Drivers’ eyes are constantly moving—watching for
vehicles, reading road signs, scanning mirrors—and these tasks can become even
more difficult at night. This will become apparent to many commuters next week
as Daylight Saving Time ends.
In the latest edition of the Healthy Vision With Dr. Val Jones
podcast, the host is joined by vision and safety experts to discuss how
vision changes in darkness, the effects of eye strain caused by driving in the
dark, how to take minimize those effects, and how to improve nighttime driving.
According to a national
survey, 32% of drivers say they have trouble seeing all or most of the time
while driving at night, and 26% say they have difficulty seeing signs or exits.
About 20% have trouble seeing animals or pedestrians, and more than 22% of
drivers report problems judging distance in the dark.
When asked about a statistic that 25% of driving occurs
at night, and 49% of crashes occur at night, NSC’s John Ulczycki points to two
factors. First, we have a reduced ability to see pedestrians and other
vehicles. And second, he says, people misperceive the risk. “You have a more
risky situation driving at night because of the visibility problems,” he says. “Yet
people don’t change their driving habits. They drive the same way generally during
the daytime as they do at night.”
This combination can be fatal. “You have a greater risk,
inability to stop as quickly, slower response time, poorer vision, but people
don’t adjust for that by slowing down and giving themselves more room.” This
combination leads to more crashes, he says.