Commuting between Chennai & Bangalore: 12 tips by a veteran driver

If you suddenly feel that roads are empty as you near Vaniyambadi, don’t worry. Everybody will be parked at Sai Sangeeth to have breakfast.

BHPian DasAuto1985 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

From the last 3 months have been travelling back and forth in the Bangalore-Chennai route every 2 weeks, due to personal commitments. The commitments are such, that I ll need the car at both the locations, so travel by train/bus is ruled out. Always take the Hosur route as i stay near one of the Nice road exits. Below are some of my observations from the various trips in quick successions:

• Due to road works, the “fun” part or the “peaceful” part of driving is almost nil. From last couple of times, have seen marked increase in traffic from Nice road exit in E-city till almost halfway upto Krishnagiri. Maybe because those were weekdays. If you are someone who got a new car with Cruise control and wants to try it out in this highway, well i got some very bad news for you.

• The diversions have been discussed a lot, and nothing much to add to it. Maybe its psychological or not, but I feel the diversions have become manageable now, with moving traffic. As mentioned by someone else, lots of potholes have started appearing in the diversions due to rains

• 2 wheelers – Boy, if there was a prize for the most whining in a single topic, I will get the prize for this. 2 kms +- Vellore, they are worst. Not a single person wears helmet. One thing i have understood, its not enough that I reach safely, I have to make sure these idiots reach their home safely too, even though they are hell bent on making that difficult for me

• If you see a red Virtus in a toll lane, avoid that lane. That red guy is me and whichever lane i am that lane will always have a guy who is hearing the name Fastag for the first time in his life

• I always wonder why I don’t see any female drivers in the highway, especially between 2 cities which have quite a few of them. At last during the last trip to Chennai, saw a lady driving a Safari, and driven quite well too 
• If you suddenly feel that roads are empty as you near Vaniyambadi, don’t worry. everybody will be parked in Sai Sangeeth to have breakfast. That’s the main reason i avoid it like the plague. Sree Saravana Bhavan, Krishna Bhavan,Aryas, A2b are some of the safe joints. when going towards Chennai, you can park your car in the side of highway (way off the road) and cross the road to A2B before Vaniyambadi. Do this only if you are desperate, due to the risks involved. Pro tip: Early in the morning, order something that would have been ordered by many(Idli, dosai, pongal), as the quality checks might not be that great. I ordered Rava masala dosa and there was no salt in the batter

• Hydration breaks actually work. Makes you a calmer and more focused driver.

• If you see an idiot driving rashly/overtaking aggressively, slow down and let him through. you know what they say about wrestling pigs

• The only good sections of the roads, there is road pavement going on and that will slow you down further. Facepalm

• Sriperumbudur – Manimangalam route is done and that is a big advantage. The road is littered with cattle, so be very careful. But would recommend this route any day over the Kundrathur Pallavaram route.

• The ideal thing to do is don’t keep a fixed time in mind and don’t try to beat the G maps lady given time, cos if the diversions don’t slow down, the cattle will, if cattle doesn’t slow you down, the bridge construction will, if not that then road pavement will, if not that hunger will, and by then you would have reached E-city/Sriperumbudur and your speed will anyway be screwed. So just play that Ilayaraja song, smile at the idiots and the cows and the dogs, and keep driving on.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

Source: Read Full Article