You may or may not be a driver with efficient skills that’s all fine but do you know driving in the day is a complete different thing than driving at night? If you drive at night that is from dusk to dawn you might know that it is a complete different experience.
This is because during the day the whole surrounding is lit up naturally and your eyes do not feel stressed while you are driving but at night as the only light sources are the road lights and the lights form the vehicles, the way the pupils of your eyes dilate to the glare of approaching or nearby lights ,things might feel and look completely different at night . Your perception towards objects also change which in turn also affects your reactions.
To keep yourself safe from danger and to avoid accidents, you should give a look at the following few tips –
Stay Alert
To stay alert while driving at night what you can do is reduce the distraction factors like simply turning off the radio. If in a long journey, take rest at an interval of at least 2 hours. If not that urgent, avoid driving between 12 to 6 AM because these are the natural sleep hours of average people and can easily make you feel drowsy if doing so and can put you to danger.
Maintain a safe distance from other vehicles and there is any vehicle approaching from front then then turn on your lower beams .
If you are experiencing reduced visibility then slow down your vehicle to compensate that .
Keep the lights clean
Before hitting the road, make sure that your lights are clean and are giving out accurate amount of light . If the lights are dirty, they won’t provide adequate light and may cause problem. If the light covers have faded or become foggy looking then use a headlight polishing kit to make them clear.
Also, keeping your wind shields and windows clean will give you proper visibility at night .
Keep the mirrors slightly downwards .This would help you to prevent the glare from other vehicles to hit your eyes directly .
Adjust the lights properly
Aim your headlights properly because un aligned headlights can work against you and distract other drivers crossing you .
Similarly , do not stare at approaching headlights because these can easily distract you .
Sharpen the vision
Pupil dilation occurs at night making room for more light to enter our eyes . Rods and Cones – the two types of light processing cells in eyes then process the light .Rods are sensitive to low light and cones are responsible for figuring out colors and details. And hence rods are more active than cones at night so most of us will see slightly black and white objects .
Darkness reduces the depth perception and peripheral vision .
Well , reading these points ,you might have understood that driving at night is a challenging job .And hence following them can be a true help to you .