[sibi6613]

Hi BHPians,

Having spent quite a bit of time on Indian highways, I’ve realized that while the roads themselves have improved in many places, there are still several inconveniences / annoyances that can make long drives challenging - especially when traveling with family or female friends. I wanted 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:

1. Clean Washrooms: This is one of the biggest challenges, particularly on longer drives. Finding a washroom that’s clean and doesn’t stink is almost a luxury. While men can sometimes manage with basic facilities, it becomes a real hassle when traveling with family, especially for women and kids. If you’re in need of more than just a quick break, the situation becomes even worse.

2. Good Restaurants or Coffee Places: Knowing where to stop for a decent meal or a good cup of coffee especially on new routes. It’s hard to predict which places are worth stopping at when you’re unfamiliar with the route. Using Google Maps while driving isn't very convenient either as it limits to showing only 5 options in Apple Carplay. I've to rely on a co-passenger to find a decent place or if I'm travelling alone, stop the vehicle and search for a place with good reviews

3. Reliable Petrol Bunks: Locating bunks that stock XP95 (Indian Oil app is useful to find bunks that generally have XP95, but it is still one more app to be used, and navigating to that bunk requires finding he bunk on google maps once again). Some bunks don't accept credit cards during early hours (before 6 AM), or are easily accessible without taking a major detour off the highway can be quite a challenge. Shell has standardized this experience quite a bit, at least in Bangalore. And I'd like to see some standardization in terms of the experience at bunks!*

4. EV Charging Infrastructure: With the rise in EV ownership, I feel this will soon be a significant issue. Even now, I've heard finding a charging station on highways that actually works and delivers the promised capacity can be a challenge. I can only imagine how frustrating this might become as EV adoption grows.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

[ashis89]

The one and only thing that annoys/concerns me about any highway trip - getting out of and getting back into the city.

[Rshrey22]

Toll plazas annoy me to no end.

I like to be continuously driving. Hate to take a stop on highway. Toll plazas really break the flow of a smooth drive.

[quad_exhaust]

Unmarked speed breakers: There are quite a few unmarked speed breakers on the 2-lane highway leading to our village. They are pretty hard to spot in the sun and even if we do end up spotting them, it's too late to slow the car down by then. I've scraped my car's underbody against such a breaker once. By God's grace nothing happened to us or the car.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Rumble strips: These force you to constantly brake to a crawl, making a mess out of your average speed, fuel efficiency and suspension in one fell swoop. Not to mention they cause a lot of unnecessary and dangerous speed differentials since some vehicles can bulldoze through them while others are shaken to the core.

Random barricades: These, when placed for no apparent reason to create chicanes in the middle of long straight sections or intersections (even with a turning lane) are just counter productive to the point of a highway, since they cause pileups and haphazard traffic flow. Not to mention they seem to have become a way for highway authorities to absolve themselves of the responsibility of scientifically designing intersections; they just put these in place instead.

[saisailendra]

Fellow impatient drivers with no prior highway driving experience or theoretical knowledge + impatience + lack of highway etiquette ruin the experience.

For example, when you maintain a safe distance behind a truck or any heavy vehicle, which is overtaking another slow moving heavy vehicle, these people come in the lane next to you and try to cut in to the gap in front, which you "maintained" for safety.

They think we are idiots for maintaining the distance.
Impatiently honk and cut through.

Unmarked diversions. Now, there are diversions which are very well marked with reflectors from a reasonably far off distance, most of the times. But sometimes, when these show up as surprises, it might be too late.

[GTO]

Superb thread idea .

- Too many stops & breaks that destroy your momentum. Ideally, I stop just once every 2 - 2.5 hours. Either it's a short stop just to get out & stretch, or one with meals & restroom breaks. But when travelling in a big group and multiple cars, inevitably, there are too many stops...someone needs fuel, kids in some car want fries, someone's spouse wants a cold coffee (all true stories). Not for me. I don't like stopping more than once in 2 hours.

- 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. A luxury sedan with R18 wheels would be a poor choice for the pathetic Mumbai-Nashik highway that is riddled with huge potholes & under construction patches. Been there, done that. On the other hand, the Thar would be a poor choice for a long road-trip to Goa. The roads are so nice, they demand a faster, more comfortable car.

[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.

[sudeepg]

What a nice thread! Here are my irritants

• Toll booth hold up during holiday travel. It is a nightmare regardless of which direction you travel in from Bengaluru. If your journey is 8 hours, 2 to 2.5 hours is just needed for navigating traffic in Bangalore during holiday season or during peak traffic hours
  
  
• Random road crossings by people, two wheelers, cattle
  
  
• Rumble strips and barricades. Difficult to spot them at night.
  
  
• In Kerala, from Walayar onwards, there are signals on the main highway that has a longer wait time than the ones crossing the intersection!!!
  
  
• Peak season travel annoyance - Long waiting during pitstops and washrooms are dirty.

[Capri89]

1. Lack of clean washrooms.
2. Lack of good eateries especially in key routes. Eg. Solapur - Chitradurga stretch.
3. Dangers of cattle crossing.
4. High beam drivers.
5. Unexpected detours.

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.

So true for many of us.

[sharathv6793]

Great thread idea and man, do I have some thoughts on this. Some of the things that annoy me the most on highway journeys -

1. Slow moving LMVs occupying all lanes trying to overtake each other but slow down everyone else in the process

2. Impatient drivers at toll booths who try to cut in your line if their own line is not moving "fast enough" at the risk of others

3. Drivers who try to merge from the service road directly to the farthest lane of the highway without waiting or any indicators

4. Drivers who also try to take a U turn from the farthest lane rather than switch to the closest lane first

5. And of course, it's not an Indian road if there aren't a bunch of entitled drivers driving their merry way on the wrong side with high beams blaring and cussing out if someone does not give the way to their royal highness.

These are just off the top of my head. We seriously need stricter enforcements of highway etiquettes and lane rules if we are to have any peace of mind on these highway escapes.

Not to be too political, but I would say the government can earn more by monitoring & imposing higher fines on these rule breakers than just increasing taxes. Just my 2 cents!

[Laxmistart]

Here are some of the most common highway annoyances:

1) Reckless lane changes disrupting the flow of traffic

2) This aggressive driving behavior of cutting into small gaps

3) Constant honking not only annoying but can also be stressful and distracting

4) Vehicles without sufficient Fastag balance causing significant delays

and lasty, Let's not forget the blinding brilliance of high-beam and flashy headlamp heroes! These drivers seem to think their headlights are a personal spotlight, determined to illuminate every inch of the road, including the insides of our cars

[Eddy]

I hate it when I see people discard garbage (fruit peels, empty chips packets etc) by just throwing it out of the car. No consideration for the safety of vehicles behind, let alone civil sense.

[ghodlur]

The below annoy me the most during highways journeys.

1. Heavy vehicles & slow moving light vehicles hogging the fastest lanes,

2. Slow moving Heavy vehicles hogging multiple lanes causing traffic build up.

3. Heavy vehicles occupying the lanes at Tolls other than designated.

4. Unmarked Speed breakers and pathetic n poorly designed rumbler strips. Classic eg are the horrendous rumbler strips when approaching Pune city from Bangalore side.

5. The unrequired stares from fellow road occupiers even when they are at fault.

[antz.bin]

Things that annoy me on highways:

1. Unscientific speed breakers / suspension breakers. There is a supreme court ruling against any speed breakers on NHs.

2. *Temporary* Police installed jugaad traffic calming devices that don't get removed for years. If it was so needed, why wasn't it designed when the highway was built?

3. Painted rumble strips on bends. Why do they exist? WHY? Why reduce grip when it is needed the most? Car is more likely to understeer on such bends. It is as if the authorities *want* people to crash into oncoming traffic.

4. Inattentive drivers who can't pick a lane and end up blocking everyone

5. Corollary to 4, drivers on the phone, either talking or looking at a screen.

6. Noisy road surfaces, especially when they have the capability of doing better(Sangamner Bypass on NH60 anyone?)

7. Trucks occupying all 3 lanes. If they do it on 2 lanes on a dual carriageway, it is acceptable. I mean, how else will a truck overtake. But why do they have to block all 3 lanes on a 6-lane road?

8. Overloaded passenger vehicles, with luggage/people. Especially people who load luggage till the roof of the car in hatchbacks / SUVs / Ertigas and block the view from the rear glass completely.

9. Wrong side driving/riding. Why???