Your Driving and the Road
What you do in the daytime can also affect your night vision. For example, if
you spend the day in bright sunshine you are wise to wear sunglasses. Your
eyes will have less trouble adjusting to night.
But
if you’re driving, don’t wear sunglasses at night. They may \
cut down on
glare from headlights, but they also make a lot of things invisible that should
remain visible-such as parked cars, obstacles, pedestrians, or e\
ven trains
blocking railway crossings. You may want
to put on your sunglasses after you
have pulled into a brightly-lighted service or refreshment area. Eyes shielded
from that glare may adjust more quickly
to darkness back on the road. But
be sure
to remove your sunglasses before you leave the service area.
You can be temporarily blinded by approaching lights. It can take a second or
two, or even several seconds, for your eyes to readjust
to the dark. When
you are faced with severe glare (as from a driver who doesn’\
t lower the high beams, or a vehicle with misaimed headlights), slow down a li\
ttle. Avoid
staring directly into the approaching lights.
If there is a line of opposing
traffic, make occasional glances over the line of headlights
to make certain
that one
of the vehicles isn’t starting to move into your lane. Once you are
past the bright lights, give your eyes time to readjust before resuming speed.
High Beams
If the vehicle approaching you has its high beams on, signal by \
flicking yours
to high and then back to low beam. This is the usual signal to lower the
headlight beams. If the other driver still doesn’t lower the beams, resist the
temptation
to put your high beams on. This only makes two half-blinded
drivers.
On a freeway, use your high beams only in remote areas where you w\
on’t
impair approaching drivers. In some places, like cities, using \
high beams is
illegal.
When you follow another vehicle on a freeway or highway, use \
low beams.
True, most vehicles now have day-night mirrors that enable the \
driver to reduce glare. But outside mirrors are not
of this type and high beams from
behind can bother the driver ahead.
A Few More Night Driving Suggesiions
Keep your windshield and all the glass on your vehicle clean-inside and out.
Glare at night is made much worse by dirt
on the glass. Even the inside of
the glass can build up a film caused by dust. Tobacco smoke also makes
inside
glass surfaces very filmy and can be a vision hazard if it’s left there.
Dirty glass makes lights dazzle and flash more than clean glas\
s would,
making the pupils of your eyes contract repeatedly. You might even want
to
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