With Daylight Saving Time just about to end, driving in Georgia becomes even more dangerous. Why? Because fewer hours of daylight mean the necessity of driving more in the dark, such as on your evening commute home from work. And as you might expect, nighttime is the most dangerous time to drive.
The National Safety Council warns that most fatal crashes occur between 4-7 p.m. and 12-6 a.m. The reasons include the following:
- Less visibility
- More driver fatigue
- Greater chance of impaired drivers
Visibility
You may not realize it, but even with your high-beam headlights on, you have only about 500 feet of visibility in front of you. With the low-beam headlights you must use for most of your driving, you have only about 250 feet of visibility. In addition, the headlights from oncoming cars may very well temporarily blind you.
You can help combat the dangers of driving in darkness by doing the following:
- Dimming your dashboard lights
- Looking away from oncoming vehicles
- Cleaning your windshield to get rid of streaks
- Wearing anti-reflective glasses if you need to drive with glasses
- Slowing down to make up for your limited visibility and your consequent reduced stopping time
Fatigue
Darkness itself causes you and other motorists to be more fatigued while driving. This is especially dangerous during your evening rush hour commute when you and others are also in a hurry to get home. In addition, winter weather, including rain, snow and ice, adds to your dangerous nighttime driving conditions.
Impaired drivers
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 30 people die on America’s roadways every day due to accidents caused by impaired drivers. Your risk goes up on the weekends, particularly Saturday night and early Sunday morning, when buzzed and outright drunk drivers leave the bars and restaurants and make the completely unwise decision to drive home despite their respective levels of inebriation.
This is general educational information and not intended to provide legal advice.
