Safe Driving - Must for highways

Safe Driving - Must for Highways

In past one decade condition of Indian highways connecting different cities have improved considerably. Earlier National Highway meant long stretch of road with one track for going and one track for coming. Traffic used to be scarce. If there was one vehicle in front of you and you wanted to overtake in that case vehicle was required to come to opp lane and then overtake. One had to watch for vehicle coming from opposite direction and then overtake.

Now there are highways with 3 lanes on either side and divider inbetween. All villages on the way have been provided with service lanes. Bridges provided for vehicles to zoom fast. The speed limit has been specified as 80 km/hour but many vehicles are able to maintain higher speed than this. Overtaking from left is rampant as no one wants to be patient with the vehicle which is within speed limit.

At the same time city trafiic has slowed down to 20 km/hour. Road size is same but there are more vehicles , more 2 and 3 wheelers and more pedestrians. This brings frustation for those who have been driving within city. To add to their woes there is Metro construction , flyover construction , concreting of roads etc.Daily commuting time for office goers has doubled in last 2 years.

Many of them have motor machines with very high power and speed ability. When they leave city traffic and hit highway then only they can enjoy their machine.In such scenario they push their acceletor to maximum and remove their frustation which they face in city driving.

The question here is how many of them are used to highway driving ?
Are they going on highway very often or once in a while ?
Whether safety tips learnt in driving school years back are followed ?

The recent case of Ex Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and cine actor Shri Hari Krishna N T Rama Rao is glaring example. He started from his house in Hyderabad at morning 4.30 am to attend a wedding at Kurnool. After crossing Nalgonda at 6.30 am his vehicle hit the divider at a turning point, made lot of tossings and has hit another moving SUV on the opposite side. He was driving Toyota Fortuner and still he did not survive.

There are lot of theories as to why this has happened. It could be distraction while driving, fatigue , lack of sleep , poor visibility during wee hours, mobile phone ring and so on.Whatever may be the reason but today this person has faced untimely death.It has put his entire family under deep sorrow and also millions of fans , film fraternity and politicle circle. The tragic thing is that his son also died in road accident on highway couple of years back.

The list of celebrities who died in road accident is very long. Just to mention a few Ghazal maestro Jagjeet Singh's son , Paul Walker , Princess Diana , Bhakti Barve , Jaspal Bhatti ,Cricketer Azaruddin's son etc. They have very punishing schedule and need to travel often at odd hours. It was not the case that they were driving always but many times some other person who was driving has put them in this situation.

Those undertaking driving on highway need to get adequate rest before , keep mobile phone away and take breaks every 2 hours.

Driving Safety Tips are..

1) Focus on Driving If you have decided to drive focus 100%. Things like eating , drinking , looking at phone should be avoided.

2) Drive defensively Keep allowence for other vehicles and other vehicle drivers to do the unexpected. Do not assume that they will be always right.
Maintain sufficient distance between vehicles in all 4 directions. Anyone in hurry, allow him to overtake. There is a good chance that you will meet him in next 'dhaba'

3) Prepare before you start to drive.
Adjust rear view mirror , seat etc before you start journey.
Check safety belts are worn by all and child lock in place.
Tyre pressure , oil , fuel , coolent to be checked. If going on long drive then get car serviced so that all systems including breaks are in order.

4) Flexible Time Frame Do not fix your meetings based on kms which you will cover per hour. Anything can happen on the way and you may get stuck up.
Do not compromise lunch breaks, tea breaks etc. on the way as your driver is also a human being.

There is Hindi song
" Hum jo chalane lage , chalane lage hai ye raaste.
Manzil se behetar lagane lage hai ye raste "

However still you need to reach your Manzil as there is someone waiting for you there.

Wishing you Happy and Safe Driving !

Datt Udas
datt.udas63@gmail.com