Lights of Your Car

Your car's lights are the most important lights in your nightlife and all the time most of us remain forgetful about it. The following tips will help you see the road better, alleviate glare from other cars, and reduce glare that could distract other drivers:

Keep your car's headlights and windows clean. This increases headlights' effectiveness and reduces the glare coming from and into your vehicle. Keeping your eyeglasses clean helps reduce glare, too. If your car's clear plastic headlight covers have become clouded and darkened from aging effects, replace them with new ones. It will improve your ability to see the road and reduce glare from your car.

Use the "night" position on your rearview mirror to reduce glare from cars behind you. For the same reason, adjust your side mirrors properly. If you're buying a new car, consider equipping it with auto-dimming rearview and sideview mirrors, which are very effective in combating glare.

If you're temporarily blinded by oncoming headights, look slightly to the side, keeping your eyes on the lane divider or the white line on the roadside for a sense of direction, until the oncoming vehicle passes.

Use auxiliary lighting with care. If your car is equipped with auxiliary driving lights, be considerate to oncoming drivers. Use your high beams appropriately. You should not use high beams if an oncoming car is within 500 feet of your car or if a car you're following is closer than 300 feet. Also, don't use high beams in foggy or rainy weather. The water droplets reflect light back into your eyes .

On mountain roads, it's always better to keep your headlights on even in daytime to increase the visibility of your car to oncoming traffic.