Driving at Night

Driving can be dangerous, even in an incredibly safe vehicle like a Subaru. After all, you’re barreling down the road at high speeds in over a ton of metal, flying past other people doing the same thing. While owning a safe vehicle is a great way to make driving safer, safety is largely up to the driver.

Many of the dangers your encounter on the road are apparent and fairly easy to avoid. If the roads are icy, you decrease our speed. If you’re sharing the road with a reckless driver, you give them space and keep your distance. However, some dangers aren’t as obvious, and aren’t as easy to avoid. People often overlook the challenges of driving at night, and treat night driving just like day driving.

Driving at night is much more difficult than driving during the day. The number of reported accidents triples during nighttime hours compared to accidents that happen during the day. The reason for why night driving is more dangerous than day driving is pretty simple.

You have to be able to see in order to drive, but as soon as night falls, visibility plummets. If you're driving in a city, the roads will probably be illuminated. Lights from businesses, billboards, and streetlamps will help you see your way through the night. However stretches of interstate and remote country roads might not have lights, making it much harder to see.

There are some precautions you should take in order to drive better at night.

Wear corrective lenses. If you need glasses or contacts, wear them. This is important no matter what time of day it is, but it’s even more so at night. However, leave the prescription sunglasses at home.

Make sure your headlights work properly. Your headlights help you see and help others see you. Replace dim or broken headlights and make sure the high beams work.

Go a safe speed, especially in new areas. The speed limit isn't always the safest speed. If it's dark and you’re unfamiliar with a road, it might be in your best interest to go slower than the posted speed.

 Dim your dash. Your dashboard can look like the cockpit of a spaceship with all of those lights. While it might be pretty to look at, bright dashboard lights can make it harder to see the road ahead of you. Dim those dash lights so you can see the road better.

A streaky film can develop on the inside of your windshield over time. This might seem like a minor inconvenience, but when a pair of headlights shines directly on that film, you might not be able to see a thing. Newspaper or a microfiber towels are both great options for getting rid of that film without leaving streaks.

Remember, it's much harder to see at night than it is during the day. Make sure you can see as well as possible, and make sure that others can see you.