How to Drive In the Hills

If you are used to driving/riding in the city, you might have to plan your trip if you are going for the first time through hills or to a hill station. The modern day expressway ghats are good enough and extremely safe. However, most of the hill roads aren’t that well paved or wide. So, it is important to know how to drive on these kind of roads. It is important to understand how does one requires to ride in such terrains. The roads could be steep and narrow too and in some cases there will be heavy traffic as well.

Safety First

The first step to ensure safety is to get your vehicle checked before the trip. See if the brakes are working properly. These are the most important parts that needs to work all the time. Next, check your car insurance or bike insurance papers. This shall give you support in case of an accident, be it yourself or the other victim. With first party insurance, the damages for your vehicle and the other colliding vehicle are taken care. Moreover, it is illegal to drive a car or ride a bike with a valid insurance.

Overtaking

You need to overtake with a lot of precaution. You aren’t just liable for your own life but other people’s lives too. You need to be extremely cautious. If you are overtaking someone, honk and ensure that the car ahead of you is aware of this. Sometimes we cannot see what is ahead while the car ahead can. They will mostly warn you if there is danger ahead. Being on the road is all about corporation and communication.

Gears

When climbing up the hill, rev your engine more to maintain the power and not lose out while climbing steep hills. This way you won’t waste any of your time. At the same time, if you are coming down prefer using downshift for braking than just brake pedal. This is called engine braking and it is a lot more recommended than regular brakes. You are in more control of things.

Lanes

When driving on a single lane, prefer sticking to the inner part of the lane. This will keep you safer. When you drive on the outside lane, there is a good chance of broken boundary coming. Your vehicle could skid down from the cliff. If you need to stop somewhere, do not stop at turns. This can be dangerous.

These are the tips to drive in the hills. Simple and basic important rules. These will help you to take advantage of the road conditions.