Essential Tips For Driving At Night
What are your first thoughts when we say driving at night? Do you prefer it or is it something you would rather avoid. Here we have some essential tips for driving at night. There’s no denying it our eyes are the most important sense when it comes to driving. At night our vision is reduced considerably! This lack of light doesn’t just affect our peripheral vision but also our depth perception skills.
With a lack of depth perception, it can become hazardous to our judgment. Think about how this may affect you when say – deciding on a safe gap to emerge at a roundabout or T Junction. A recent survey conducted by ROSPA in 2017 discovered the following. Over 40% of all collisions happened in the hours of darkness. This does seem disproportionately high if you consider most of the traffic travels in daylight hours!
The best way for a novice driver to prepare for night driving is to book a night time lesson whilst training for their driving test.
Below are some of Pass Me Fasters’ top tips to help stop you from becoming part of the statistics!
Avoid Getting Dazzled
One of the most common causes of accidents on the road at night is attributed to bedazzled motorists. Try to keep your eyesight away from headlights and keep your vision slightly to the left. Avoiding staring directly into oncoming headlights should keep the space invaders at bay.
Equally important is to avoid blinding other motorists with your full beamsies. Try to only use them when street lighting is absent and no other motorists are about. Be mindful of others not giving you the same courtesy. Many drivers forget to turn off their main beam and fry your eyes reet out.
Keep Your Mirrors Clean
A crisp clean mirror will allow you to see up to 60% more than a dusty dirty one. Remember we need all the help we can get in the dark so let’s make sure we squeegee our third eye as clean as possible.
Keep Internal Lighting To A Minimum
It’s not just the light from outside that causes problems. Internal lighting can distract us from the outside world. Keep all interior lights switched off and many cars now allow you to turn down the dashboard lighting too.
Take Regular Breaks
Your natural alertness is at its minimum at night time. It might be wise to take extra breaks when out at night. You may even benefit from a quick nap and a coffee if you do start feeling drowsy (after you pull up!) All joking aside a long motorway journey can be particularly tedious and nodding off can happen very easily.
Night Time Driving
Getting practice in lessons is a great way to help you prepare for nighttime driving. Why not ask your instructor or an accompanying driver to take you out for your first time in the dark. Let them keep an eye on you and let them show you how all the vehicles lights work.
Safety while driving at night is a must. You do need to extra careful.
