The circuit
The usual tourist roads are travelled by families, school groups and people who live there. Checkpoints are normal, especially toward Gurez and at times on the highway. Have ID you can actually find, not a photo buried in a camera roll you cannot unlock.
If a shutdown, a strike or a security closure is called, the old city and some highways pause. Ask that morning. A closed day is a hotel day, not a dare.
Weather and roads
These hurt more visitors than headlines do. Snow on the Gulmarg road, a slide on the highway from Jammu, a pass that was open yesterday. Leave daylight on mountain drives. Do not start Razdan after lunch.
Ordinary sense
Watch your phone in a market. Agree taxi fares. Do not go into a house you were not invited to because someone offered tea and a carpet. Women travelling should dress modestly at shrines and will otherwise find the tourist circuit unsurprising. Solo travellers should do the same things they do in any unfamiliar city after dark: take the booked car, not a random one at midnight.