Top Tips for Night-Time Driving
Driving at night can be incredibly dangerous. Car accidents skyrocket during the night. No matter how good a driver you may be, human eyes are not particularly great at depth perception or peripheral vision at night. Considering that it takes 200 feet to stop when you’re doing 60 miles an hour, that’s not a lot of time to correct an error.
At Protyre we’re here to help, and we want to help keep drivers as safe as possible when driving at night or in low-light. Here are our top tips for doing so:
Aim Your Headlights
Car headlights can be uneven or point far lower than necessary. To be safe while driving at night, look up how to properly adjust your headlights so they’re correctly lighting up the road in front of you. If that makes no difference, give the lens cover a polish. You’d be surprised how much dirt can build up.
Dim Your Dashboard
It might sound counterintuitive but trust our years of experience. Bright dashboard lights and large computer screens can distract you while driving at night and diminish your vision. Dim the dashboard lights to remove reflections on your windscreen and give your eyes a better chance to adjust and see better in the low light.
Don't Stare into Oncoming Lights
Bright lights are going to really affect your vision. If you get distracted and stare into the headlights of the car passing by, you’ll get nothing but blurry vision and an increased chance of driving off the road. Look forward, but don’t get distracted by other vehicles.
Keep Your Wing Mirrors Clean
Dirty wing mirrors can reflect and distort light that can then confuse your eyes and make you misjudge distances and things behind you. Keep your wing mirrors clean and aim your mirrors so that you can move your head out of the way of any light reflected in them.
Keep Your Windscreen Clean
Dirty wing mirrors can reflect and distort light that can then confuse your eyes and make you misjudge distances and things behind you. Keep your wing mirrors clean and aim your mirrors so that you can move your head out of the way of any light reflected in them.
Don't Drive Tired
Driving whilst tired gives the same thought patterns and reaction times as if you were driving drunk. Driving tired is dangerous for you and for other drivers, so don’t set off if you’re drowsy after a late-night party. Make sure that you rest often and give yourself plenty of time to have a walk and a coffee to keep yourself alert.
Even with these tips, driving at night is inherently more dangerous. One of the biggest things that can spell the difference between disaster and getting back safely is the condition of your tyres. Make sure that your tyres are in tip-top health with Protyre’s free tyre check service, available at any of our over 150 local garages across the country. Just contact us today and one of our tyre professionals will give you advice to keep your vehicle and your tyres in the best condition. Where necessary, we can replace tyres with high-quality models from brands such as Pirelli or Bridgestone or offer car servicing to keep the remainder of the vehicle in good condition.