There are many situations where you can’t avoid driving at night. In this post by Mooresville Synthetic Oil in Mooresville, we’ll go over a few nighttime driving rules to ensure you get safely to your destination. 

Make Sure Your Lights Work

Being safe when driving in the dark starts with ensuring your car’s basic safety features work well. The essential ones being your headlights, tail and brake lights, and turn signals. Over time headlights tend to become opaque because of dirt and chemicals, so cleaning them out is essential to prevent your headlights from becoming dim. Another thing you can do when you’re going to be driving in the dark is to ask your trusted mechanic to help you reposition your headlights pointing a little bit more downwards than usual. This can help you see the road better. Additionally, once you’re driving, make sure to adjust the lighting inside your vehicle. Many car models have options to adjust your dashboard lights to avoid glare and help your eyes adjust better to the darkness outside of your car.

Avoiding Fatigue

Avoiding fatigue while driving at night is essential to staying safe on the road. Driving fatigue has symptoms similar to driving drunk as it can lower your reaction times, decrease your awareness, and make you space out. To avoid fatigue when you drive at night, frequently stop to stretch, have some energizing snacks, or drink caffeinated beverages. If you’re feeling overly fatigued or tired, it’s best to stop for the night and rest. Falling asleep at the wheel can be life-threatening and very dangerous for you and other drivers, so assess your fatigue level before getting behind the wheel. Additionally, keep an eye out for other drivers on the road that might be driving tired.

Take precautions to make driving at night less dangerous. Maintain your engine with products like AMSOIL’s Signature Series 0W-40 Synthetic Motor Oil. Visit Mooresville Synthetic Oil for the top-shelf products that can help your vehicle have a better performance. Visit their online shop for more information or call them at (336) 247-0212.

Practice Defensive Driving

Practicing defensive driving means using specific techniques to make driving safer for everyone on the road. Defensive driving teaches strategies that help drivers identify and safely react to problems on the road. A lot of defensive driving courses focus on techniques for crash prevention. Some of the techniques taught in defensive driving courses are: scanning to find issues with your surroundings, leaving space in between vehicles to avoid crashes, sharing the road, among others that can be useful when driving.

Avoid Two-Lane Highways

When you’re driving in dark conditions, it’s a good idea to avoid two-lane highways. These highways can be much more dangerous than four-lane freeways as oncoming traffic lights can blind you and make it hard to see the road ahead. The most significant advantage of driving down an interstate instead of a two-lane highway is that the interstate offers separation in between you and traffic coming in the opposite direction, which in turn prevents one of the most dangerous types of car crashes, head-on car crashes.

When driving at night, it’s essential to keep your engine in the best shape possible. Call the oil experts at Mooresville Synthetic Oil for information on the best products for your vehicle. Call them today at (336) 247-0212 or visit their online store to see their full range of products.

Watch Out for Wildlife

Driving in the dark, and most importantly, in rural areas comes with additional complications like paying attention to wildlife near or on the road. For example, crashes caused by deer are common from October to January, and they can be deadly. Your car’s high beam headlights are an excellent way to spot animal’s eyes on the road. If you see them, try slowing down and stopping while using your emergency lights to let other drivers know there are hazards on the road.

Use Highbeams

As mentioned above, high beams can be helpful when spotting wildlife while driving in the dark, but they can also be beneficial in rural areas or open roads where the only source of light is your vehicle’s headlights. It’s important to remember that if there’s another vehicle coming down the road, you should dim your high beams as a courtesy to the other driver and avoid blinding them.

Driving at night can be tricky, but with the right products, you can assure that your car won’t leave you hanging with the right products. Call Mooresville Synthetic Oil today at (336) 247-0212 to talk to a friendly oil pro for advice on the best products for your engine.