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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to hate driving at night?

95 replies

bejeezus · 15/12/2011 21:41

I've been driving for 2008 years and I've just admitted this to myself after an awful 3 hour journey home in the dark;

I can't bloody see. I feel dazzled by on coming cars and after they've passed, its so dark and the head lights are still burning in my retinas. And when there are no oncoming cars, its just dark!

I'm often driving 5-10mph less than the speed limit with traffic building up behind me! I find it so stressful

How come everyone else can see well enough to drive at normal/daylight speeds?

OP posts:
FreudianSlipper · 15/12/2011 22:44

i love driving at night especially late when there is little traffic. sometimes if we have been to a friends and it is late i will drive through central london (ds fast asleep) it looks wonderful i find it really relaxing

squeakytoy · 15/12/2011 22:46

I like the fact that the roads are quieter. I drove to wembley and back yesterday. It is 15 miles from where I live.

It took me 2 hours to get there during the day... setting off at 3.30pm

It took me 25 minutes to get back.......

Oh the joys of London traffic...

winterfox · 15/12/2011 22:47

it's great if you can drive with full beams on when you have to turn them off, then on, then off it's a bleedin pina

Grin
TheOriginalNutcracker · 15/12/2011 22:48

Thnk god, i thought it was just me.

I have only been driving properly for about a year and thought i must be doing something. I really struggle to see the road clearly, and i get so disorientated by headlights. I feel like i have to concentrate such alot more than when driving in the daylight.

exoticfruits · 15/12/2011 22:53

I hate it, I find it very tiring and go a lot slower.

upahill · 15/12/2011 23:02

I often go the longest way home at night to make it last longer!!

Love it!

ddubsgirl · 15/12/2011 23:07

glad im not only one!it seems drivers forget they can turn the lights down!!!its a big pet hate of mine,beems up so high it blinds others,im in middle of learning to drive and even as a kid i have hated night driving,sitting in the back and it would make me feel sick.

randommoment · 15/12/2011 23:12
  1. Audis have awful headlights.
  2. It's fine with streetlights, the trouble starts when you get out of town.
  3. OTOH, I used to regularly drive from Kent to Wiltshire at 2 or 3 a.m. - and with empty roads, it was great. Esp when I'd done it enough times to know where the cameras were!
stuffedauberginexmasdinner · 15/12/2011 23:13

Do you wear contacts?

They aren't as suited to night driving as glasses.

BobbinRobin · 15/12/2011 23:25

I hate it too, really can't see well enough to be confident when there are no street lights.

I do wear contacts, so maybe that's part of the problem.

JinglingAllTheWay · 15/12/2011 23:46

I am so glad it's not just me. I wear glasses and find that the glare off the headlights is awful, esp. When so many people seem to have them on full beam... Or maybe they are just brighter these days, who knows?!

I can't remember if I have anti glare as the robbing bastards opticians wanted to charge loads more for anti-glare. I'm
Guessing I don't as often the lights look like there are beams coming out of them! Guess I am paying the price for being a tight ass!

tigerlillyd02 · 16/12/2011 00:34

I hate it too!

In fact, wearing glasses helps me considerably. I don't wear them any other time but try to remember for any night time driving. Otherwise all lights just seem one mass blur, I can't see edges of the road too well and oncoming traffic just completely blinds me so I can't see anything at all. Sometimes I have to break if I don't know the road as I can't see the corners... very dangerous and worrying!

Original poster
bejeezus · 16/12/2011 07:16

It's reassuring that its not only me! I also have to brake!- yeah, not good

4x4s...grrrr, yes they headlights are so high up. I have my rearview mirrors angled so I at least don't get dazzled from behind

I do wear glasses- I thought I had coating on them, maybe not- can the optician tell btw looking at them?

Going to Google night blindness

OP posts:
Fuzzywuzzywozabear · 16/12/2011 07:29

Do you find it hard to see pedestrians too? I get a bit panicky when I suddenly see one as when they're wearing dark clothing I can barely make them out - especially, as you say, when I've had full beam from someone else glaring in my eyes

WhoKnowsWhereTheMistletoes · 16/12/2011 07:39

Interesting comment about contact lenses, I am severely short sighted (-10) and wear contacts most of the time, driving at night is OK in them, not as good as day time but I can do it and don't worry unduly. Whereas in my glasses, which do have anti-glare, well I just don't dare go out and drive at night, they are next to useless, so much glare.

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 16/12/2011 07:43

If you "can't see a bloody thing" at night then for the sake of everyone else on the road stop driving in the dark.

ViviPrudolf · 16/12/2011 07:55

Kinda with doesn't here, you all have my sympathy, it must be awful, but this thread has given me the massive fear.

FlossieFromCrapstonVillas · 16/12/2011 08:03

I don't mind driving in the dark but I do mind the feck off bright headlights all the time in my rear mirror. They're so bright they burn your retinas. When did lights get so stupidly bright?

marriedandwreathedinholly · 16/12/2011 08:04

I find it more difficult than I did 10 years ago and had put it down to age. I often feel very disorientated/dazzled and have more difficulty judging the speed at which other cars are driving.

A couple of interesting points on here though. Is it brighter headlights nowadays and more 4wd? Is it something to do with glasses - I wear mine far more now than I did 10 years ago because I can't tolerate contact lenses all the time any more - the other development has been the thinning down of the spectacle lenses (strong prescription) and I am wondering if this has something to do with the glare effect?

Any opticians or experts from the AA/RAC on here who could come and give some expert advice.

valiumredhead · 16/12/2011 08:14

I do too UNTIL I had an anti glare coating on my new glasses and I cannot tell the difference it has made - I don't even need to dip my mirror now!

FlossieFromCrapstonVillas · 16/12/2011 08:43

I don't wear glasses or contacts and I was so convinced a car was flashing me, I stopped to check my lights were working, nothing wrong with my car (or my driving!) so it must just have been the dips and bumps in the road. The lights were way too bright.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 16/12/2011 09:26

If I were you OP I would get my eyes checked by the optician. You shouldn't be dazzled by oncoming traffic because you shouldn't really be looking over to the right.... look at the left side of the road to maintain your orientation without getting dazzled. And if you can't see in the dark with your headlights on then there may be something wrong either with your headlights or your eyesight.

I've been behind a few people recently who suddenly slow down from 50mph to a crawl every time a car comes the other way. It's actually quite dangerous.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 16/12/2011 09:29

"I do mind the feck off bright headlights all the time in my rear mirror"

You can deal with that by 'clicking' your rear view mirror downwards... there's usually a tab or handle underneath that lets you do that. Once the big thing behind you has gone, click it back up again.

MrsPennySworth · 16/12/2011 09:43

I'm the same. I avoid it at all costs! I thought I was one of the only ones but looks like there are quite a few of us that hate it.

I also LOVE it when I get stuck behind someone driving really slow on a country lane because then I just follow them along it and have a good excuse to go slow too. Whoever said earlier about drivers behind being annoyed when you're driving slow at the front of the queue in the dark... Maybe they could all be like us a grateful for it like I am!

FlossieFromCrapstonVillas · 16/12/2011 09:44

Yeah I do that, (old driving for 22 years bint) but I don't like to because I like to see what's really going on, if that makes sense. And I shouldn't have to do it every time I drive at night. Audis can DO one!!

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