Archive for the ‘Night Driving Information’ Category

Driving at Night

By Brenda Williams

Driving at night is perhaps the most dangerous time for drivers to be out and about. When it is dark, we struggle to see things as clearly as we would if we had full light shining on it. So, it doesn’t matter whether you have 20/20 vision or if you can’t see a single thing, we’re all in the same boat.

Depending on what day of the week it is as well as where you live, driving late at night can be especially dangerous because of the number of people who choose to drive while intoxicated. The irony lies in the fact that people who are intoxicated often pose more of a threat to others than they do to themselves!

For my last trip up to New York from North Carolina, I figured I would beat the traffic by leaving in the middle of the night around 1am. It was a Friday night/Saturday morning combination, so I was on the roadways with people who had either just left the bar scene or were on their way to the nearest party…not the best combination.

I had only been on the road for a couple of hours at best when I noticed a small Toyota car with two male occupants speeding behind me. At this point, there were only three of us on the road in each of the lanes. Just slightly ahead of me and to the right was a giant tractor trailer, and quickly gaining ground to me left and just behind me was this car.

I was already doing the speed limit and decided to slow down because the roads were wet. No sooner had I slowed down in my lane to allow the speeders to pass me on the left that they then hit a patch of standing water and hydroplaned, which sent their car shooting directly across my lane where they slammed into the truck that had been beside me.

Had I not exercised good judgment to slow down in my lane, I would have definitely been hit at a high rate of speed. And seeing as how I was driving in a small SUV, the impact of their car would have most definitely caused my car to flip over.

I could feel my heart pounding for a couple of seconds as the scene played out before my eyes. I pulled up alongside of the car to make sure that they were ok. At this point, the poor truck driver had pulled off to the side of the road ahead- not sure what had hit his truck. The two guys promptly got out of the car and were scratching their heads and laughing. I could see that the airbags had deployed and also that they were under the influence of something.

When I relayed the story to my parents upon finally arriving at home in New York safely, they both warned me to never leave that late at night again. I didn’t need them to tell me this twice.

The other thing about driving at night is that most of us are on a schedule where we reserve the nighttime for sleeping. After driving for a while, at night- you run a greater risk for falling asleep at the wheel. Regardless of when you leave to drive, make sure that you are always hyperaware of your surroundings so that you can react accordingly.

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The Effects Of Driving At Night

Here we explain some of the effects of night driving on your vision.

The Blur Effect

The so-called blur effect is when what you see in the dark becomes blurred. This happens because when the light levels are reduced, the pupil in the middle of the eye open up in size to admit more light. This can cause what you see to become de-focussed or blurred.

Glare

Glare from automobile lights, particularly from the rear view mirror can lead to temporary loss of vision.

Change Of Light Intensity

It is well known that our eyes take time to adjust to new levels of light, whether going from a dark place to a bright place or vice versa. While our eyes take this time to adjust there is a temporary impairment to our vision.

Moving from bright areas (high levels of road lighting such as large motorway intersections) to dark areas, end of the intersection in rural areas where there are minimal road lights occurs frequently on any long night journey. The driver suffers, not just temporary vision impairment, but over a long journey the effect can add to fatigue.