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Safe and fun driving on mountain roads
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Driving on twisty mountain roads can be quite a fun activity, if you take some basic safety measures. Here are a few tips which should help you enjoy this activity and keep you safe as well
Mountain roads, or ghats, are something a lot of us encounter when driving long distances. Even though driving on the twisty ghat roads has a certain element of danger as opposed to driving on straight highways, if done correctly, it can be a lot of fun. The key thing to remember is to keep it smooth. Smoothen out your inputs - steering, throttle, brakes, gear changes - the works. Any sudden inputs can upset the car and at worst, can put you in another vehicles path. Even if you’d like to have a bit of fun in the twisties, don’t try to enter corners carrying a lot of speed. Remember the old adage about corners - slow in, fast out.
A real head-turner
One of the most important things to do while driving in the ghats is to turn your head into the corners as you’re going around them. Not only does this give you clearer visibility of any on-coming traffic, it also helps steer the car better. They say you go where you look, and this is especially true while cornering. You’ll automatically find your steering inputs becoming better as you turn you head into the corner and it’ll definitely give a boost to your confidence on the road.
Uphill struggles
Staying in the right gear is absolutely paramount when not just climbing ghats, but descending them as well. Don’t be in a hurry to upshift. Staying in a lower gear will make it easier to keep the engine in its torque band and will ensure that you’ll carry better momentum through the in the uphill and reduce your reliance on the brakes when going down. This will help you get better mileage and will ensure that your car has enough power on reserve if you need to get out of a tight situation.
Take a brake
Correct braking is a crucial technique when negotiating twisty mountain roads. First off all, don’t be jumpy on the brakes. Sudden braking really upsets a car’s weight balance and can have disastrous effects. If you see a corner coming up in the distance, plan your braking well in advance to shed your speed gradually and finish braking before you actually steer the car into the corner. This ensures that you’ll be smooth through the turn without imbalancing the car.
Correct line of thought
The ghat isn’t a race track, so do not try to take racing lines through the corners and kiss the apex on every turn. Stick to your own lane until there is no other option. If you find yourself going into the other lane while taking corners, it means you’re too fast for the corner. Slow down a little until you can maintain your lane while entering and exiting the turn. This not only keeps you safer from oncoming traffic, but it also increases your visibility into turns in some cases.
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Readers' opinions ( 9 )
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kartik
Also while desending a series of turns or s bends it is better to use the gear for braking as using the foot brakes heats up the brake shoes and sometimes can cause the tire to burst...
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Meena Satyanarain Sharma
Use of blinkers is a good idea during low visibility such as heavy rain, fog and passing through tunnels. Too much of honking on the highways does disturb the drivers. Also too close overtaking.
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Quentin
One more point to remember is when driving in the hills (or on any road) at night and if you have a vehicle in front of you, be reasonable
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l. Subramaniam
Hi,I've been driving in the hills for a long long time and would like to add one word of advice, that i've found working perfectly for me.Uphill vehicles, especially the older generation cars, jeeps and laden trucks always seem out of breath, and generally try to straight-line corners to keep their momentum. in the process they tend to push you either into the hills hills, or the vast valley beneath.Always leave a 3-4 feet gap between the edge of the road and your car. This way 1. you are making the opposite vehicle clearly aware of your presence on the road, and most importantly 2. you have a shoulder to veer into, in case there isn't enough place when passing each other. trying to make space for the passing vehicle without this space, especially in a critical moment will almost certainly mean that you either scrape the sides of your vehicle along the hills, or tumble down the valley.
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Kshitiz Sharma (H.P.)
those who are disagreeing on this comment must be mostly people from plains or doesn't know how to drive in hills/mountains.
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Ashish
another point.. Uphill traffic has the right of way..
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