According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), almost 50 percent of fatal car accidents happen at night. This is despite the fact that only about 25 percent of motor vehicle travel takes place at night. The risk of driving at night is inevitable, and drivers should practice extra precaution when taking on the road during those hours. Car accident lawyers at Hanson & Mouri state that a catastrophic injury from a car accident can dramatically change your life in an instant.
In this blog, we will discuss what those safety precautions look like, and hopefully better equip you for the road in order to keep you and your loved ones safe.
Use Your High Beams When Appropriate
Although it is dangerous to use your high beams when driving in a place that is heavily trafficked, as they can affect the vision of other drivers, they are there for a reason. If you find yourself driving at night on a mountainous, rural, or desolate road with few cars and even fewer street lights, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t utilize your brights to improve your vision of the road and your surroundings. However, it is important to remember to dim them when you are within 500 feet of another vehicle, although some newer cars come with adaptive lighting that automatically adjust your lights when within range of other vehicles.
Don’t Rush
While there are fewer things more annoying than being late while driving, your timing should never affect the safety of your driving, especially at night. With your ability to see the road, wildlife, obstacles, pedestrians, and other cars significantly decreased, now is not the time to speed or be in any kind of rush. According to the NHSTA, speeding-related car accidents account for around 37 percent of all nighttime driving fatalities, which should be enough to make anyone pump the breaks while driving in the dark.
Don’t Drink And Drive
In the vast majority of states, a driver can have a blood alcohol content level of .08 and still legally be behind the wheel of a vehicle. Nevertheless, there’s little doubt that this level of alcohol in the bloodstream can still affect a driver, making them a hazard on the road. Unsurprisingly, the dangers of driving with alcohol in the system only increases at night, with alcohol–related crashes being four times more likely than during the day. So, it’s in yours and everybody else’s best interest on the road to avoid alcohol entirely if you plan on being in the driver’s seat at some point in the night. Finally, if you are involved in an accident and have consumed any alcohol, according to Dan Davis Law, this may be enough to prove you as being negligent, and therefore the at-fault party.
Combat Fatigue
Driving at night poses the risk for falling asleep while driving. The CDC conducted a drowsy driving study that reported 4% of adults had fallen asleep while driving at least once in the previous 30 days. This should encourage you to drive responsibly by only getting behind the wheel when you know fatigue won’t interfere with your ability to drive. This should reinforce the fact that driving defensively, as other drivers on the road could fall asleep at any moment, is especially important.
Wear Glasses or Contacts
Night driving is notoriously more difficult for everyone, but it’s especially complicated for those with impaired vision. If you have prescription lenses, night driving is not the time to forget putting them on, especially if you suffer from astigmatisms. Astigmatisms obscure the way light enters your eyes, and stretch light in a crippling way for drivers. The reason for this is that the pupil dilates in low light to allow more light into the eye. The lights from oncoming cars can significantly blur and glare the road in front of you, and cause accidents regardless of your alertness while driving. If you forgot your glasses or contacts one day, phone a friend, call an uber, or stay the night where you are.