Boosting your safety on a night drive isn't complicated, and most of it comes down to a handful of straightforward habits. Below are nine tips for driving safely after dark.
Why night driving is more dangerous
Low light works against you in several ways at once. Human depth perception drops off, colour recognition fades, and your peripheral vision narrows, so you simply notice less of what's around you. That's how a tired driver ends up drifting out of the lane, missing an obstacle, or getting distracted at the wrong moment.
Then there's what's actually out there: oncoming cars, wildlife, and everything in between. Older drivers with degenerative eye conditions have an even harder time. And drowsiness is its own serious risk, since most people feel sleepy behind the wheel in the dark. The glare of oncoming headlights won't wake you up, but it will leave you disoriented. All of which is to say: knowing how to handle a night drive really matters.
9 tips for night driving
1. Angle your headlights
Night driving needs working headlights. Regular lights or high beams, you need some added light to read the road. Some cars let you adjust the headlight angle with a switch inside the cabin. Set them too low and they won't reach the road ahead, which leaves you driving half-blind. If you find it hard to see clearly at night, get the headlights adjusted to suit you.
High beams are no use if they're not pointed where you're going. Keep the lenses clean and make sure everything's working while you're at it.
2. Use high beams safely
High beams are brilliant for lighting up the road and picking out what's ahead. The catch is oncoming traffic: aim them at another driver and you'll blind them, which creates a hazard for everyone. So use them, but drop them for oncoming cars.
You do want some light on, always. Headlights help you see, and they help other drivers see you, so keep them working. Some people add fog lights or other extras for more coverage. That can help if you do a lot of night driving, but it isn't essential, and you shouldn't be running excessive lights through built-up areas. Be mindful of the cars around you.
3. Slow down
Everything you'd normally do still applies after dark: belt up, indicate properly, stay within the speed limit. At night it all counts double. Your reaction time is slower, so give yourself more room by easing off the pace. Don't overdo it, though. Crawling well under the limit is its own hazard to the drivers behind you. You're using the same safety precautions you always would, just with a bit more care.
4. Fight fatigue
Staying alert at night is genuinely hard, but you can limit the drowsiness. Take regular breaks so you're rested and your eyes aren't strained. Keep your eyes moving instead of locking onto one spot, which helps stave off eye fatigue. Music or a podcast, the A/C on, the windows down, even talking to yourself all help.
If someone else is in the car, don't be shy about pulling over and swapping drivers when you need a rest. Driving solo, take long breaks as often as you need them. Getting there slower but in one piece beats the alternative every time.
5. Watch for wildlife
Out in rural Australia, this is one of the biggest risks after dark. Kangaroos and wallabies roam at night and will cross roads without warning. Hitting one is dangerous for the animal and for you. Echidna, emus, cattle and plenty else can wander out too, and during drought they'll drift into built-up areas that normally stay clear. Stay switched on wherever you are.
If you're out at night a lot, learn to spot the reflection in an animal's eyes. Your high beams will catch it well before you'd otherwise see the animal itself. When you do spot one, slow down and stop rather than swerve. Swerving can put you straight into the path of an oncoming vehicle. Bear in mind your high beams usually only light up what's already within stopping distance, which is exactly why keeping your speed down matters so much.
6. Adjust the lighting inside the cabin
Bright lights inside the car hurt your vision just as much as anything outside it. Dim the cabin lights as far as they'll go. Set the GPS and infotainment screens to night mode if you can. You want the important controls visible, not glaring at you.
Glare from the headlights of cars behind you is another one. Some newer models dim the rearview mirror automatically; if yours doesn't, an anti-reflective coating or a manual dimming mirror does the job. And set your phone to night mode with notifications off, so the screen doesn't suddenly light up and pull your eyes off the road.
7. Steer clear of busy two-lane highways
When your eyes are tired at night, they fixate on whatever's brightest: an oncoming set of high beams, a reflective road sign. Busy roads are full of that glare, so they turn into bigger hazards after dark. Where you can, avoid two-lane highways carrying a lot of traffic.
The other drivers are part of it too. You're more likely to run into drunk or fatigued motorists at night, which makes crowded roads riskier again. Give them a wide berth if you have the option, and stay aware of the vehicles around you either way.
8. Keep your eyes on the road
This is no different from daytime driving, but reduced visibility and slower reactions make it more important than ever. Watch carefully for pedestrians, for poor drivers, and for anything else that shouldn't be there.
9. Clean your windshield
Bright lights aren't the only visibility problem. A smudge you'd never notice by day becomes a real hazard on a night drive, scattering light into an unnecessary glare that adds to the strain on your eyes. Give the windshield a thorough polish before you head out.
One thing not to do: don't wipe it with your hand, even to flick off a single speck. The oil from your skin smears the glass and makes it harder to see, not easier.
None of this is complicated. Stay aware of what's around you, drop your speed enough to give yourself time to react, and rest whenever you need to. If you're an inexperienced driver, take it especially carefully at night while you build your confidence. Arriving safely will always beat arriving fast.
