[lsjey]

I typically try this guys. This helps me a lot:

1. If the opposite vehicle does not switch to low beam even after repeated requests. I hold my dip switch for a while ( This uses both High/low beams) atleast until I pass the vehicle.
2. I try to focus on the left shoulder of the road to see for any obstacles
3. Slow down

Hope this helps.

lsjey

[ad75]

hey all,

thank you all for the suggestions.would keep you posted on the implementation during my next trip.need to do some eye-conditioning

[mobike008]

Even i love driving in the night due to plain and simple reasons, you can cover more ground in night than during day and not have hassles of pedestrains and other things that you come across during day driving. As against most, i love doing good speeds during night driving as i find it more comfortable ( after your eyes get adjusted to the night, takes about an hour or two)

I maintain the following very carefully when an oncoming vehicle is coming:

a) Dip from high to low beam well in advance, know from intensity if its a big vehicle will do it regularly, if a smaller vehicle sometimes i dont care to. This also depends on the width of the road, bigger the road, less the need to dip your lights

b) As soon as the oncoming vehicle is converging towards me ( around 20-25mts) i look at the left side of the road to ensure there is enough space in the event of some stupid truckers coming onto you directly and immedietly shift to high beam which enables you to see the shoulder on the left ( shoulder is completely invisible when your in low beam)

The above has kept me safe all the time and most critical is experience and judgement and i guess the vehicle type as well ( truck, car etc) and ofcourse, most importantly slow down when the pass is happening, this could be the single biggest reason that can save your life

[gd1418]

I travel a lot and do it mostly by road to most of the places. Earlier used to do the driving at night for reasons that have been explained in the earlier posts. That was then and now I drive during the day only and try to reach a destination by 7 or 8 in the evening. Day driving enables me to soak in the scenery as well as seeing any dark coloured animal crossing the road..! In the night it becomes very diifficult to see unless you have reached a no braking zone and then crash...bang..or screeech..

I have Phillips diamond vision bluish-whites 100/90 lamps that I use to tackle the high beamers during the night. I don't use these lamps in the city. I prefer to drive with my fog lamps on. i'm now waiting for my set of Hella Rally Vision that I hope shall tame the rogues of highway who drive with highbeam perpetually on and also have myriad lights installed, thus making it difficult to decipher what kind of contraption is moving on the road.

[gowda79]

I know this thread is 2years old but guys i think this thread should never sleep and members should start putting the do's and don't in the night driving so that it helps other drivers.

Please do post the experiences faced even after following the proper driving procedures, basically it helps everyone

[indianrunner]

I use lenses which are yellow in colour. I find that it makes a lot of difference in night driving and also in rain. The oncoming headlight beams do not spread thus giving good visibility.

Rgds

Manoj

[zen91]

Most of the options mentioned in the earlier posts are absolute must for a safe night drive, however, not looking into the oncoming vehicle's lights would become a habit by virtue of practice and judgement.

One more thing that I practice i.e incase it is present is to follow the white painted line on the left shoulder of the road. This helps a lot to avoid the oncoming vehicle's glare.

[iceman7]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Even i love driving in the night due to plain and simple reasons, you can cover more ground in night than during day and not have hassles of pedestrains and other things that you come across during day driving. As against most, i love doing good speeds during night driving as i find it more comfortable ( after your eyes get adjusted to the night, takes about an hour or two)

+1 to that.

However i have found that its usually a upper/dipper game on the single lane highways. I will speak from personal experience and this may vary for others as well.

This is with experience from my latest trip to Goa - It's a given that trucks, buses, and for that matter even cars drive in high beam at night. My brother who drives along this route regularly, explained to me how it works.

Simple method to follow is, as you are nearing the vehicle from the opposite side, change your mode to upper, keep it for 2-3 seconds, then change to dipper. Repeat it once more. Any truck, buses or other vehicle doing single lane routes will immediately change his beams to dipper, let you pass and then flash the upper beam again. This, i learned, is the trick to driving at night on single lanes.

Needless to say, your eyes needs some time to adjust to the glare.

Try it, it works.

[gowda79]

Guys i request the mods to change the thread has A Guide For Night Driving if possible - So that it makes the people on the forum to understand the night driving conditions.

Awareness to them on the advantages and disadvantages of night driving for which i guess it requires a seperate thread.

Some tips from my side -

- Better to have a person next to you in the co-driver seat who can keep you awake, (Next to me is always my brother and keeps me awake by speaking to me and giving me tips on the driving and judging the distance between the vehicle opposite.)

- Good music which keeps you awake and concentrated on the road for your journey.

More to come

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by ad75

would shift to low beam when they are abt 200-300 mtrs from you but when they are near you say abt 25-50mtrs they whould shift to high beam which blinds your vision

Originally Posted by drifter

Here's the reason why truckers do that.
When your car passes by the truck, there is sudden loss of light since your headlights have already passed them, this loss temporarily hampers their vision as the eyes take a bit to adjust to new light levels, switching over to high beams helps them to limit the visibility problems.Drifter

Drifter explains the reason perfectly why buses and trucks hit high beam very close to you. When the truck is 20-25m from your car, and you from him, he needs to maintain vision for another 100m behind your car so he can maintain his speed and not slow down. Repeated slowing down/speeding up burns more fuel, which truckers obviously try to avoid. Hit your own high beam at about the same time he does, and you'll see much better too, well behind the truck as well as the left verge.

Originally Posted by theMAG

You could try this - its worked very well for me: When caught in an oncoming glare, voluntarily focus your eyes on the line left-of-center downwards onto the road. This alleviates the glare while keeping your sight on the road ahead

Absolutely true. Please let me explain. You are allowing the headlight beams to focus on what is known as the "blind spot" of your eye - that part of the retina through which the nerves come out, and which has no visual input. To demonstrate, look straight ahead at a point in the distance. Then hold a pencil at arm's length from your eyes, straight ahead. You should be able to see both the distant object and the pencil. Now gradually move your arm to the right while you maintain focus on the distant object. At a particular point, you will realise that you can't see the pencil any more (unless you rotate your eyeballs to focus on the pencil again). Move the pencil further or move it back, and you can see it again. Note the angle of your arm with relation to your head. With a little bit of practice, you can turn your head, looking straight ahead while driving, to let the oncoming headlights be at the same spot where the pencil was, and bingo! No glare. As the headlights come closer, compensate by turning your head.

Originally Posted by gowda79

Guys i request the mods to change the thread has Night Driving Awareness if possible

I second that...

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by chanapli

Get a pair of Hella 4000, focus left one to side of the road, other reserve for non - dimmers. And 100/90 for regular head lamps.

Originally Posted by kdeepakk

2. If they dont come to Low beam, you also dont come to low beam, cos the low beam power may be less compared to the coming vehicles high beam.

Originally Posted by gd1418

I have Phillips diamond vision bluish-whites 100/90 lamps that I use to tackle the high beamers during the night... waiting for my set of Hella Rally Vision that I hope shall tame the rogues of highway who drive with highbeam perpetually on

IMHO, fighting fire with fire is not the best idea when night-driving on highways. Truckers can and do sideswipe you if you try to blind them with high-wattage lamps on single-lane highways. If the oncoming truck is not dipping his lights when you dip yours and flash high beams a few times, assume he is drunk. Slow down, pull over, stop, but for Heaven's sake, don't try to blind him unnecessarily. A sideswipe by a 10-50 tonne vehicle is the last thing you want, especially at 1 AM on a lonely highway.

[itwasntme]

Slightly OT: I have been planning to fit auxiliary driving lights for some time now to my Aveo.

I have 3 options:

1. Buy the OEM GM fog lights whihc fit low down on the bumper and have 55/60w bulbs. These give good extra lights for city driving but have the usual short throw and are expensive at arpund 6.5k

2.Next is to buy good rectangular/round extra lights (Hella/Autopal etc) and fit them into the existing slots with some minor mods. The pro is better light quality/throw (?) and con is dicey fit-and-finish. Cost around 5k(?)

3. Or I can fit high mounted (headlight level) proper foglights like fitted to SUVs etc and maybe even change to 100/90w. Pro is excellent light quality but cons are drilling bumper etc, fit-and-finish, immediate destruction in case of even minor frontal bumps etc.

Given that I use mainly in the city with occasional highway jaunts, which is the best option?

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Slightly OT: I have been planning to fit auxiliary driving lights for some time now to my Aveo.

Given that I use mainly in the city with occasional highway jaunts, which is the best option?

If you want more light to see at night - particularly against bright lights from on coming traffic (Ace is a new menace on our roads) at night - fog lamps won't help you much. They are meant more for others to see you in fog.

What you need to do is fit higher wattage bulbs, complete with relays. Go to a good electrical guy. It's a plug and play system really and doesn't affect your original wiring. If you ever want you can go back to the original wiring. However, your authorised service station won't do it.

Regarding what Raghu said (after two years) - When forced to drive at night on narrow highways of yesteryears, I choose a small truck with good brake lights (or any other vehicle) and follow them from a safe distance. Often they speed away and I can't pick up. Whoever comes next from behind gets an immediate and priority overtaking right and I promptly slot myself behind him.
This strategy has been life saver for me on several occasions. I have minus ten power in my eyes and am completely blinded by even a mild torch if focused straight on my eyes.
Ill maintained windscreens can also be a menace and disperse the light at night.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Please see my post no 60 on the headlight modifications thread. I think the thread is in the modifications and accessories section. It will help you all.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[Sowmya]

Another question here. How do you judge the sudden divider that start with out any reflector.
Recently while I was travelling from Hassan - Bangalore In a turn i suddenly saw a divider which almost about to hit.