Top Tips For Driving In The Dark

When it comes to nigh time driving it can be daunting to any driver especially new ones. Some people simply avoid it, but this isn’t an option for everyone so what should you consider when driving at night? Well this post focuses on some tips to help you get through the night safely.

The Stats Part

The number of road associated deaths are three times more likely to happen at night against the fact that only twenty five Percent of all driving happens between the hours of 9pm to 5am and half of all deaths occur within this timeframe.

The Body

In Low light conditions our depth perception is impeded we have difficulty in distinguishing color and our peripheral vision is affected so from an overall perspective it’s far more difficult to drive in night time conditions.

But because of this we researched and come up with the best tips for driving in the dark.

Your Headlights

Car weight can affect your headlights so make sure you adjust the aim to compensate for any additional weight you have in the car, but it is also a useful factor to clean the headlights with a cloth so there is nothing to diminish their glow or impede your potential vision.

Dim Internal Lights

Having inside lights turned on create more contrast between inside and outside of the vehicle. Most modern cars allow you to dim your instrument panel and if you have someone navigating, try to make sure they use one of the precision reading lights and not the main inside light.

Look at for Animals

When light hits an animal’s eyes at night it generally gives off a clear bright reflection, keep an eye out for this as even hitting something as small as cat at 60 mph can lead to a lot of damage.

Oncoming Lights

Turn your gaze away from oncoming lights, they can disrupt your vision and your eyes will have to continuously adjust to the dark.

Don’t use your hands to clear the windscreen

Our hand leave oily residue if we try and remove mist or condensation from our car windows will only create an issue as light will refract of the oil making it difficult to see.

Sometime Fog Lights don’t need fog

Fog lights are situated low to the road, if you’re driving down roads with very low or no lights. It’s not illegal to turn your fog lights on when there is no fog but they can be a great help to illuminate the road.

Clean your mirrors

Your mirrors are your second pair of eyes while on the road, so while you would clean dust from out of your eyes you should take the same care with your wing mirrors.

Check your eyesight

Doctors often recommend keeping your eyes moving at night to reduce fatigue. So instead of just focusing in one area of the road keep scanning across your windscreens vision to help improve your field of vision whilst driving.

Good luck and drive safely.

Jag Mann is a blogger for Finishing Touch Wedding cars he has 25 years driving expeirence and often writes safety presentations for various companies.