Notes to ensure safety when driving at night

1. Know the route and itinerary

Before starting a trip at night, with new roads, drivers should know the route to avoid going the wrong way. Because when it is dark, limited visibility will make it difficult to observe all the signs. Most car models today are equipped with a navigation system, so drivers should use this function to choose the appropriate direction of travel.

2. Check the lighting system

Problems such as burnt out bulbs, dim lights or misaligned light angles always make it difficult for drivers to operate their cars at night. Therefore, before each trip, drivers should take the time to check the operation of the lighting system.

To check the headlights, turn on the light switch, switch between high beam (pha) and low beam (cot) modes. Make sure the lights still work normally in high beam and low beam modes. You should prepare spare bulbs in the car in case the light suddenly burns out while driving.

For vehicles that do not support automatic headlight angle adjustment, drivers should pay attention to readjusting the headlight angle to ensure visibility.

3. Clean the headlights

ensure visibility when driving at night

Dirt on the headlights reduces the brightness and limits the driver's ability to see clearly, so they need to be cleaned regularly. If you are driving an older car, the headlights may be stained or cloudy.

To fix this problem, polish the headlight lenses. Finally, check to see if the brightness between the two lights is even.

4. Clean glass surfaces

In addition to the lighting system, drivers should pay attention to cleaning the front and rear windshields and side windows to ensure visibility when driving at night.

Use glass cleaner and a clean cloth to wipe the glass surfaces. Be careful not to leave streaks on the glass, as this will obstruct the driver's vision.

Check the windshield wipers and rearview mirrors. Turn on the wiper switch, when the system is running, if the wiper blades are not clean on the driver's field of vision, clean the wiper blades. After cleaning, if you still see streaks on the glass surface caused by the wipers, replace the wipers.

5. Adjust the rearview mirror properly

Drivers should also pay attention to adjusting the rearview mirrors to cover the field of vision while avoiding glare from reflected lights from other vehicles.

With the side mirrors, depending on the height and viewing angle, the driver should adjust so that he can see the left and right corners behind the car. With the inside rearview mirror of the car, if the cars behind are close and turn on their headlights, causing glare in the mirror, the driver should push the small lever behind the mirror to switch to anti-glare mode.

6. Reduce the light source inside the car

Driving with a bright dashboard can affect your visibility when driving at night, so keep your lights low, and make sure your reading lights are off while driving.

Adjust the brightness of the dashboard to make it easy to read the indicators, but not so bright that it causes glare.

7. Install additional auxiliary lights

You only need to install auxiliary lights if you often have to move at night. When choosing lights, pay attention to choosing the type of lights that have the effect of supplementing the headlights, do not use the type of lights that are only for off-road.

Also, don’t rely too much on auxiliary lights, especially high-brightness lights like HID or LED. When you turn them off, you’ll feel that the car’s normal lights are too dim. It will take your eyes a while to adjust (about 30 seconds), like when you just walked out of a movie theater.

8. Avoid looking directly into the headlights of oncoming vehicles.

Lights can be incredibly distracting at night. In a car, your eyes are used to the soft glow of the dashboard and the darkness in front of you. So you can easily be distracted by the reflections of reflective signs or other vehicles without even realizing it.

Learn not to look directly at them. If the car behind you has its high-beams on, adjust your mirrors so the light doesn't blind you.