Mark Sennett
Managing Editor |
Kelly Rose
Editor |
Home> | Managing Health & Safety | >Fleet & Driver Safety | >Top tips for driving in the dark |
ARTICLE
Top tips for driving in the dark
24 October 2013
With the clocks going back at the weekend, in the first of HSM's Guest Blogs, Simon Elstow head of training, at IAM Drive & Survive offers some tips on driving in the dark.
- To improve your view as far as possible, keep your lights and windscreen clean. It’s easy to forget the inside of the windows, but keeping them clean helps prevent them from misting-up.
- Use main beam on a dark unlit road, but when other drivers or riders are approaching make sure you dip your lights to avoid dazzling the oncoming road users.
- Making sure you can stop safely within the distance you can see to be clear still applies in the dark.
- Look at how the traffic ahead behaves for clues to possible problems you can’t see yet – the way other lights behave can tell you a lot.
- Use the headlights of the car you are following to show you to let you see further ahead.
- Don’t look at any lights themselves, but at what they show – so you can make use of more of the light there is from any source, without losing your "night vision” any more than you have to.
- Use the reflective road signs and lines to help you see where the road goes and where there are particular problems
- If an approaching car forgets to dip its lights, look beyond the lights to their left to avoid being dazzled as much.
- If it’s gloomy in the morning, don’t forget to put your lights on then too.
The risk of collisions increases in the dark as visibility is reduced..In poor weather remember that you still need to see things like large pools of water or fallen trees in the dark – so adjust your driving to suit all the conditions combined.
MORE FROM THIS COMPANY
- Digital and connected safety
- Are your employees at risk?
- The RAAC Crisis
- The holy grail of construction
- COPD Day: The air that we breathe
- Six steps to improve mental well-being in the workplace
- Avoidable cases of negligence that caused harm
- Disposable coveralls
- Fall protection cost-cutting: a step too far?
- Data shows decline of workplace injuries while mental health rises
OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS SECTION