[DasAutoFanatic]

Great idea for a thread!
Here is what I find the most annoying:

1. Drivers who are new to the highways and absolutely do not understand the signals we give them (like, when you use blinkers to pass them, or using indicators on a 3 way lane to show that you let them pass, etc..)

2. A group of 2-3 trucks blocking all the lanes in a NH and not allowing anyone to pass and not even moving aside.

3. Wrong vehicles in the wrong lane of the toll gate. (Some trucks end up in the Car/Jeep lane and don't even move fast)

4. The very existence of toll gates. When you drive so enthusiastically and overtake so many cars and they all come and stand next you at the toll gates. All our efforts wasted.

5. Cash users on Fastag lanes/People who have not recharged their tags. I don't understand why some people have still not opted for the Fastag.

6. Potholes on NHs. Rare, but extremely annoying. (I once had a wheel bend when I went over a huge pothole on a Mumbai- Hyderabad trip and suffered a big wheel bend. I have a VW Vento with R16 alloys. I really pitied all the BMWs/Audis with low profile tyres who had to go over that one)

7. Slow overtakers on the opposite lane of SHs. One imbecile made a risky manoeuvre once and hit my Right ORVM on a Goa trip.

These are my points for now (that's all I can think of and other BHPians mentioned the other annoyances)

Thanks to @sibi6613 for the great thread idea!

[kika]

Nothing would annoy more than 2 slow moving trucks trying to outrun each other. Also the villagers, cows and dogs who participate on highways to teach us obstacle training.

[Voodooblaster]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

Toll operators still routinely accept cash from offenders who get into Fastag lanes, while the rest of us in the queue behind feel like idiots.

Originally Posted by microscopic

So we both enter one by one only for the guy in front to get stuck with low balance in his tag or blacklisted tag or with no tag at all.

Originally Posted by DasAutoFanatic

Cash users on Fastag lanes/People who have not recharged their tags. I don't understand why some people have still not opted for the Fastag.

Even worse is when the car in front of you starts online recharge after seeing insufficient balance as cash pymt will be higher than Fastag amt. Also other vehicles start piling up behind you in the lane and begin the honking orchestra

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

One minute you're driving on a smooth 2-lane highway at 80-100 kmph, only to next minute encounter unexpected roadworks or bad patches.

Originally Posted by DasAutoFanatic

Potholes on NHs. Rare, but extremely annoying. (I once had a wheel bend when I went over a huge pothole on a Mumbai- Hyderabad trip and suffered a big wheel bend. I have a VW Vento with R16 alloys. I really pitied all the BMWs/Audis with low profile tyres who had to go over that one)

My brother experienced a tire burst due to this situation. Thankfully he was able to control and move vehicle to side of road without any other issues

Originally Posted by DasAutoFanatic

Slow overtakers on the opposite lane of SHs. One imbecile made a risky manoeuvre once and hit my Right ORVM on a Goa trip.

These morons often argue that they had flashed the high beam (as if that magically widens the road)

Originally Posted by Elevate2024

Stray cattle, these are probably the most dangerous. Once when I was driving on a clear empty road at the maximum allowed speed limits, a herd of goats came out of nowhere from the median and I could not spot them due to the bushes on the median.

Often the herd keeper will be nearby.

If you unfortunately hit one animal , they magically appear with their buddies and demand unreasonably high compensation

If there’s a casualty/ injury to driver / passenger in the vehicle (usually 2/3 wheelers) after hitting the animal the herdkeeper will never pop up

[qaqa]

1. Non existent or confusing signage. No, having a sign right next to the turn off is no good.

2. Unexpected puddles and flooded sections on a high speed highway. I'm looking at you, Bangalore -Mysore expressway.

3. Lack of any tail lights. I think about half the trucks in the country don't have working tail lights.

4. That guy who loves to cruise across two lanes

5. Random wrong way drivers, especially in the fast lane !

6. Trucks and buses racing each other at 20kmph blocking the whole road.

[mack.mehul]

The biggest irritant for me is when the heavy vehicles occupy two or three whole lanes and try to outrun each other and end up blocking the traffic from behind.

Second is people going wrongside on highways. This is a big irritant for me and also a safety concern.

Rest i think indian highways are getting better. For people who like coffee and fast food, there are many joints on the major highways and for the remaining ones like me there is always a dhaba, which are now of every type be it old ones, large and swanky ones.

[glovins2004]

Never ending deviations and of course someone will cut across for sure.

[Mr.Ogre]

The overall sense of entitlement by fellow road users, where when traffic heats up, all the politeness and right of way goes for a toss. Eventually everything boiling down to the point where all depends on how good you are at forcing your way out of the situation.

[sunikkat]

1) 3 trucks horizontally trying to race each other, and it’s the slow race
2) The toll booth traffic on long holidays
3) Anything and everything in that Tumkur Bangalore stretch of highways which is one of the busiest (Bangalorean’s know this)
4) Risk takers in those village intersections who appear in front of you in their bikes from nowhere
5) The traffic pile up on those service road deviations

[alphamike_1612]

Almost everyone who has driven/ridden on TN highways especially 4 laned ones would have experienced this atleast once.

Picture this scenario:

You're on the right lane which is empty. Trundling along before you in the slow lane (left lane) is a TNSTC/SETC bus/Truck struggling hard to maintain 80kmph. He doesn't have his turn signals turned on.

You, on the other hand, are confidently maintaining a comfortable triple digit speed and expect no hiccups to occur. All you have to do is simply cross the vehicle in the adjacent lane. Your lane is empty after all and there are no crossings or obstacles you see in front of you.

As you gain on the large vehicle in front, you give him a courtesy horn or flash your lights, indicating your intention to overtake his vehicle. There is no response from his end and you continue on and may have passed his tail or might just be reaching upto it, and all of a sudden, he decides he needs to break right into your lane to give a wide berth to a helmetless biker carrying his family and riding happily on the shoulder without causing any trouble.

You slam the brakes hard to avoid getting crushed between him and the median, or even worse, get pushed into the opposite lane and onto incoming traffic. Thankfully, there were no tailgaters behind and you're able to make a safe stop.

I never understand why the drivers assume they can do this. Surely, they have mirrors on the right side and it will show them that I am overtaking them. Infact, to pull their attention to the mirror, I even gave that small courtesy toot and flashed my lights. Surely, I am not invisible and from his high up viewpoint, the driver must have been able to see the motorcycle up front.

I understand the driver doesn't want to go to jail for manslaughter should the biker suddenly lose control, but he could have atleast indicated that he was planning to get onto to my lane to give the biker a wide berth or he could have slowed down and let me pass, but no, he will exert the power of his 12 ton vehicle just as I am about to cross him.

This happened once and ever since, I make sure I first check the shoulder for as far as possible before attempting to overtake such vehicles.

Sigh.

[GeeTee TSI]

Great thread to rant and release some pent up annoyance!

Signages - I am sure there is some technical standard sitting somewhere to be followed but I need signages which catch my eye cruising at 80+kmph while looking out for other traffic. If NHAI cannot get the effectiveness of signages they may please consult highway joints or such advertisements for their perfect placement and visibility.

Lane speed - The speed limit is prescribed for the fastest lane in the business, kindly enlighten us mortals with a speed limit per lane so that the next generation drives with a sense of lane discipline.

Lane speed part 2 - Cars joining a (leftmost) lane from a way side halt have to gun their engines (please) to get to the average speed of that lane. Worse, they drift to the safety of the rightmost lane while maintaining a glacial rate of speed.

Stopping/Parking - With no shoulder/way side lanes to completely isolate the stopped vehicles from the cruisers, even a 'thoughtful' parking with the car's right wheels on the shoulder marking effectively renders that whole lane useless (read dangerous) for a cruising vehicle. The chain reaction of shifting lanes to the right causing more hazards is of course oblivious to the guy sipping coconut water in his car.

Speed limit enforcement - Please allow no vehicle to overtake any vehicle driving at the speed limit. No honking, no flashing, no bullying, period. If you don't like the sight of my (car's) derriere then please maintain more gap.

[roadmuncher26]

Great thread! I hope someone up there is reading these posts and taking steps to make our highways better. After all, highways are not just about the quality of the tarmac. They are about the whole experience of being able to travel from city to city with speed, convenience and safety.

Some of my pet peeves are:

• Slow moving trucks, buses and other commercial carriers occupying the fastest lanes and forcing others to overtake from the wrong side
• Careless lane changers who forget that they have lane change indicators to use in their vehicles.
• Lane straddlers - those blissfully occupying more than one lane and slowing down both the lanes
• Habitual honkers - honking is almost meditative for them, like breathing
• Cattle, bullock carts, basically any animal powered transport. They have no business being on highways
• Wrong side drivers, especially the large ones like trucks and tractors
• Busy intersections - again, they have no business being on highways. Shows poor road design
• Litterers - people who throw things out of the windows of their moving vehicles, without realizing that their projectile can cause damage to the vehicles behind and cause accidents.

[Aryan.M]

1. Everyone on the road thinks that they are entitled to drive on the right lane - be it two wheelers, commercial vehicles etc.
2. Two-wheelers, cars, tractors and even trucks driving in the opposite direction.
3. Often trucks are parked on the road or blocking a part of the road at night, without proper tail lights.
4. Two wheelers crossing a busy highway through the median.

[SS-Traveller]

Two major annoyances:

1. A complete lack of trees & greenery alongside the newer expressways. It's a much more soothing drive when one can see trees & green fields. Also, the new expressways are designed with high crash guard rails on the sides, and they cut the driver's view of the surroundings.

2. Dangerous overtakers who flash their ultra-bright headlights, blow their extra-loud horns, and squeeze through while almost sideswiping other cars in their effort to get one car ahead when highway traffic is heavy - and then drive way below the speed limit once the traffic lightens and there are clear roads ahead.

[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

2. Dangerous overtakers who flash their ultra-bright headlights, blow their extra-loud horns, and squeeze through while almost sideswiping other cars in their effort to get one car ahead when highway traffic is heavy - and then drive way below the speed limit once the traffic lightens and there are clear roads ahead.

Exactly. I too wanted to mention this.

There are also overtakers who do not keep any distance and almost sideswipe when actually there is plenty of space on the other side. They are at illegal speeds. You may be doing smooth straightline cruising. And then they do this to you. In the last week, when I was returning from Bihar to Lucknow via Gorakhpur, some big Fortuners did the same, not just in one place but several of them at different points. This is almost habitual.

I hate the impatience that some fellows show on highways, even when there's no side to overtake.

There are also drivers on highway who overtake you in a mad hurry, and then you see him stopping at the next pan/cigarette shop or near a pedestrian for route query.

Plenty of wrongsiders here in UP highways, especially tractors, trucks and two wheelers. We hardly get one line of the highway for forward movement. No discipline at all. Most of them don't have even proper headlights.

Vehicles on highway without rear lights or reflectors (night scenario).

I hate to see drivers, even well-informed ones, using mobile phones, making calls, doing WhatsApp, etc, holding it in their hand while driving, totally unmindful of other traffic and its pace. This happens in a time when even the smallest cars have hands-free calling/call-receiving facilities. But people do not want to connect because they don't want fellow passengers, wife, children, etc, listen to the conversation.

Some people overtake you in great hurry just before a toll booth and block the traffic at toll gate. Maybe their fastag is blacklisted, no balance, no fastag, etc. So, you have to wait behind them till the "panchayat" is over, or else change the lane if there is no queue behind you.

[dsr001]

For washrooms which is a major point for men and women, I rely on Nayara (Essar) and Jio. Mostly new pumps with clean facilities and accept cards for refueling as well.