I have always loved driving on the highways, specially on the highways from Sangli where we have the opportunity to drive along 2 way highway and also a one way highway of the golden quadrilateral.
The thrill of driving at high speeds, the fun to overtake vehicles, the excitement of racing with other cars, etc are some of the things which we cannot experience elsewhere.
At present, as a part of golden quadrilateral and other porjects, most of the national highways have been or are being converted to one way 4 or 6 lane highways, way too big as compared to the previous 2 lane, 2 ways roads. While, these one way roads have been able to decrease the average travel time, increase the safety levels, while driving on a small patch of the national highway today, I felt that the excitement of driving was missing. I feel that driving on these one-way highways has made driving a lot monotonous. We generally drive in one lane and be in the same lane as long as we do not need to overtake anybody. There is no body coming from the opposite side. We only care about overtaking cars and not worry about anyone from the opposite direction. We mainly focus on the cars coming from behind while keeping a safe distance from cars in front. Thats it. So, it creates a monotony - specially for someone with Maruti or Alto which cannot compete with high powered small vehicles. (Baas ek lane pakad ke go on).
In the 2 way roads, we had to concentrate on cars coming from behind, the car in front of us and also on the cars coming from the opposite direction. Here, overtaking is far riskier and requires a lot of judgement with regards to the speed of the vehicle in front and also of the speed of any vehicle coming from opposite direction. The thrill of making it to our lane just in time after an overtake is an experience in itself. (Its risky but always need to maintain a safe distance). Today, while driving on the 2 way road from Kolhapur to Sangli, I thought of these things (and many more)
While the above is a completely personal opinion, I feel that driving on a highway has a lot of advantages and we can learn quite a lot. Some of the things which I feel we can learn are:
1. Concentration: I feel driving is a great way to improve concentration levels since we need to focus on a lot while driving specially on 2 way highways. You cannot let your mind wonder off even at slower speeds. A good mind exercise I should say to stay alert all the time.
2. Leveller : The highway acts as a great leveller for all vehicles. We do not know who will drive in what manner and so we need to treat everyone equally and as such acts as a good leveller.
3. Judgement : Driving helps us develop judgemental skills. Gets developed slowly and steadily.
4. Knowing when to call it quits : A highway offers huge scope for speeding cars. It depends on the individual to decide to what speed he will go before he calls it quits. So, in a way highway helps to see the risk apetite of an individual too. Not only the speed aspect, the way in which a person overtakes other vehicles says a lot about the risk taking ability of the driver.
5. Know your strengths/skills before jumping - A highway teaches us to first know our own strengths and capacities before competing. A Maruti 800 cannot compete with BMWs on a highway. We need to understand our limitations and decide our path accordingly.
6. Never underestimate small players: Most of the accidents on highways happen due to 2-wheelers on the highways. 2 - wheelers overtake from the left side, occupy a whole lane and hence are the cause of majority of the accidents on highways (after of course tractors :P). While driving, we need to tackle these 2-wheelers smartly. We can never underestimate these 2 wheelers. They are bound to raise troubles when we overtake if we ignore them like nobody.
In addition to these things, at the stops at small dhabas we make on highways for meals, we can learn a great deal about the lives of drivers, the way they protect their consignments at night, the pressures they face due to the rising costs, etc. Such talks are really insightful, especially for a marketeer.
I wish all drivers a safe and a cautious journey and follow all the journey rules.
The thrill of driving at high speeds, the fun to overtake vehicles, the excitement of racing with other cars, etc are some of the things which we cannot experience elsewhere.
At present, as a part of golden quadrilateral and other porjects, most of the national highways have been or are being converted to one way 4 or 6 lane highways, way too big as compared to the previous 2 lane, 2 ways roads. While, these one way roads have been able to decrease the average travel time, increase the safety levels, while driving on a small patch of the national highway today, I felt that the excitement of driving was missing. I feel that driving on these one-way highways has made driving a lot monotonous. We generally drive in one lane and be in the same lane as long as we do not need to overtake anybody. There is no body coming from the opposite side. We only care about overtaking cars and not worry about anyone from the opposite direction. We mainly focus on the cars coming from behind while keeping a safe distance from cars in front. Thats it. So, it creates a monotony - specially for someone with Maruti or Alto which cannot compete with high powered small vehicles. (Baas ek lane pakad ke go on).
In the 2 way roads, we had to concentrate on cars coming from behind, the car in front of us and also on the cars coming from the opposite direction. Here, overtaking is far riskier and requires a lot of judgement with regards to the speed of the vehicle in front and also of the speed of any vehicle coming from opposite direction. The thrill of making it to our lane just in time after an overtake is an experience in itself. (Its risky but always need to maintain a safe distance). Today, while driving on the 2 way road from Kolhapur to Sangli, I thought of these things (and many more)
While the above is a completely personal opinion, I feel that driving on a highway has a lot of advantages and we can learn quite a lot. Some of the things which I feel we can learn are:
1. Concentration: I feel driving is a great way to improve concentration levels since we need to focus on a lot while driving specially on 2 way highways. You cannot let your mind wonder off even at slower speeds. A good mind exercise I should say to stay alert all the time.
2. Leveller : The highway acts as a great leveller for all vehicles. We do not know who will drive in what manner and so we need to treat everyone equally and as such acts as a good leveller.
3. Judgement : Driving helps us develop judgemental skills. Gets developed slowly and steadily.
4. Knowing when to call it quits : A highway offers huge scope for speeding cars. It depends on the individual to decide to what speed he will go before he calls it quits. So, in a way highway helps to see the risk apetite of an individual too. Not only the speed aspect, the way in which a person overtakes other vehicles says a lot about the risk taking ability of the driver.
5. Know your strengths/skills before jumping - A highway teaches us to first know our own strengths and capacities before competing. A Maruti 800 cannot compete with BMWs on a highway. We need to understand our limitations and decide our path accordingly.
6. Never underestimate small players: Most of the accidents on highways happen due to 2-wheelers on the highways. 2 - wheelers overtake from the left side, occupy a whole lane and hence are the cause of majority of the accidents on highways (after of course tractors :P). While driving, we need to tackle these 2-wheelers smartly. We can never underestimate these 2 wheelers. They are bound to raise troubles when we overtake if we ignore them like nobody.
In addition to these things, at the stops at small dhabas we make on highways for meals, we can learn a great deal about the lives of drivers, the way they protect their consignments at night, the pressures they face due to the rising costs, etc. Such talks are really insightful, especially for a marketeer.
I wish all drivers a safe and a cautious journey and follow all the journey rules.
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