are like the bullies on the road. Overtakes with no regards to oncoming traffic. The drivers must think that their bus is the Knight Bus featured in Harry Potter 3 and the flashing high beams makes it fit even the smallest gaps in the road.

Blocking the other lane as well in traffic jams
I know, I know this is a highway post, but anyone who have driven in the NH66 Malabar stretch would understand. Now, due to construction for the highway expansion, there are many traffic jams that happens. And then the impatient ones especially the above mentioned buses , self important "gents" in the Innovas and other large vehicles move up to the front of us patiently waiting idiots and close up the oncoming lane as well exaggerating the situation.

Honkers

These guys will always be honking everytime the traffic slows down but they never overtake and is never in a state of urgency. You will be pulling away from them as soon as the traffic clears.

The Wanna-be racers
The cars that will always be in the oncoming lane trying to overtake you but never overtakes as there is oncoming traffic.
If, for your safety, you let them pass and they will be doing the same antics infront of you making it more dangerous. The only solution here is to move up and make them somebody else's problem.

[ankitsharma]

1. Slow speed vehicles occupying the right most lane.
2. Vehicles coming in wring direction.
3. Not being allowed to overtake.
4. Constantly rear ending and honking.
5. Vehicles with no tail-light at night.
6. Tool booth where the reader is not aligned / not working. Manual devices [This is mostly in Maharasthra]
7. Barricading.
8. Truck menace. Driving in all the lanes parallel to each other.
9. Unclean washrooms at petrol pumps.
10. Cattle on the road. [MP & UP tops this]
11. People jay walking in the middle of the road, even in the night.

[Praveen.gr]

Nice thread, there is few things :-

1) Indian highways are notorious for too many things like bad driving, bad intersections and cattle interventions.

2) Toll plazas break the smooth drive pleasure and some tolls are exorbitantly high for what the roads offer.

3) Most annoying thing is people throwing trash from a moving vehicle.

[TAHR]

Top three annoyances for me would be:

Bad drivers - whether new, slow, rash, distracted, impatient, extra safe, ignorant of rules, and, horror of horrors, those being taught to drive on highways.

Bad signages - where it is positioned very close to the fork or overpass, or even after, and often not also very visible and legible. Leads to confusion, slowing down and backtracking, or even wrong destinations, more so when you're on an unfamiliar stretch.

Bad lane usage - right lane huggers, especially trucks, but almost all commercial vehicles, including the under-powered and over-loaded APEs and ACEs. Even more annoying, when they move abreast on all three lanes, with none having the power to overtake or the good sense to yield.

[sgmuser]

Charging crazy tolls for non existent highway quality roads is the most annoying for me. The second most annoying thing is the lane discipline. People hogging both the lanes on two lane highways i.e. driving in the middle. Last but most irritating is the truck drivers driving at wrong lane and then occupying both the lanes i.e. two trucks driving at 40kmph or less in tandem and not giving way for others.

In the west (US et all) the road trips are a joy and fun. Even in the Middle East the highways are maintained for average 100+ kmph speed. In between breaks are interesting i.e. the shops and eateries in the petrol stations will have everything including a decent bathrooms. We completely lack these.

[sibi6613]

Okay, I created this thread and became occupied with hectic office work for two days and damn, has his blown up since then! I had no idea that so many of us had so many gripes with indulging in one of our favourite activities - enjoying a nice long drive in a machine that we love!

I kind of assumed that our country's "professional driving sense" and "excellent infrastructure" and that was the reason I had mentioned in the original post asking if you folks find anything else apart from these as annoying. But I guess there's so much pent up emotions in all of us that we will need to use any chance that we get to let the steam off to retain our sanity and it shows! Stay strong my friends! And stay away from idiots on the roads, there's only so much we can do as individuals to make this scene better for all of us.

One thing I am still curious is to see if there is a solvable problem (something that doesn't require all human beings to become rational and strict rule followers overnight) among all of this?

Case in point: Travelounge, Walayar (https://g.co/kgs/GxJrMgY)

These guys are trying to provide a lounge-like experience for road users which I thought was a very new approach to an age-old problem. Have you guys noticed any other new players like this who are trying to solve for problems that we face on the road? Or, do you think there is a whitespace where such players can enter?



Responding to a few of the previous replies:

Originally Posted by d.w.w.

Apart from the ones already mentioned, there is one more thing that annoys me - frequent loo requests from co-passengers. All those trucks and other heavy vehicles that I already overtook will be again ahead of me and now I have to overtake them again. This is a very big issue while driving in Kerala where you have singe lane highways and heavy traffic on both directions.

This is a real sad scene. One can consider themselves very lucky if their wife or a girlfriend understands this and tells you "Sorry for making you stop, I know that you'll have to overtake them all over again"

Originally Posted by vzvish91

My top 2 irritants are..

1. Lack of clean & unhygienic washrooms.
Solution: I usually select a fancy looking restaurant or Shell petrol bunk and before spending money will inquire about their bathroom scenario. Worst case I even offer 50-100rs for immediate cleaning before use.

I should try this the next time

Originally Posted by Kashief

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.

This is such a true statement! I have missed this exact turn multiple times (I travel between BLR - Karur frequently) and every time I approach Salem, I turn on my navigation just to ensure that I don't miss this turn!

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

[*]Thanks to Google Maps, it has become a lot easier to find popular and relatively hygenic stops for food

I agree to your point that Google Maps has made things a lot easier, it is still not very easy unless you either:
a) Plan ahead for your trip
b) Travel with a co-passenger who can do this scouting for you

If you are driving solo, I still find this to be very cumbersome as you'll not be able to use maps while driving (and I really don't want to stop the car just to figure out a decent place) and Google maps running through Android Auto or Apple Carplay limits to showing only 5 places that are near you.

Originally Posted by IshWish

3. A family member munching on chips/popcorn in the car. (Can't comment on that!)

I sense a targeted attack to someone very very close to you, but the comment is true!

Originally Posted by tushar_j

Strictly based on your post title - What annoys me most? Passengers!

I love long solo drives. With passengers, driving becomes more of a service.

Wow! I burst out laughing for this! And I do feel this quite often, especially when the so called friends / family behave like "passengers" on a flight or a bus. By that I mean them going on about their own work (eating something, watching something on their phone, sleeping, etc." when we essentially function as their unpaid driver. This behaviour irritates me to the core especially when going on road-trips with friends.

Originally Posted by saisree

Why is a BMW/Merc/Audi/Volvo running at speeds less than 90 or 100? Luxury car == should be always driven at high speeds.

Yes! Drivers of luxury cars "can" belong only to two categories:
a) They are arrogant and showing of their money by driving fast
b) They don't know how to drive a car and hence they are driving at 80-100kmph. Someone in an Alto will overtake them and prove to themselves that they are better than the other person who owns a BMW.

And along the same lines, the criticism of women drivers "not knowing how to drive" is pretty backward and stupid. Almost all the experiences and frustrations poured in this thread here would most likely stem from experiences where "men" are the idiots on the road.