tips for driving at night?

[4wheeldog]

Look where you want to go, NOT at the oncoming lights. As with a lot of things, you will go where you look, which is another way to describe target fixation.

So........DO NOT look where you definitely don't want to go....Like into oncoming traffic, or off the side of the road.

 

[mongo161]

I have a pair of shooting "glasses over glasses" that I use at night. They are Amber/Yellow plastic safety glasses that fit right over your prescription eyewear or they can be worn as regular safety glasses.

Once I started wearing them at night, my eyes were relaxed and fresh when I arrived at my destination.

I use them all the time at night, and keep them clipped to the visor.

Staring at oncoming lights and tailgaters bright light reflection in your mirrors will fatigue your eyes fast. Especially, if your taking a long trip at night with lots of traffic.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Look where you want to go, NOT at the oncoming lights. As with a lot of things, you will go where you look, which is another way to describe target fixation.

So........DO NOT look where you definitely don't want to go....Like into oncoming traffic, or off the side of the road.


Especially true when on a motorcycle!

 

[Al]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27

With advancing age comes declining night vision. I've noticed this myself. Nothing to do other than accommodate to it while remaining safe on the road.

I would have agreed except after I got my lens implants my night driving is probably like it was 50 years ago. Its unreal.

 

[Kuato]

Decent stuff so far - definitely slow down so that you're not overdriving your headlights. For oncoming bright lights, try holding up your hand to block their headlights, and when they get close look at the lane marking on the side away from them for a couple of seconds. You can also hold your hand up to block bright lights in your mirrors.

I have found that for deer, a couple of honks on the horn spaced about 1 second apart will let them know where you are and at the very least they look in your direction and freeze. Many times they will move away. If one gets in front of you, make a move - either left or right if it is safe - and they will move quickly the other way. They identify you as a predator and will flee. But if you just go straight for them, they don't know which direction to run. And remember: if you see one, there's more than one.

Clean windshield, clean glasses. Smoking reduces your night vision so if you smoke you might want to skip it for 1/2 hour before driving if you can.

 

[Rolla07]

Make sure headlights are not fogged, clean them sand and polish well and use brighter than oem bulbs if possible. Im using a swap for 9006 headlights which are brighter but i noticed the wet road and lights glare seem to overpower the low beams. Advice above is great too..simply slow down and dont concern urself with ppl running up close behind you.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
also what do you do when the oncoming vehicles (or the one tailgating) have really BRIGHTS?
like long phase, badly aimed LED/Halo...



Keep a Q-Beam sitting next to you

 

[bmwjohn]

I would have a set of up to date, clean, scratch free eye glasses for the car. They should not have ANY tint, even the variable kind that supposedly vary tint with the light. You might wear sunglasses inside before getting in your car (take them off before driving) to acclimate to the darkness, don't smoke, make sure inside and outside car glass is clean, upgrade light bulbs to Osram, Phillips, etc. better grade as on Amazon, get haze off headlights, keep defrost on modestly, use good windshield wipers replaced often, maybe fog lights or Hella XL if you can find them,etc. Its difficult to do but finding a new NON-TINTED windshield is very helpful. This is a serious issue and deserves a serious effort, even spending some money!

 

[supton]

I look to the right when there is oncoming cars.

Clean glasses, clean windshield goes a long ways. Good headlights too. Turn down dashboard lights is good, but I think you can go too far, and find yourself too easily blinded by an oncoming car--a bit of desense might be good. A balance here really.

What I hate is rainy nights. For some reason, even without fog, I have a very hard time seeing lines on the road--even if the wipers are off. It's like the road disappears. Fog lights help some.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: supton
What I hate is rainy nights. For some reason, even without fog, I have a very hard time seeing lines on the road--even if the wipers are off. It's like the road disappears. Fog lights help some.

Why do you think i call it "the black tunnel"?

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: supton
What I hate is rainy nights. For some reason, even without fog, I have a very hard time seeing lines on the road--even if the wipers are off. It's like the road disappears. Fog lights help some.

Why do you think i call it "the black tunnel"?



I missed your comment--indeed, it can be very black.

Although what I hate most is when it rains then the sun comes out. The glare drives me nuts. I find when I put on my sunglasses I no longer can read the dashboard, and actually have not been wearing sunglasses nearly as much when driving during the day.

 

[rslifkin]

Keep the windshield clean, all sources of interior light as dim as possible, keep the headlight lenses clean. Fog lights off unless conditions need them (excessive foreground light makes it harder to see more than a few feet ahead). Use high beams whenever it won't blind other drivers.

As far as other drivers with their high beams on, they get a pair of quick flashes of the high beams (on the Jeep, this is the high beams + driving lights, over 600w total, so I try to do it fast enough that they don't hit full brightness). If they still don't kill their high beams, they get another slightly longer flash (which might be a little bit painful for them).

 

[Cujet]

I prefer to drive behind a 4300K HID headlight system. However, modern LED lights can achieve the same performance.

The HID's in my S2000 do very well illuminating a dark, wet road. Far better than my F150 truck's halogens.

On the truck I've also configured focused driving lights to the high beams. That way, when I select high beams, I get better distance illumination.

My S2000 has HID lows (excellent) and Halogen highs. When highs are selected, all lights are on. People make the claim that one cannot have 4 lights "burning" when high beams are on. Not so. OEM's do it all the time.

 

[Warstud]

I have the same problem. My eyes are real sensitive to light and real bad at night while driving especially when it's raining. You may want to try some glasses like these. Read the Reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Definition-Driving...glare+polarized

 

[KitaCam]

...beware of drooping eyelids...as you age those upper lids droop and the eyelashes get in the line of sight causing oncoming headlights to flare VERTICALLY .... vertically only, NOT STARBURST-like...

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted By: KitaCam
...beware of drooping eyelids...as you age those upper lids droop and the eyelashes get in the line of sight causing oncoming headlights to flare VERTICALLY .... vertically only, NOT STARBURST-like...




So true! I love my drooping eyelids! I look so cool, er... old. What he says is true. And many people don't understand that at times, eyelids droop well into our field of view.

I first noticed that I had strange vision issues with my right eye at about 35 years old. Went to the eye doc. They found no problems. I eventually figured it out. In my case, it's actually the fold over the eyelid that droops into my field of view. Ugh.

 

[ChristianReske]

Originally Posted By: Kuato

I have found that for deer, a couple of honks on the horn spaced about 1 second apart will let them know where you are and at the very least they look in your direction and freeze. Many times they will move away. If one gets in front of you, make a move - either left or right if it is safe - and they will move quickly the other way. They identify you as a predator and will flee. But if you just go straight for them, they don't know which direction to run. And remember: if you see one, there's more than one.



Absolutly right. And allways try also to switch your lights down, if the situation allows it even to parking light, if a deer stand on the road starring at you.

 

[ddrumman2004]

I get my 17 year old to drive me around at night. But then again, I rarely go out after dark and when I do, he happily takes me where I need to go.

For the record, I have a cataract on my left eye and I'm sure that once I get that removed, I'll be able to see better at night.

 

[Kestas]

This is where I jump in and point out the unfortunate fact that nearly all cars on the road today have tinted windows, which doesn't "cut glare"... rather it cuts total vision. "Cutting glare" is just a marketing spin to avoid mentioning the truth that total vision is reduced.

I don't know how many of you have had the good fortune of driving a car at night without tinted windows. There was a point on my life where I switched back and forth between both types - with and without tinted windows. The difference was... well, like night and day!

I wish they could make tinted windows an option again. I have no use for tinted windows, especially in Michigan.

 

[CurtisB]

Some great points on here so far. I'd like to add that fog lamps are to be used only when the road conditions warrant them. I see that overwhelmingly, folks who have fog lamps on their vehicles use them at all times. This is counterproductive on dry roads because the beam pattern of a fog lamp is designed to illuminate only the immediate foreground of a vehicle. when fogs are used inappropriately The drivers vision is drawn away from far down the roadway (where it should be) to the intense patch of light immediately in front of them.

Fog lights are best used in heavy rain and wet/soupy roadways. To be perfectly honest, I've never found fog lamps to be of any use in actual fog or snowfall. I always just flick down to the good old daytime running lamps for thick fog/snowfall.