OFF Road Adventure –

ABYSMAL ROTTEN ROADS – A HIDDEN BLESSING

DR SUDHAKAR NATARAJAN

Next time you bump along the strategically placed pot holes on the abysmal roads at a snail’s pace, don’t curse your fate. Our lives will be much easier if we accept the situation, that is beyond the common man’s control, and take the bad roads in our stride. When I was posted here in Feb 2007, I used to fret and fume over the road conditions. My personal new car has taken a good battering due to the bad roads. As the days passed by, I became immune and got used to the bone jangling bumps and my poor car got a new gear shaft , after it broke on these so called black-top metalled roads. If you can’t change it then accept it. Bad roads also have a silver lining. Bad roads have numerous benefits and are a blessing, if this chronic malady is viewed optimistically

1) Bad roads curb overspeeding: Due t more »

by Matthew Harrel

Ice road trucking is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. With a job description that includes sub-zero working conditions, long hours with little sleep, and the risk of potentially falling through a road made of ice, it’s amazing that anyone signs up for the job. Incredibly, these are only a few challenges of being an ice road trucker.

Ice road trucking has been dubbed as a two month long “dash for cash.” Road crews spend weeks preparing the ice road for the trucks. Using ground-penetrating radar to measure the ice depth, road crews ensure the ice is thick enough (usually a minimum of about 27 inches) to support the big rigs. In what can become a scheduling nightmare, 600-900 truckers are tasked with delivering 10,000 loads at an average speed of only about 20 miles per hour. Drivers haul loads throughout the day and night, often getting little or no sleep be more »

A rally driving experience can be your thrill of a lifetime if you take the chance to do it sometime. Sure, driving the kids to school, going to the supermarket and driving to work are a part of daily life but there are all sorts of off road driving escapades waiting to be explored. Off road driving or rally driving, is driving on unpaved, raw roads such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural environments. It involves driving a highly specialized automobile such as a four-wheel drive or an all terrain vehicle through such natural surroundings. Rally driving is a sport which has become quite popular with people who are looking for a high adrenaline filled, recreational pursuit.

Off Roading first emerged in the early 20th century. The rally driving experience actually materialized as a television show on ABC and quickly became so popular as to be a full fledged sport. Rally driving more »

Countries have to think of good roads as the best infrastructure.

Developed countries of the world realized this long ago and paved good roads all over.

As a result, transportation increased and movement of goods and people from one place to another was possible.

Settlement of people came on either side of those roads.

Developing countries, by looking at those developments started thinking about the good roads for their own economic developments.

Bad roads are there everywhere, paved or unpaved.

Pot holes, speed breakers, damages in patches, narrow ones are the status of roads in many developing countries including India.

Allotment of budget for this vital sector is thought of only recently to link north to south and east to west of India.

Huge amount of money is required to make the more »