Driving in Nights -- Safety Precautions

Driving in Nights -- Safety Precautions

Be it staying late at work and returning home or travelling to countryside for a weekend or a festive occasion, it is real pleasure to have our own cars since we have the pleasure of stopping and starting anywhere and the route we choose. With the amount of traffic we have in place at any point in Tamil Nadu and particularly the arterial cities and towns, we often chose nights for our journey.

No doubt -- Night Journeys in car or train is a memorable occasion particularly on the National Highway 45 (Chennai - Dindigul). It would be even more memorable if we practice certain safety norms for our own and peer drivers who use the road.

1. Ensure that we have enough of sleep during the day time and we are not exhausted. Night driving needs perseverence and concentration on the roads.
2. Have a good knowledge on the route. Since we are travelling by night, if we are lost in the unknown jungles, there may not be enough resources to help us out of the ways. Depending on a few available resources may also pose additional security burdens and risks to shoulder.
3. Have enough repair equipments like backup tyres and repair equipments handy. You also need to know how best to make use of them during an emergency breakdown. In this context, it would also be advisable to carry the telephone numbers of on-road service numbers. Quite a few of them in Chennai are MyTVS, Maruti On-Road care.
4. When you feel tired, take a break off the road in a good small lighted down. Till you reach that place, travel at a good manageable speed.
5. A good FM stereo could help you in getting through the night's journey avoiding sleep. But ensure that you don't keep full volumes since you should not disturb others' travelling along with you. Let them catch a wink of thier sleep.
6. Don't keep honking horns wildly. The driver who you are trying to catch his attention is also undergoing the same night driving syndrome and the incessant honking of horns might be of irritation to him. Flash your headlights by toggling them between High and Low beam to attract his attention and take sides. Be wary of oncoming vehicles while overtaking.

Readers What do you think? These might be a very simple rules of thumb while driving through nights on the highways but on the long run would promise a memorable journey.