Introduction

If you just bought a new soft roader and want to go to Murree or Nathia Gali on your next trip, there are a few things you might want to think about when driving on hilly roads. If you live in the Capital City, near all those beautiful hilltop spots where people from mostly flat areas go on the weekend.

You can tell a driver from a plain region from a mile away, believe it or not. People from all over Punjab and even as far away as Sindh come to Pakistan’s beautiful northern regions. In the last ten years or so, road trips have become very common. This is because cars are getting safer and more reliable, roads are improving, and people are more interested in exploring the country’s remote areas. Technology also played a role by putting everything on the screens of people’s cell phones. Thanks to Google Maps and other free navigation tools, people can now go to new places without getting lost.

Without a doubt, some things can only be learned by doing them. You can only get good at driving on hilly roads by doing it repeatedly, and moving up into the northern parts of Pakistan, where there are few or no roads and many landslides, requires a high level of road awareness and driving skills.

For now, let’s stick to more familiar and easy-to-reach hilly places with excellent roads that you can visit with friends and family on the weekend without having to make a lot of plans or carry a lot of stuff. As was already said, some things can only be learned through experience. However, keeping these eight tips in mind, you can drive to your following hill site safely and without damaging your car.

Understanding hill starts

First of all if you are driving on hilly roads is to understand the hill starts. One of the most important things you can learn will keep both you and your car from getting hurt. If your car has an automatic gearbox, you’re in a lot better shape. But people who drive cars with manual transmissions should know how important hill starts are. As the name suggests, the goal is to learn how to come to a full stop before taking off on an uphill. People who have only ever climbed the ramp in front of their homes may find it hard to start on a real hill.

As was already said, it is a bit easier for vehicles. When you stop on a steep slope going uphill, be sure to use the handbrake. Press the brake pedal all the time. If your car is already in drive (D) when you want to start moving, release the brake pedal, then accelerate while releasing the hand brake to keep the back end from rolling.

For a perfect uphill start in a manual car, it may be hard to get all of your limbs to work together. As with an automatic car, make sure the hand brake is on. When you’re ready to go, keep your right foot on the brake, engage the clutch, and shift into first gear. Now comes the hard part. To stop the back end from rolling too much, you must now let off the brake pedal, give the car a little gas, remove the hand brake, and let go of the clutch at the same time. Once you’ve mastered this, you’re pretty much set for the rest of the trip. Some people don’t have to think about how to do this. But it might be scary for new drivers and people who aren’t used to driving on hilly roads.

Take a broad look

Hilly roads often have sharp turns, are small, and don’t separate the lanes. Because of this, driving on hilly roads that go uphill can be hard and unpredictable. Since vision is so important when driving in a mountainous area, drivers should always be aware of traffic signs and look as far down the road as they can to avoid this kind of problem. Blind corners will only make things worse, so you need to try as hard as you can to figure out the track as early as you can.

So how does a rider actually put this idea into practise? Let’s say you’re making a right turn. The car would naturally move closer to the centre line, which would make it harder for you to see the road ahead. In this situation, you should move to the left, away from the centre line, and try to look ahead. In our country, people drive on the left side of the road, which makes it hard to see when turning left. In this situation, you need to stay to the left to make it harder to see and give yourself more space at the bend.

Avoid passing on blind bends

Passing on blind corners is very dangerous and must be done very carefully while driving on hilly roads. This is probably the one thing that causes the most accidents on the routes that go uphill. A blind curve is a bend in the road where you can’t see the cars coming toward you. In this situation, if you pass the car in front of you, it’s likely that a car coming from the front will hit you.

Because of this, riding around blind corners takes more patience and care than riding on the plains. On a steep circuit, passing around turns is strictly prohibited. But if you have to, you should be well-prepared and have the right tools. If something goes wrong, only pass on a bend where you can see well or where the road is wide enough to make changes. Also, you should move at a speed that lets you keep control of the car.

Also Read: Top 12 Best Driving Schools in Lahore

Don’t go downhill in neutral gear

We Pakistanis have some strange ways to save gas, like turning off the engine when going downhill or shifting into neutral. Technically, this is a very risky move because the bike or car loses its ability to stop because of the engine and the traction that comes after it, which gives it more control when going downhill.

To stay in control of the vehicle and keep it going in the right direction, you must choose the right gear and keep the engine speed at the right level. Since constant braking could lead to a loss of traction, the gear has to be lowered, which makes the engine work harder. In the same way, if you use your throttle well, it might help you stay on course. Even though it will use more gas, keep the engine in a lower gear.

Putting the clutch down

Because of the clutch, this problem mostly affects people who drive manual cars. By “riding the clutch pedal,” I mean when a driver only partially presses or releases the clutch pedal, keeping the car moving. Your clutch will only get too hot, and the pressure plate and clutch will soon stop working as well. You must always fully push or depress the clutch pedal to keep the car’s clutch from having to work even harder than it already is.

Some people tend to ride the clutch when they are stuck in traffic or trying to drive up a steep hill. The main idea behind riding the clutch is to avoid having to use the handbrake all the time while using the accelerator and clutch pedals to keep the car from sliding backwards on an incline. As we’ve already talked about, this will just cause your clutch plates to get too hot, which will shorten the life of the gearbox over time. But if your clutch is already worn out, riding the clutch pedal could cause it to burn out right away. You’ll be stuck on the road with a burned-out clutch and nowhere to go.

When things are this hard, smaller cars like the Suzuki Mehran and Suzuki Cultus need a little more power while driving on hilly roads. So, people often try to drag the cars by stepping on the clutch to keep them from getting stuck when they are carrying a lot. If you know how to use your car’s clutch better, you won’t get stuck and you won’t have to pay for maintenance you don’t need.

Keep the momentum

Maintaining speed is important for both small and large vehicles. You shouldn’t brake or slow down too much before or in the middle of a curve unless it’s an emergency or you feel like you’re losing control of your car. Make sure your car goes around a bend without slowing down.

You’ll know this by getting to know how your car acts in different situations. You should know how your car will drive on a mountain road, when making a quick turn to the left or right, or when carrying more weight. Keep a steady pace and don’t make sudden turns.

It doesn’t help to speed up as you approach a turn only to stop abruptly right before it because you were going too fast. If you race the car and then slow down, you are just wasting gas. Because you underestimated the speed of the automobile or the incline, braking just before the bend to change gear will just put more strain on your car’s engine and gearbox.

Since you have to change gears by hand in a car with a manual transmission, momentum changes affect it more than it does a car with an automatic transmission. In automatic cars, the automatic transmission fluid (ATF) can get too hot, which is bad for the car’s health.

Therefore, be cautious to keep the automobile moving at a constant pace while you make the corners. As a courtesy, try not to get in the way of other cars trying to go up the hill. Even for the other drivers, it makes things a lot harder.

Driving in Snow

Even on straight roads, driving in snow or ice can be hard and dangerous. If the road is hilly, it can be even worse. First of all, if you are a new driver, it is best to have an experienced driver next to you. If you know how good you are and how much you know about driving, there’s no reason to take unnecessary risks. Give the car to someone who knows how to drive it better.

I have seen people ignore the power of nature and how even a small amount of snow can turn into a deadly trap. Snow that has just fallen isn’t too dangerous, and if you drive slowly, you can still keep your car under control. But if you aren’t ready, you might have a lot of trouble when the snow turns into ice.

To keep from sliding into another car, you should either put winter tyres on your car or, if the road conditions are even worse, put chain links on your driving tyres (either the front or rear, depending on your car).

The hard, icy surface is very slippery. Also, standard summer tyres or even all-weather tyres wouldn’t work well on a surface this slippery. If you add an incline to the mix, you are in grave danger.

When it snows in mountainous places like Murree, more and more people tend to go there. Murree’s already crowded roads are used by tens of thousands of cars every day. When the snow turns to ice and people aren’t ready for it, they slip and crash into other cars.

Don’t use the brakes too much

Like with the clutch, you shouldn’t use the brakes too much when going down steep roads. Split up the work of stopping the engine and brakes of the car. Keep your car in a lower gear, like first or second, so that the engine can help you slow down.

It is risky to only use the brakes to stop the car from going down the slope. Some people turn off their engines when going down a hill so they can save gas and just use the brakes to control their cars. It is very stupid, and no one should ever do something like that.

Even though brakes on modern cars are much stronger and work better, it is still best to let the engine share the weight. Just using your car’s brakes (pads and rotors/drums) can cause them to get too hot. Because brake fade happens when brakes get too hot, the car can’t stop as quickly as usual because the brake pads have lost their grip. If the brakes fail for a second or two, it could kill someone.

This is very important for cars that have automatic transmissions. If you are driving a traditional automatic transmission car, put the car in a lower gear (D1 or D2, depending on the car) so the engine can slow it down. If your car has a CVT transmission, put it in “B mode” to use the engine brakes while going down a steep road.

As a last step, keep the vehicle’s speed up even as it goes down. Don’t speed up quickly if you know you’ll have to stop to turn a corner. This will stop both the fade, which could be dangerous, and the early wear of the brakes.

These are just a few tips to help you enjoy your trip to the beautiful and grand northern parts of the country. You won’t have to worry about your car breaking down for no reason while you’re on the road, so you can sit back and enjoy the view. Happy driving!

 

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