Can You Drive In The Dark?

[cfc1]

I'm not talking about spirited driving around the country road twisties, i am talking about your daily drive home from work... you know the one, the one you have made every day for god knows how long.. the one you know like the back of your hand.. the one where you see the same cars doing the same journey every day.. the one you see the same bus at the same streatch of road every day... the one you see the same people waiting at the bus stop at the same time every day... the one you see the same two cyclists on the same streatches of road every day.. the one --- I think you get the idea.

Anyway, why is it that now the dark nights are here these same people suddenly forget how to drive?.. they forget how to overtake cyclists without having to slow down to 10mph to do it.. why?.. they can't turn a slight bend in the road without hitting the breaks... why?..its the same road!... why can't they just drive the way they were driving before it got dark? My normal journey home takes about 25 minutes.. tonight it took nearly an hour!.. ok i know a journey can take a little longer in the dark... but MORE THAN TWICE AS LONG? c'mon, they must be having laugh.

If they can't drive in the dark, then they should be on the bus, that for some reason they seem to have forgotten how to pass when it has stopped at a bus stop.

Rant over.

[Boro Sera]

Here here !

[alanbradley]

Yeah, agree totally with that Davy...

A

[Demonic Angel]

Maybe the darkness brings out monsters....

As the sun sets and the night draws in, out come..... THE PLEBS!

[JappyBeast]

I agree, its every man for himself at night!

[Flat Pack]

I think its because they were never taught, sounds weird to everyone that enjoys driving and wants to learn more after passing their test or even to people that simply learnt to drive over the winter, but there must be a large number of people that never had a driving lesson in the dark.

I was surprised one time (a few years ago now...) when I'd been out to the cinema with a few mates and one of them asked if she could follow me home (we lived in the same village) as she'd never driven in the dark before. She'd been learning for quite a while and had passed her test a month or so before, but it'd all been in daylight. Wasn't long before I realised I should have told her when to use dipped / main beam before we started as she was just copying whatever I did and blinding me whenever I put main beam on :P

I expect a few people are never really sure what they're doing driving at night as nobody has ever told them. Of those I expect some develop a certain paranoia about it and end up driving really nervously whenever they have to turn the headlights on.

I'm not normally one for extra regulation, but just one or two compulsory lessons at night could help a lot. Same goes for motorways too I suppose, but neither are really practical in all situations :(

[DaveSR]

I agree as it adds about 20 minutes onto my normal drive !

However I was caught in this earlier - looked pretty bad :( !

Having to drive past it wasn't nice :(

[clarky]

I learned to drive in october ... feel far more at ease in the dark (stoppit)

Agree completely Davy

[Robie]

I agree but it tends to be the Sunday drivers that are the worst for slowing down.

I quite enjoy rush hour traffic because all the rep mobiles do decent speed. (I let them drive on peoples ubiks to get them out of the way before following them past :P)

[Yaris SR Kid]

I enjoy a good night drive as it makes you more alert i believe but you get the people who think since its turned to night that the corner is 45 degrees sharper than it was during the day!

[JustJJ]

My very first lesson was in a national (60) limit area, rural, in October, in the dark when it was raining...

:P

[Jinxed]

spose it depends where you are... given that same ol same ol account of where everything is on that journey home maybe some of them are aware that the journey isnt always the same and the reduced visibility at night makes it more possible for an unforseen obstacle to pose a serious threat?

or maybe they are aware its harder to spot a police car at night than during daylight ... unless they got good instincts and awareness?

i just drive like a pillock day or night rain or shine and truth be told its only pea soupers and snow that make me careful

[alanbradley]

Was there not someone on here recently who admitted never driving outside of lit areas after dark?

Although I don't like it I would say that from now until about the middle of march I will do more driving in the dark and semi-dark with my lights on than I will do in full daylight. (that said, it started getting dark from 2pm here yesterday...)

A

[chatman]

Now it's dark, cold & foggy adds about 25min to my drive... and if it's also dark and raining...HA dont even get me started on that one :ffs: :ffs:

The 4 miles from work to the M25 can take me 5min sometimes......only 4 roundabouts and 3 sets of lights. the words KEEP CLEAR and yellow boxes mean nothing....

[Tara]

I love driving in the dark. Feel much more comfortable overtaking in the dark (on the country roads i know liek the back of my hand) as you can see headlights from miles away, plus its more fun. The darks never really added any time onto my journey either ??

My gran on the other hand refuses point blank to drive when its dark, it scares her :s

[Tegan]

To be honest ive never noticed any difference - motorway traffic is just as bad now at 5pm as it was before it started to get darker earlier in the day.

I do agree that sometimes is it easier to overtake in the dark as headlights are a major indicator as to whether or not something is coming the other way (i know you really shouldnt overtake if you arnt sure whats coming before anyone starts!)

But also things are harder to see in the dark - ive had a few near misses just recently where i nearly hit someone who was walking down the road (as there were no pavements) , i couldnt see them until the last minute and had to swerve - if it had been daylight i would have seen them a few hundred yards away

oh and notice to all pedestrians - you are supposed to walk INTO traffic if there are no pavements - At least try to stay alive ffs!

[Karma Supra]

Is it only me that finds headlights seem brighter on newer cars and dazzle far more, even when dipped?

Might have a lot to do with how low I am to the ground too.... Something the MR2 drivers will understand!

[Ryan1985]

Totally agree Davy. I went to play football last night and it usually takes us about 15 minutes to get there, took us 30 minutes last night as there was someone doing 30 in a 60!

[Red Yaris 54]

there was someone doing 30 in a 60!

Ryan,

Sometimes the conditions do not allow you to do 60.

Remember the 60 is a LIMIT ...............not a TARGET.

The law states that you should drive within your capabilities. That "someone" that you mentioned may have thought that 30 was fast enough for their capabilities. ........You could of course have overtaken them.....if you thought that it was safe to do so :)

What would you have done with your "extra" 15 minutes??

[cfc1]

Ryan.. 15 minutes... hmmm... he may have done something 3 or 4 times before kick off

[Tegan]

Is it only me that finds headlights seem brighter on newer cars and dazzle far more, even when dipped?

Might have a lot to do with how low I am to the ground too.... Something the MR2 drivers will understand!

no its not just you charlie - i think there should be some regulation on it if there isnt already - because some newer cars headlights are brighter than my full beam!

Of course there are always the di*k heads in the 4x4 who insist on sitting up your backside and blinding you all the way home! My anti-glare switch is my best friend at the moment lol

While were on the subject - there are also those who sit parked on the side of the road with their headlights on into oncoming traffic - blinding you yet again

sorry for thr rants but people really should learn how to drive (or park) properly!

[Robie]

Yeah those new halogen lights are a pain. Not only do they dazzle you but sometimes they tint blue making me slow down :censor: lol

[Flat Pack]

there was someone doing 30 in a 60!

Ryan,

Sometimes the conditions do not allow you to do 60.

Remember the 60 is a LIMIT ...............not a TARGET.

The law states that you should drive within your capabilities. That "someone" that you mentioned may have thought that 30 was fast enough for their capabilities. ........You could of course have overtaken them.....if you thought that it was safe to do so :)

What would you have done with your "extra" 15 minutes??

On the other hand, if we're just going to wildly speculate.... A lot of the time the conditions allow any semi competent driver to do 60 in completely safety. In that case you'd fail your driving test for 'failure to make progress' if you decided to do 30 instead, if they're not capable of doing 60 when its reasonable to do so they shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

[Bodgit]

Every year on the Monday after the clocks have changed I make a point of not leaving work until 6:30pm. that way i miss all of the people who have forgotten how to drive in the dark.

Most years i have seen the leftovers form an incident.

As for people not learning to drive in the dark it should be a requirement. When I was learning to drive my instructor turned up once in thick fog and told me the lesson was going ahead. When I queried it he just replied "Would you rather the first time you drove in fog you were on your own". That evening I learnt about not using high beams in the fog, winding the windows down at junctions to listen out for traffic I couldnt yet see etc.

It's a shame more instructors are not like that.

[stevetubbyturbo]

I enjoy driving at night in the fens if your lucky you will see wildlife you would never normally see.

As for people who drive slower at night dosent really effect me as im the one normally holding others up as a 2 tonne truck with a body lift dont go round corners that well