Thanks God, I have successfully completed my trip to Karachi by road. I also thank my fellow pakwheelers who gave me valuable suggestions and advices on my previous threat “Advice Needed for Karachi Trip”.
It was a great experience with my family even in the intense heat of June. The road condition is very good all the way till Karachi except few bad patches in Obaro and Bhawalpur – Multan track. I drove altogether around 3000 km within a week alone and Alhamdulilah my car remained in superb condition. I left Lahore at 4:30 pm on 20supth/sup June, reached Multan at around 9pm. Covered this distance according to speed limits due to day time. Then arrived in Raheem Yaar Khan at 12:15am and stayed there for night. Then left RYK at 10am and then again drove slowly due to radar guns and reached Karachi at 7pm. So altogether it took us 17hrs to reach Karachi.
Stayed in Karachi for almost a week, and then left Karachi on 28supth/sup June at 12:30 pm. Reached RYK at 9 pm but unfortunately Cops clocked me @ 128km/h and fined me Rs.750 at Hydrabad. Again spent night in RYK and then left for Lahore at 11am next day. At last reached Lahore at 7pm.
The journey was very enjoyable and safe but cops and truck drivers gave me a real hard time all the way. It was a catch – 22 situation for me, that I can’t travel in Sindh at night due to security point of view and in day time cops were not letting me go above 100km/h for such a long distance. Truck drivers didn’t let me overtake them easily because they were over taking each other. Imagine, the time taken by a 24 wheeler to over take another 24 wheeler @ speed of 52km/h, where the first one is traveling at 50km/h and there is no third lane.
Government should take necessary actions and make policies to make this journey more safe and comfortable. Trucks should not be allowed to overtake each other unless 3suprd/sup lane is built. Cops should regulate speed according to car size and condition: 800cc and 2400cc have same speed limits, then what is the use of VVTI or iVtec technology or ABS brakes, if you are not allowed to use them wisely? As long as the road condition and traffic is fine, big cars should be allowed to travel faster. I think 140km/h is safe on this track.
Here are my journey pics. Sorry for posting them late.