Night driving has its own special characteristics and pitfalls. The most fatalities per capita occur at night. At night, most DWI's occur, more drivers fall asleep behind the wheel, and there is less visibility. A survey of traffic accidents confirms this. Slightly more than one-third of all police-reported crashes are recorded from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Forty one percent of the severe or fatal injury crashes were reported during that same time frame. Since visibility is very poor at night, a wise strategy is to begin by adjusting speed for night driving.
In areas where street lighting is poor or non-existent, illumination will not extend beyond your headlights. Driving too fast under these conditions is known as “over-driving the headlights.” For example, when driving at night, let's say that headlights will allow a driver to see clearly 250 feet ahead. At 50 mph, an object in the roadway would be illuminated with enough distance still remaining to avoid striking it. However, at 65 mph, 260 feet is needed to stop. This would be over 10 feet beyond visible range. At that speed, it would be nearly impossible to stop in time to avoid a collision.
High beams are helpful in combating poor visibility at night, especially where street lighting is sparse. Headlights should be dimmed, however, when an approaching vehicle is within 500 feet. When following another car, headlights should be dimmed within 200 feet of the car in front of you. Sometimes, other drivers will forget that their high beams are on. It is customary to flash the headlights (one time) from low to high and back to low to alert the other driver to dim his. If the other vehicle's lights are not dimmed, DO NOT RETALIATE BY LEAVING THE HIGH BEAMS ON. This will result in two drivers who cannot see the roadway. When others do not switch to low beam, try looking at the right edge of the roadway. This will allow you to see the road markings or reflectors along the edge of the roadway. Using these markings as a guide will help keep the car safely on the right side of the roadway.
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