Tips for driving at night

Visibility plays a huge role in safe driving, and nighttime driving is the most common visibility-reducing situation that drivers face. 

We’ve compiled a list of quick tips to keep in mind next time you’re behind the wheel after dark – regardless of your route.

Ensure all lights are operational

It’s a no-brainer, but the first thing to remember for safer nighttime driving is to ensure the lights on your car are fully functional, and to repair or replace them if not.

While lighting the road ahead is crucial, operational brake and taillights are just as important, and inform other road users of your presence and if your vehicle is slowing down ahead.

While assessed each year in NSW during a pink slip assessment, it’s good for owners to check their own lights every now and then as well.  

Monitor your alertness closely

Humans are programmed to sleep at night, and dark conditions – especially over long stretches of roads without streetlights – can cause fatigue to sneak up fast as your brain prepares to rest.  

Ensure you’re taking more regular breaks while driving at night, and never try to push through fatigue.  

Struggling to make out street signs a little more after the sun’s gone down? It could be the first sign of deteriorating vision and warrant a visit to the optometrist.
  

Be extra careful on unfamiliar roads

It goes without saying, but reduced visibility at night means drivers should exercise more caution on roads with which they’re unfamiliar.  

A limited field of vision, often dictated by your vehicle’s headlights, can mean a road’s details and peripheries can be missed.  

While this applies especially on a winding country road – where, for instance, an upcoming sharp corner may not always be adequately signposted – the same is also relevant in more built-up areas where a bad pothole or speedbump may not be seen before it’s too late.

Know when and where to use your high beams

High beam lights are an important tool for drivers. Unlike the more concentrated spread of light from a low beam, a high beam is designed to throw light across a much wider area to improve visibility.  

The benefit of this is an increased area and distance of illumination, however the trade-off is reduced vision for any other road users caught in it.  

Because of this, the NSW Government stipulates that high beams cannot be used within 200m of another vehicle, regardless of whether it is oncoming or heading in the same direction.  

Use of high beams in a flashing pattern can also be used to let other motorists know you intend to overtake them.
  

Keep a closer eye out for other road users and wildlife

Lack of visibility can mean drivers become aware of people or wildlife attempting to cross a road much later than they would during the day.  

If driving in areas where people are likely to attempt road crossings, or in less developed areas where animals may do the same, take extra caution and be sure to scan the roadside.  

While cyclists are legally required to have operational lights fitted to their bicycles, drivers shouldn’t take this for granted and should keep an eye out for them as well.