These days, national highways in India typically have 2 or 3 lanes on each side. When driving on a 4-lane highway (2 lanes on both sides), you should drive on the leftmost lane and use the right lane for overtaking.
For a 6-lane highway (3 lanes on both sides), the lanes are classified into slow, medium and fast from left to right. The slow lane is suitable for trucks and two-wheelers, while the medium lane is best-suited to drive cars. The fast lane is usually used for overtaking a vehicle.
The First Rule: While travelling on the 4-way Highway
While you are on the four-way Highway, it’s quintessential to stay on the left &use your right lane just to overtake vehicles in front. If you’re travelling on a six-lane highway, your driving style will change (three lanes on either side). Vehicle speeds rise as one goes from left to right lane. As a result, the left is normally reserved for slower vehicles like trucks as well as two-wheelers. In case you drive a car, it’s best to stay at the centre lane and only utilize the right lane to pass slower vehicles in front. Driving quickly on the right lane might be fun, especially when you intend to move fast.
It is critical to let the speedier cars go that come from behind you in the rightmost lane. If a quicker car approaches you in the rightmost lane, always use the left indicator and shift to the centre lane to let faster vehicles pass by. That might let the car behind to go safely. It only refers to cars in that right lane. Cars and other vehicles speed behind the automobile, which is currently in the centre lane, and they will immediately move to their rightmost lane when they intend to overtake.
The Second Rule: When switching in six-lane or four-lane Highway
When switching the in the six or four-lane Highway, it becomes fundamental to begin with the corresponding indicator lighting. The fact is that when the car next to your indicator is turned on, the driver in front will change lanes within some five to ten seconds. As a result, it is even more crucial to respect the driver who’s in front of you when they switch on the vehicle’s indicator to change the lanes.
The majority of incidents on six-lane roads occur as a result of inappropriate lane change or sluggish cars travelling in a wrong lane (i.e., the rightmost lane). In addition, one should also not zigzag across the different lanes from left to right and from right to left lanes without keeping an eye out for oncoming traffic. Overtaking a car by honking becomes prevalent in a country like India. But one surely needs to keep using caution in this situation because honking is usually not audible at higher speeds. As a result, it is preferable to flash the headlights & wait for a car in front to yield.
The Third Rule: When Your Car Breaks Down
An essential point to mention is that if your vehicle breaks down while on a highway, put on a Hazard warning light and safely transfer the vehicle to service lanes (leftmost part of the Highway). It is critical to be aware of the difficulties with the vehicle before the breakdown & to shift to your leftmost lane as soon as possible in the event of an emergency. In addition, when a car moves in front of you with the warning lights on, you must always be particularly cautious only. That’s mainly because the driver in front will be suggesting that their vehicle is in danger and is likely to go across any direction!
Keep in mind the aforementioned lane discipline rules on the Indian highways before you gear up for a driving journey on the road. Ensure that you follow these rules when you are on the Highway in case of emergencies.
