The PROS & CONS
The PROS & CONS
Not seeing someone or something!
When trying night driving for the first time, start small.
Night time is night time, irrelevant of the road you are on, so start with quiet well lit roads to start with.
Get used to vehicles with their headlights on. They can dazzle you even where there are street lights and on unlit roads this is going to hit you tenfold.
Get used to the fact that you will probably see a vehicles headlights before you see the vehicle.
Get used to seeing light reflecting on the side of vehicles that are parked, on in house or shop windows, so that you can build up your skill of judgement of approaching vehicles that you currently can't see.
Get used to seeing handfuls of vehicles who have blown lights to the front and rear of their vehicle that could mislead you into thinking they are a different size vehicle. The most common one would be a car with just one headlight working making you think it's a motorcycle.
Get used to cycles with NO lights and dark clothing.
Get used to electric or manual scooters with no lights and dark clothing.
Get used to pedestrians that will be harder to see than daylight but are still partly visible due to street lights, it get even harder to see them where there are no streetlights especially if they are not wearing light or hi-viz clothing.
Get used to small animals walking around in residential roads such as cats and foxes.
Get used to not being able to see people in parked cars that may get out without looking that it is safe to do so before emerging.
Get used to the fact that all the controls in your car will not be as easy to find as it would be during daylight hours.
Get used to glare at junctions, especially if you do not keep your windows clean.
Get used to judging approach speeds of other vehicles as it's not as easy at night.
Get used to humps and bumps in the road that might make a car look like they have flashed you.
Get used to driving on lit roads when it's raining as well, as this adds another level of experience, especially when the rain and headlights cause road marking not to be seen as easily.
THIS LIST IS NOT EXHAUSTIVE, But gives you an idea of additional challenges that you will have to deal with at some stage.
Generally, there are lots of things that WILL feel different to that of day time driving. So give yourself time to adjust to them.
Once you have mastered the art of lit roads, gradually move the experience areas to that of bigger roads that may be unlit and then on to smaller roads possibly single track rural roads. These can be a challenge for even the most hardened drivers, so just take it easy and grow into them.
Everything listed above on lit roads will come into the equation for unlit roads but at a vastly harder level.
It just takes time to adjust to dealing with them confidently and safely.
Highly recommended, if you learnt to drive in the summer and did not get a chance to do night time driving during your lessons.
It would be well worth your while contacting an instructor and booking in at least one lesson at night, so that your instructor can fill you in on the benefits and pitfalls of driving at night.
Driving instructors will be more than accommodating to full licence holders who want to improve their experiences and skills to become safer drivers.
Just because you have passed your driving test does not mean you can't ever use a driving instructor again.
Some of the benefits of driving at night.
There are always less vehicles on the road at night.
Being able to see cars via their lights before you actually see the car will allow you to plan.
Potentially less to concentrate on, such as less pedestrians, cyclists, buses, bin lorries etc.
Some of the pitfalls.
You might be tired.
Vehicles not using lights at the correct time.
Vehicle with lights not working.
Cyclists with no lights.
Cyclists with dark clothing
Not many rural roads have street lighting so makes driving them at night more hazardous.
Pedestrians wearing dark clothing are less visible.
Being blinded by other vehicles lights.
Not being able to see clearly the direction the road flows.
Large puddles that during the day you may be able to see, you may not at night.
Tiredness of you or other drivers.
Animals.
Lack of traffic on the road making some drivers think it's ok to exceed the speed limit.
Very hard to see road markings when the roads are wet.
Rural roads that are not marked and have no kerbs can be hazardous.
Preparation is key
Things to ensure you have done before driving at night.
Ensure your vehicles windows are clean, smeary windows will cause other vehicles lights to glare on your dirty screens.
Make sure ALL your lights work correctly.
Ensure you have adequate screen wash.
Ensure you have a charged phone in case of breakdown.
That your health is good and if on long journeys take lots of breaks.
In areas where it is suitable, switch your Dipped beam lights to Main beam lights to give you more visibility along the road.
But! Be sure to switch them off as soon as you see oncoming vehicles.
Main beam lights, especially on more modern vehicles can be extremely bright and could cause temporary blindness (up to 4 seconds to regain normal vision for older drivers)
If an oncoming vehicle has theirs on do not retaliate by cranking yours on to make them switch theirs off. All this will do is end up with two blind drivers.
If an oncoming vehicle's lights are so bright that you just cannot see the road ahead, then STOP! you can't hit anything or go off road if you are not moving.
Try not to focus on oncoming vehicle's lights, instead try and focus along the road at either the centre line or the edge of the road, and always be prepared to slow down of stop if necessary.
