Drive Safely on Highways & Expressways

Highways and expressways let traffic travel long distances quickly, but speed changes everything. At highway speeds you cover around 28 metres every second at 100 km/h, so a moment of distraction, a late lane change or a stationary truck can turn into a serious crash. On Indian national highways you also meet slow tractors, animals, people crossing at median gaps and vehicles driving the wrong way, often on the same stretch.

What Indian law clearly requires

The Motor Vehicles (Driving) Regulations, 2017 contain several duties that matter most at highway speeds:

• Regulation 4: on a divided road, use the left carriageway. Keep as far left as possible, and on a multi-lane road heavy and speed-restricted vehicles must use the left lane, leaving it only to overtake. Never drive against the flow of traffic.
• Regulation 6: stay within your lane and signal before changing lanes. Do not cross solid lines or painted islands except to avoid an obstruction.
• Regulation 15: when joining a national highway, state highway or major district road, give way to traffic already on it. Use the acceleration lane to build speed, watch your mirrors and signal. Do not start overtaking until you have settled in your lane.
• Regulation 8: U-turns are not allowed on major roads, highways or expressways.
• Regulation 16: drive at a speed that keeps the vehicle under control, obey speed limits, and in fog or heavy rain slow down so you can stop within the distance you can see.
• Regulation 17: keep enough distance to stop safely, and more in bad weather.
• Regulation 22: do not stop in an acceleration or deceleration lane, and do not park on a road where the speed limit is 50 km/h or more.
• Regulation 28: if your vehicle breaks down, switch on the hazard lights immediately. On highways and fast roads, place reflective warning triangles 50 metres behind the vehicle, or before the bend if you have stopped on one.
• Regulation 5(7) and Rule 138(3) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules: the driver and every passenger, front and rear, must wear a seat belt where one is fitted.

Speed limits on highways and expressways

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notification S.O. 1522(E) of 6 April 2018 sets the national maximum speeds. After a long legal challenge, the Supreme Court set aside the Madras High Court order that had quashed it, so these remain the national ceilings:

A maximum limit is not a target. Regulation 16 still requires you to slow down for traffic, weather, visibility and your vehicle's load.

Who may not use an expressway

Access-controlled expressways are built only for fast motor vehicles. The highway authority can prohibit slower vehicles on a stretch by notification under Section 35 of the Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002. For example, NHAI has prohibited two-wheelers, three-wheelers, cycles, tractors and other slow vehicles on several Delhi-area expressways and on the Bengaluru–Mysuru expressway.

Read the signs at every entry point. If your vehicle is prohibited, use the service road or the old highway instead.

Joining a highway or expressway

1. Use the full length of the slip road or acceleration lane to build up to the speed of the traffic in the left lane.
2. Check your right mirror and look over your right shoulder.
3. Signal right and choose a gap that lets you join without making anyone brake.
4. Give way to traffic already on the main carriageway (Regulation 15).
5. Do not stop at the end of the slip road unless traffic leaves you no choice, and never cross solid lines to join early.

When you are on the main carriageway and see vehicles joining, move one lane to the right if it is safe, or adjust your speed to let them in.

Lane discipline: keep left unless overtaking

On a multi-lane highway, use the left lane for normal driving. Move right to overtake, then return to the left when it is safe. Regulation 4 requires you to keep as far left as possible, and requires heavy and slow vehicles to stay in the left lane.

Indian law also permits passing on the left on a multi-lane road where there is a marked lane to the left (Regulation 14). This means a faster vehicle may pass on either side. Check both mirrors before every lane change, and do not drift between lanes.

• do not sit in the right lane when the left lane is free;
• change one lane at a time, with a signal and a blind-spot check;
• do not weave from lane to lane to gain a few car lengths; and
• keep out of the blind spots beside trucks and buses.

The UK and NSW apply the same "keep left unless overtaking" rule on fast roads. In NSW it is the law on roads with a limit above 80 km/h.

Keep a long following distance

At highway speeds you need more space, not less. Keep at least a 3-second gap in good conditions (Rule 03). Increase it at night, in rain, fog or dust, behind trucks and buses that block your view, and when you are tired. If someone cuts into your gap, drop back again.

Stationary and slow vehicles ahead

Many fatal highway crashes in India are rear-end collisions with trucks that are parked, broken down or moving very slowly, especially at night. Tractors, trolleys and overloaded trucks may be travelling at a fraction of your speed.

• look far ahead, not just at the vehicle in front of you;
• treat hazard lights, a dark shape on the road or a sudden cluster of brake lights as a reason to slow down at once;
• expect unlit trucks and trolleys on the left shoulder or in the left lane at night; and
• never assume a vehicle ahead is moving at your speed until you are sure.

Median gaps, villages and crossing traffic

Unlike true expressways, many national highways have openings in the median, junctions with village roads, bus stops and people crossing on foot. Vehicles may turn across your path or come out of a median gap slowly.

• slow down when approaching median openings, junctions, villages, dhabas and bus stops;
• watch for pedestrians and animals crossing, especially at dawn, dusk and night; and
• obey speed breakers, rumble strips and lower limits through built-up areas.

Wrong-way vehicles

Some drivers travel short distances against the traffic on divided highways to avoid a long detour. This is prohibited (Regulation 4) and extremely dangerous. Expect it near villages and median gaps, keep left, and slow down if you see headlights coming towards you in your carriageway.

If you miss your exit, continue to the next one. Never reverse, make a U-turn or cross the median on a highway or expressway.

Leaving a highway or expressway

1. Watch for exit signs well in advance and move into the left lane early.
2. Signal left in good time.
3. Do most of your slowing down in the deceleration lane, not on the main carriageway.
4. Check your speedometer after you leave. After a long period at high speed, 60 km/h can feel like walking pace.

Tiredness kills

Long, straight, monotonous roads make drivers drowsy, and a sleeping driver does not brake. India Drive Safe recommends the same practice as the UK Highway Code:

• do not start a long journey tired, and get a good night's sleep before it;
• avoid driving between midnight and 6 a.m. where you can, when natural alertness is lowest;
• take a break of at least 15 minutes after every two hours of driving; and
• if you feel sleepy, yawn repeatedly or drift in your lane, stop in a safe place such as a lay-by, fuel station or dhaba. Never stop on the carriageway or in the acceleration or deceleration lane.

Opening a window or turning up the music does not cure tiredness. Only rest does.

If your vehicle breaks down

1. Switch on your hazard lights immediately (Regulation 28).
2. If the vehicle can still move, get it off the carriageway: to the next exit, a lay-by, a service area or as far left on the shoulder as possible.
3. Get everyone out on the left side, away from traffic, and wait behind the crash barrier or well off the road. Do not stand between your vehicle and oncoming traffic.
4. Place a reflective warning triangle 50 metres behind the vehicle, as Regulation 28 requires. Walk back along the verge facing the traffic, not in a lane. If you stopped on or near a bend, put the triangle before the bend so drivers see it in time.
5. Call for help: 1033 is the NHAI national highway helpline (ambulance, patrol vehicle and crane on NHAI stretches), and 112 is the all-India emergency number.

Keep a reflective triangle and a reflective jacket in your vehicle. At night, the jacket makes you visible while you place the triangle.

Night driving on highways

• dip your headlights in good time for oncoming traffic and when following another vehicle (Regulation 31);
• drive at a speed that lets you stop within the distance your headlights show;
• if an oncoming vehicle dazzles you, slow down and look towards the left edge of the road; and
• use fog lamps only when fog, dust or heavy rain seriously reduces visibility, and only with dipped headlights.

Before a long highway journey

• check tyre pressures (including the spare), tyre condition, brakes, lights, wipers, coolant and engine oil;
• make sure every occupant, front and rear, is wearing a seat belt, and children are in suitable restraints (Regulation 5);
• secure luggage so it cannot fly forward in a sudden stop;
• keep your FASTag active, and choose your toll-plaza lane early instead of swerving at the last moment; and
• set your navigation before you start. Hand-held phone use while driving is prohibited (Regulation 37).

Common mistakes

A simple highway routine

On a highway, the safest drivers are the predictable ones: steady speed, steady lane, plenty of space.