IN LINE : BETTER GUY
Road and In-car manners that will remind you on being the better guy not only out on the highway but also inside your own car
This month on be the better guy we talk about the importance of understanding the syntax of lane driving, how to enter and exit lanes and what lanes mean what. That aside, we also touch upon passenger etiquette and what it takes to be a responsible passenger, ensuring not only your own safety but the safety of others around you.
LANE DRIVING
Driving safely on the highway is a matter of great discipline. Compared to driving within city limits, the speeds, the density of heavy vehicles and the risk are all exponentially higher. In India, our aggregate road manners persisting, the factor of risk is all that much higher. Even then, somehow our knowledge and more importantly application of lane discipline is perhaps the worst throughout the world. As road users, it is our duty to not only have knowledge of the laws of lane-use, but also put them to use while we are on roadways. In this case, being the better guy not only keeps you safe but also ensures the safety of other road users as well.
DRIVING IN THE RIGHT LANE
In India on most three laned highways, the right-most lane is for overtaking, the middle-lane is for cruising and the third lane is for smaller vehicles like motorcycles and other vulnerable road users. Before we jump into the details of this, some of you might brush this off with the very type-cast response-- “arrey, India doesn’t have the infrastructure only!!”. Sure there might be some modicum of truth to this, but while the laws are open to interpretation in cases where the infrastructure may not exist. The fundamentals of this law requires to be adhered to at all costs.
OVERTAKING
Then, taking this into consideration when you have to overtake someone in front of you. You have to wait to have a clear right lane,(read lane changing) switch and then finally (and this is the most important part) switch back to the centre lane until you need to overtake again.
AS ROAD USERS, IT IS OUR DUTY TO NOT ONLY HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAWS OF LANE-USE, ROADWAYS
EGRESS AND INGRESS
A large percentage of traffic snarls and fatal accidents on the highway are usually caused in the process of entering or exiting from a Highway onto an arterial road. Ignorance, bad planning and lack of peripheral awareness are usually to blame in case such as this. For the most part, I get it. I’ve found a simple checklist could often remedy most of these problems. With modern sat navs systems in most cars through mobile phones, drivers have the advantage of knowing exactly when the exit is coming on your route. Best case scenario would be to switch to a slower left lane at least 500m ahead of the exit. Indicate at 250m. Check your surroundings and make the turn. Vice-Versa for ingress. Now, the most important one, if you’ve overshot, don’t panic and try to cut across the highway in one fail swoop, wait till the next exit and then move. This is true, even if you’re peripherals are clear. For your reference, a superbike moving at 300kmph can move through your entire line of sight in just 11seconds (ie appear 500 metres behind you and disappear 500 metres ahead of you).
SHOULDER LANE
Now this lane otherwise known as the hardshoulder is an emergency lane. Is for unavoidable circumstances, breakdowns, flattyres and road-side repairs can be carried out within this lane. In a best-case scenario, when traffic comes to a halt, these lanes can also be used by emergency service providers (ie Ambulances, Fire Brigades) to ensure they aren’t held up by the civilian traffic. Using these lanes, in any other case, is not just risky but can be tremendously detrimental to the safe movement of another road user. So we plead, that even if the traffic is at a stand-still try not to use the shoulder to move forward, you could hold someone else’s fate in your hands.
PASSENGER NUISANCE
As a person who has spent a large number of his adult years with his posterior firmly affixed in the drivers’ seat, I understand acutely just how important it is to educate your passengers on what is and what is not expected from them in the car. Kids often do not know how unsafe their actions could be and what repercussions could come there from. As adults entrusted with their care and upbringing, it is our duty to tell them what is right and what’s wrong irrespective of what they think of it.
Over the years, here’s a list of things that we’ve seen happening on Indian roads that we think should stop immediately.
1. LITTERING: Snack wrappers, empty plastic bottles, cigarette butts once they have served their purpose usually find their way left on the roadside, clogging storm drains and wrecking general havoc on our ecosystem. As responsible drivers, we should ensure that neither us nor the occupants of the vehicle litter. Carry a small litter bin for your car that you can dispose off responsibly once you’ve arrived at your destination.
2. SUNROOFS: As more and more cars get sunroofs one of the yuppie tendencies that we’ve seen in cities is too stick your head (or even worse your kids head through the sunroof) as someone drives you through the city. You could be thrown from the car straight onto traffic or worse still for those who allow their kids to with their chins barely above the window, bad braking could result in a crushed trachea!
3. LOUD MUSIC: This applies to passengers too! Even in cabs don’t turn up the volume so high that the driver can’t hear the road noises around them!
SNACK WRAPPERS, PLASTIC BOTTLES LEFT ON THE ROADSIDE CLOG STORM DRAINS AND WREAK GENERAL HAVOC ON OUR ECOSYSTEM