Health Safety and Prevention Tips
Driving Safety at Night – Headlights Tips
Ensure Lighting System
It is illegal to drive any motor vehicle on public roads after dark without using the correct lighting equipment. This includes headlights, tail lights, and license plate light. Keep your vehicle’s lighting equipment clean and in good working condition. It is particularly important to keep the lenses of your lights clean.
Use of Parking Lights
Parking lights should be used for parking only, they are not considered strong enough, even in the hours just after sunrise and before sunset.
Compulsory Light ON Situation
You must have your lights on from sunset until sunrise during periods of rain, snow, hail, sleet or fog, and during other periods when you cannot see the road ahead of you clearly for a distance of at least 500 feet.
Ensure Safety
When you are in doubt as to whether you should use your lights or not, turn them on -- low beam. Not only will this improve your own vision, it helps others to see you as well.
Control Speed according to Visibility
One of the most common and dangerous habits that drivers can get into at night is "overdriving" the headlights of their vehicle. You should never drive so fast that you are unable to stop within the distance that you can clearly see on the road ahead of you by the light of your vehicle’s head lamps. For most vehicles this distance is no more than 350 feet when the headlights are on high beam. In bad weather or other driving conditions when your ability to see clearly is decreased, this distance can be much less. Remember, total stopping distance is the distance your vehicle will travel from the moment the hazard appears until your vehicle comes to a complete stop. Therefore, because you cannot see as far ahead at night, you need to slow down to give yourself more distance to stop your vehicle.
Stopping Distance
The minimum stopping distance for a vehicle with normal brakes traveling 55 m.p.h. under favorable road and weather conditions is approximately 230 feet.
Dim your Headlight for comming Vehicle
You should never have your vehicle’s headlights on high beam when you are within 1000 feet of an oncoming vehicle. You should also switch to low beam when you are following another vehicle at a distance of 200 feet or less. Not dimming your lights when you are this close to another vehicle is not only dangerous to the other driver, it is illegal. If you do not dim your lights you could cause the other driver to have an accident. If the vehicle is coming towards you, your vehicle could be involved as well. Also, if you dim your lights the other driver is likely to do so as well. If this does not happen you should keep your lights on low beam anyway. If you do not, you are risking more than possibly blinding the other driver. You are endangering yourself as well.
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