Ensure your car is not going to give you trouble en-route. Preferably get a service job done if you haven't got one in the past 1500-2000 kilometers.

Also, check your tires and brakes. Doubly check the spare wheel. Carry a spare tube along with the spare tyre (just in case you require changing one en-route and are unable to procure one in rural areas). If you are on tubeless radials, even then carry along a spare tube (for the same reason).

Run a check on the air-conditioner. You wouldn't have used it very extensively during the recent months - so check the gas level – you may need to use it on your journey.

Purchase a bunch of extra fuses - 10A, 15A (about four each) and carry them along with your toolkit. Carry an extra set of headlamp bulbs. If you plan to drive at night on the highway, upgrade to 90W/100W halogens. All weather lamps are a good option if you think you will encounter fog, else regular yellow lamps are the best for highway travel.

Check the horn - a twin horn is useful in case of them decides to keep its mouth shut. The music system - you wouldn't be having FM all the way there, so carry your music with you, in case you get bored on the journey (also depends on your company).

Check the toolkit for the spanners, pliers and screw-drivers and whatever else you might need.

Check the wiper blades and machine. Lastly, fill up the windshield washer bottle with a mixture of water and a drop of liquid utensil detergent (works very well to clean the screen). If you have space somewhere, it is a good idea to keep two liters of this mixture to add to the washer again during the journey. (replenish the same in hyderabad). Carry ample flannel cloth (yellow dusters available on petrol pumps and red-lights) to clean the windshield while you drive.

Keep yourself belted at all times thru the drive. Do not drive even if you are slightly sleepy or tired. Take ample rest. It is also a bad idea to have your companion sleep next to you while you drive (it becomes a distraction). Always encourage your companion to be alert throughout the drive.

Also if travelling with kids, some newspapers, bottles of water. In case they have call of nature/motion sickness etc.

With regard to tubes, keep at least two as spare over and above the spare tire. From past experience, at the high-speed punctures by the time one stops the tube gets quite badly damaged at times so need to replace from a safety perspective.

If possible, fill up your fuel soonest you are between half and quarter tank. The changeover of headlights to higher wattage really helps so pls do that in case you need to do nite drving.

Best time to depart from any location is around 4 to 430pm. That is the time the truckers are tending to go off the road and people who are leaving town havent left as yet.

Also tell your garage or buy from the market some power steering fluid and carry a spare pipe for it. The power steering pipe is towards the front lower part, and if by chance you fly over a speed breaker or you scrape the front end, it can get damaged and is quite a pain replacing it
or getting in smaller towns.

Lastly, carry a medicine kit with medicines like biquinol for upset stomachs, digene, avil for anti allergy, band aids etc. another good product to carry is the hand cleansing gel or sanitiser - klin or even cinthol has also launched. it is a alcohol based gel. you squeeze some gel in your hand and wipe.... your hands will be clean again and sanitised you dont need water to wash hands.

After all this gyan, have a good time and take a 5-10 min break every hour to hour and a half to stretch yourself and swig some tea..

Scanning your surroundings (keeping your eyes moving) includes keeping a safe distance around your vehicle. When another driver makes a mistake, you need time to react. Give yourself this time by keeping a “space cushion” on all sides of your vehicle. This space cushion will give you room to brake or maneuver if you need it.
Know What Is Ahead
To avoid last minute moves, look down the road 10 to 15 seconds ahead of your vehicle so you can see hazards early. Constantly staring at the road just in front of your car is dangerous. As you scan ahead, be alert for vehicles around you. Use your mirrors. Allow enough space between you and the vehicle ahead to give yourself an “out.” Mistakes cause accidents.
Where is the green vehicle headed?
In the city, 10 to 15 seconds is about one block. On the highway, 10 to 15 seconds is about a quarter of a mile.
Take In the Whole Scene: If you only look at the middle of the road, you will miss what is happening on the side of the road and behind you. Scanning helps you to see:

Turn your head before changing lanes, because your mirrors have blind spots. These blind spots can hide a motorcyclist or a bicyclist. Watch for things about to happen, like a ball rolling into the street or a car door opening.
Watch for Hazards: Look beyond the car ahead of you. Don’t develop a “fixed stare.” Keep scanning. Check your rear view mirrors every two to five seconds so you know the position of vehicles near you.
On the freeway, be ready for changes in traffic conditions. Watch for signals from other drivers. Expect merging vehicles at onramps and interchanges. Be prepared for rapid changes in road conditions and traffic flow. Know which lanes are clear so you can use them if you need to.
Don’t be a tailgater! Many drivers don’t see as far ahead as they should because they follow too closely (tailgate), and the vehicle ahead blocks their view.
The more space you allow between your car and the car ahead, the more time you will have to see a hazard and the more time you will have to stop or avoid that hazard.
Most rear end accidents are caused by tailgating. To avoid tailgating, use the “three-second rule.” When the vehicle ahead of you passes a certain point such as a sign, count “one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three.” This takes about three seconds. If you pass the same point before you finish counting, you are following too closely.
You should allow a four-second or more cushion when:

If you follow too closely and another driver “cuts” in front of you, just take your foot off the gas. This gives you space between your car and the other driver without having to slam on your brakes or swerve into another lane.

All Shaded Areas Represent Driver's Blind Spots

Any time you come to a place where people may cross or enter your path or one line of traffic meets another, you should look to the left and right sides of your vehicle to make sure no one is coming. Always look to each side at intersections, crosswalks, and railroad crossings.
At intersections:

Maintain a space cushion on each side of your vehicle.

Know What Is Behind You
It is very important to check behind you before:

Check traffic behind you often to know if you are being tailgated (another driver is following too closely). If you are being tailgated, be careful! Brake slowly before stopping. Tap your brake lightly a few times to warn the tailgater you are slowing down.
“Lose” the tailgater as soon as you can by changing lanes or slowing down enough to encourage the tailgater to go around you. If this does not work, pull off the road when it is safe and let the tailgater pass.
Clean Windows And Mirrors
Keep your windshield and side windows clean inside and out. Bright sun or headlights on a dirty window make it hard to see out. Clear ice, frost, or dew from all windows before you drive.
Make sure you can see and be seen. If you drive in rain or snow, you may have to stop sometimes to wipe mud or snow off your windshield, headlights, and taillights.
Adjust Seat And Mirrors
Adjust your seat before you put on your seat belt. You should sit high enough to see the road. If you still can’t see, use a seat cushion.
Adjust your rear and side mirrors before you start driving. If your vehicle has a day/night mirror, learn how to use it. The night setting reduces the headlight glare from the cars behind you and helps you see better.
How Well Can You Stop?
If something is in your path, you need to see it in time to stop. Assuming you have good tires, good brakes, and dry pavement:

Adjust your driving speed to the weather and road conditions (basic speed law). (More Information)
Turn on your lights during the day if it is hard to see or you can’t see at least 1000 feet ahead.

The best advice for driving in the fog is DON’T. You should consider postponing your trip until the fog clears. However, if you must drive, then drive slowly and use your low beam headlights. The light from high beams will reflect back and cause glare. Never drive with just your parking or fog lights.
Increase your following distance and be prepared to stop within the space you can see ahead. Avoid crossing or passing lanes of traffic unless absolutely necessary. Listen for traffic you cannot see. Use your wipers and defroster as necessary for best vision.
If the fog becomes so thick that you can barely see, pull completely off the road. Do not continue driving until you can see better. Turn off your lights or someone may see your taillights and drive into you.

Drive more slowly at night because you cannot see as far ahead and you have less time to stop for a hazard. Make sure you can stop within the distance lighted by your headlights.
Use your low beam headlights at night when it rains. Don’t drive with only your parking lights on.
Use your high beams whenever possible as long as it is not illegal (i.e., in open country or on dark city streets). Do not blind other drivers with your high beam headlights. Dim your lights when necessary. If another driver does not dim his/her lights:

When you drive at night, remember:

In a heavy rainstorm or snowstorm, you may not be able to see more than 100 feet ahead. When you can’t see any farther than that, you cannot safely drive faster than 30 mph. You may have to stop from time to time to wipe mud or snow off your windshield, headlights, and taillights.
Slow down at the first sign of rain, drizzle, or snow on the road. Many road pavements are the most slippery when it first starts to rain or snow because oil and dust have not yet been washed away.
If you drive in snowy areas, carry the correct number of chains and be sure they will fit your drive wheels. Learn how to put the chains on before you need to use them.

You never know what is on the other side of a steep hill or a sharp curve. When you come to a hill or curve, slow down so you can stop for any hazard. You must be going slowly enough to stop.
Any time your view is blocked by a hill or a curve, you should assume there is another vehicle ahead. Only pass if a hill or curve is at least one-third of a mile away because you need at least that much room to pass safely.
Do not drive on the left side of the road when coming to a curve or top of a hill because you can’t see far enough ahead to know if it is safe to pass.

Use Your Horn

Don't Use Your Horn

Use Your Headlights

Use Your Emergency Signals
If you can see an accident ahead, warn the drivers behind you by turning on your emergency flashers or tapping your brake pedal quickly three or four times. You can also use the hand signal when slowing and stopping.
Never stop on the road, unless necessary for safety or to obey a law. If you need to stop, then start braking early as a signal to the cars behind you. If your car breaks down on the road, make sure that other drivers can see it. If you are having car trouble, and need to stop, follow these rules:

Taking Dangers One At A Time
Suppose there is an oncoming car to your left and a child on a bicycle to your right. Instead of driving between the car and the child, take one danger at a time. First, slow down and let the car pass. Then, move to the left to allow plenty of room before you pass the child.
Splitting The Difference
Sometimes there will be dangers on both sides of the road at the same time. For example, there will be parked cars to the right and oncoming cars to the left. In this case, the best thing to do is “split the difference.” Steer a middle course between the oncoming cars and the parked cars.
If one danger is greater than the other, give the most room to the worst danger. Suppose there are oncoming cars to the left of you and a child on a bike to the right. The child is most likely to make a sudden move. Therefore, give him or her the most room by moving closer to the oncoming cars.
Allow A Cushion For Problem Drivers
Persons who present dangers are:

Keep A Cushion To The Side
Keep a space cushion on each side of your car.

Keep A Cushion Behind
Watch for tailgaters! If one is following you, be careful! Brake slowly before stopping. Tap your brake lightly a few times to warn the tailgater you are slowing down.
“Lose” the tailgater as soon as you can by changing lanes. If you can’t change lanes, slow down enough to encourage the tailgater to go around you. If this does not work, pull off the road when it is safe and let the tailgater pass.
Allow A Cushion For Problem Drivers
There are certain people you should give a lot of room to. Here are some of them.

Whenever you enter traffic, signal and be sure you have enough room to enter safely. You have to share space with traffic already on the road and must know how much space you need to:

Space To Merge
Enter the freeway at or near the speed of traffic. (Remember that the maximum speed allowed is 65 mph on most freeways.) Do not stop before merging with freeway traffic unless absolutely necessary. Freeway traffic has the right of way.
Any time you merge, you need a gap of at least four seconds. However, this gives both you and the other vehicle only a two second following distance.

Space To Cross Or Enter
Whenever you cross or enter city or highway traffic from a full stop, you will need a large enough gap (from cars approaching in either direction) to get up to the speed of other vehicles. You need a gap that is about:

If you are crossing lanes or turning, make sure there are no cars or people blocking the path ahead or to the sides. You don’t want to be caught in an intersection with traffic coming at you.
Even if you have the green light, do not start across if there are cars blocking your way.
Don’t start a turn just because an approaching car has a turn signal on. The driver may plan to turn just beyond you. The signal may have been left on from an earlier turn. This is particularly true of motorcycles. Their signal lights don’t always turn off by themselves. Wait until the other driver actually starts to turn before you continue.
Space To Exit
When you plan to exit the freeway, give yourself plenty of time. You should know the freeway exit you want as well as the one that comes before it. To exit safely:

Space To Pass
Always signal before passing. Don’t pull out to pass unless you know you have enough space to return.
Avoid passing other vehicles, including motorcycles and bicycles, on two-lane roads. It is dangerous. Every time you pass, you increase your chances of having an accident. Be patient when passing a bicyclist. Slow down and pass only when it is safe. Do not squeeze the bicyclist off the road.
At highway speeds of 50 to 55 mph, you need a 10 to 12 second gap in oncoming traffic to pass safely. At 55 mph, you will travel over 800 feet in 10 to 12 seconds. So will an oncoming vehicle. That means you need over 1600 feet (or about one-third of a mile) to pass safely. It is hard to judge the speed of oncoming vehicles one third of a mile away.
You must judge whether or not you have enough room to pass whenever you approach:

Vehicles don’t seem to be coming as fast as they really are. A vehicle that is far enough away generally appears to be standing still. In fact, if you can really see it moving closer to you, it is probably too close for you to start to pass.
Space To Return
Before you return to your driving lane, be sure you aren’t dangerously close to the car you have just passed. One way to do this is to look for the car in your inside rear view mirror. When you can see both headlights in your rear view mirror, you have enough room to return to your driving lane. Don’t count on having enough time to pass several cars at once. Also, don’t count on other drivers making room for you.

Seat belts, both the lap belt and shoulder harness, must be in good working order. You may not operate your vehicle unless you and all your passengers 16 years of age or over, or who weigh 60 lbs. or more, are wearing seat belts. If seat belts are not worn, you may be given a traffic ticket. Also, the driver will be given the ticket if a passenger, younger than 16, is not wearing his/her seat belt.
Always use your seat belts (including the shoulder harness) if your vehicle is equipped with them and even if the vehicle is equipped with air bags. If you wear only a lap belt when driving, your chances of living through an accident are twice as good as someone who doesn’t wear a lap belt. If you wear a lap and shoulder belt, your chances are three to four times better.
Pregnant women should wear the lap belt as low as possible under the abdomen and the shoulder strap between the breasts and to the side of the abdomen’s bulge.
WARNING: Using seat belts reduces the chance of being thrown from your vehicle in case of an accident. If you don’t install and use a shoulder harness with the seat (lap) belt, serious or fatal injuries may happen in some crashes. Lap-only belts increase the chance of spinal column and abdominal injuries—especially in children. Shoulder harnesses may be available for your vehicle, if it is not already equipped with them.
SEAT BELT MYTHS
Safety belts can reduce injuries and deaths. Many studies and actual crash tests have proven this. Have you heard these stories?

The pictures illustrate what can happen in an accident. Your car stops, but you keep on going at the same speed you were traveling until you hit the dashboard or windshield. At 30 mph this is like hitting the ground from the top of a three-story building.
If you were struck from the side, the impact could push you back and forth across the seat. Belts and straps keep you in a better position to control the car.

To reduce the chance of having an accident with a large truck or RV, you must be familiar with a big rig’s physical capabilities and how they maneuver.
Braking
Large trucks take longer to stop than a car traveling at the same speed. The average passenger vehicle traveling at 55 mph can stop in about 400 feet. However, a large truck traveling at the same speed can take almost 800 feet to stop. Don’t move in front of a large truck and suddenly slow down or stop. The trucker will not be able to stop quickly enough to avoid crashing into you.
Turning
When any vehicle makes a turn, the rear wheels follow a shorter path than the front wheels. The longer the vehicle, the greater the difference. This is why big rig drivers must often swing wide to complete a right turn. When you follow a big rig, look at its turn signals before you start to pass. If you think the truck is turning left—wait a second and check the turn signals again. The driver may actually be turning right.

Shaded areas are the driver's blind spots.
Trucker's Blind Spots - The NO ZONE
Passenger vehicle drivers incorrectly assume that a trucker can see the road better because he or she is higher off the road. While truckers do have a better forward view and bigger mirrors, they still have serious blind spots and your vehicle can get lost in those blind spots. You block the trucker’s ability to take evasive action to avoid a dangerous situation if you stay in those blind spots. Generally speaking, if you can’t see the truck driver in his or her side mirror, he or she can’t see you. These blind spots are often called the “NO ZONE.”
Maneuverability
Trucks are designed to transport products and they are not as maneuverable as passenger vehicles. Large trucks have longer stopping and starting distances. They take more space for turns and they weigh more. On multilane highways and freeways, large trucks usually stay in the center portion of the lane to help the flow of traffic. This also increases the trucker’s options in case he or she must change lanes to avoid a hazard.
Avoid these mistakes when driving around large trucks.

Small changes in your driving habits can help relieve chronic traffic congestion.
Avoid these driving behaviors:

DEALING WITH ROAD RAGE
Road rage happens when one driver reacts angrily to another driver. Some suggestions for avoiding road rage situations are:

Prevent a potentially violent incident by:

Cellular telephones can be a lifesaver in an emergency. In nonemergency situations, they can be a great tool if used properly. Use your cellular telephone in the following safe and responsible ways:

If you see a vehicle’s hazard lights ahead, slow down. There may be an accident or other road emergency ahead. Stop and give assistance, if asked, or pass very carefully.
Avoid driving near accidents, if you can. Those injured will be helped faster if other vehicles aren’t blocking the road. If you must drive near an accident, don’t slow down or stop just to look. You may cause another crash. Drive by carefully, watching for people in the road.
It is against the law to follow closely behind any fire engine, police car, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle with a siren or flashing lights.
Never drive to the scene of an accident, fire, or other disaster to look. You may be arrested for doing this. You may also block the way for police, fire fighters, and ambulances.
Obey any order from a police officer or fire fighter even if you need to ignore normal traffic laws or signs.
Involved In An Accident
If you are involved in an accident: