|
AVOID DAZZLE FOR SAFE DRIVING
 Have you ever experienced driving on an unlit or a badly lit road at night or during thick fog? It can really be a nerve wrecking experience. And when you add the dazzling glare from oncoming vehicles, you have a potential disaster waiting to happen.
Bright and dazzling headlights or excessive or no illumination on roads can cause not just discomfort but impaired vision also, which in turn can have a direct impact on driving capability and thus a direct bearing on the rate of road accidents at night.
 Intensely bright light or flashes of bright light can cause a 'dazzle' effect. The pupil of the human eye can react quickly to such an effect, but not instantaneously. And this temporary blinding can be disastrous especially in situations like driving. Recovery from such glares takes a minimum of three to eight seconds and during this time the vehicle is virtually being driven blindly. In this period too the softer colours and all objects in partial shades disappear. And only good luck saves us from an accident during this blind driving.
On well-illuminated roads the headlights can be more dangerous than good. The function of a headlight is to illuminate the road ahead of the automobile so as to reveal objects ahead from a safe distance. At the same time it should cause minimum discomfort and glare for the oncoming drivers. The risk of dazzle can be reduced if the windscreen is absolutely clean as also the glasses if you are wearing one. The problem of dazzle is compounded during rains.
 According to a
study, 60 percent of the road accidents occur between 9 p.m. and 5
a.m. This is primarily due to improper lighting of roads and faulty use of vehicle headlights. The driver's
judgement of the speeds of other vehicles is to a great extent based on their lights. Hence, it is advisable to use dipped headlights as it gets dark. In case street lighting is of a very high standard, the use of dipped headlight can be avoided, though this is rarely the case. At times there is no street lighting at all. At times the street lighting is unevenly distributed which creates patches of darkness and these may conceal a pedestrian or a parked vehicle. Dipped headlights are necessary to tackle such situations.
When you approach another vehicle it is always prudent to dip your headlights. Even if you are following another vehicle keep your headlights dipped so that you don't dazzle the driver through the reflection of lights in his mirror.
Drive into the new millennium with the apt level of illumination so that the future is bright and safe. Wish you a happy and safe driving into the New Year.
Precautions to avoid dazzle:
-
· Drive at a speed that you can stop within the distance your headlights show to be clear.
-
· If you are dazzled, slow down rather than risk an accident.
-
· If a fellow driver does not dip his headlights, don't retaliate by dazzling him.
-
· Flash your lights to remind him that he needs to dip his lights.
-
· It is courteous and correct to dip your lights for all vehicles
however small they may be.
-
· Drive on dipped headlights during twilight hours.
-
· Keep your windscreen and window panes absolutely clean to avoid the risk of dazzling.
-
· Prolonged smoking and drinking can increase the adaptation time, so avoid these.
-
· Take lead in dipping your headlights, don't make it a prestige issue.
-
· Take a glare recovery test to assess your capability to adapt to the various levels of illumination on our roads.
|
