Driving at night requires a different set of skills than daytime driving. When it is dark, the distance you can see down the road is drastically reduced, and the color and contrast that serves as visual cues and warnings in the daylight is unavailable. The possibility of getting in an accident while driving at night is 40 percent greater than during the day. Three variables affect nighttime visibility including:
If you have great eyesight during daylight, it doesn’t always translate over to night vision too. Every day, our eyes are asked to focus and adjust to varying levels of light. Consider the shock your eyes experience when you exit a movie theater, where you’ve been sitting for two hours in the dark, and suddenly you’re faced with intense sunlight when you get outside. Getting up in age causes our eyes’ ability to adapt to situations of this sort to diminish as the eye muscles lose elasticity.
Here are some tips that will help improve your nighttime driving experience:
Scan the terrain.
Pan from the darkness ahead to the sides while checking for flashes of light at road peaks, around bends, and at intersections. This usually is a good indication that another vehicle is approaching.
Keep windows and headlights free of dirt and grime.
Filthy windows can worsen glare and cut down on visibility. Dirt on the headlights can actually decrease their effectiveness by as much as 90 percent.
Know how to use your headlights.
Turn on your brights as much as possible, but take it down a notch when other vehicles get close to you.
Avoid tinted windows.
Having window tint is like wearing sunglasses at night. However, some vehicles are shipped from the factory with tint to block the sun. Adding aftermarket tint to the front windows can be extremely dangerous at night.
Preserve night vision by protecting your eyes in the daytime.
Wear quality sunglasses that block UV rays on brighter days; extended exposure to the sun can ruin your night vision for a short-term period. If you’re on a long trip, and you’ve been driving during the day, rest up a little bit before you continue driving at night.
Use proper etiquette when using high beams.
If a vehicle approaches you in the opposite lane with its brights on, avoid road rage, and do not turn your brights on in retaliation because neither driver will be able to see. Instead, use the white line bordering the edge of the roadway as a guide until the vehicle passes.
Driving on well-lit roads can lessen the time it takes to recover from glare.
Most drivers can recover from glare after just a few seconds, but older people have a tougher time with the aftereffects of glare. It’s not uncommon for some drivers to take between five and ten seconds to recover. To put it in perspective, a driver traveling 55 mph could travel 400 to 800 feet with partial visibility due to glare.
Don’t tail the driver in front of you.
If you increase your following distance by four or five seconds, you will have more time to react if something goes wrong up ahead.
Boost others’ ability to spot you.
Check to ensure that all your exterior lights are functional. If you happen to break down, get your vehicle entirely off the roadway beyond the guardrail if possible. Also, turn on the emergency flashers.
If none of this advice improves your night vision behind the wheel, schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist.