Night driving dilemma

[Hullabaloo9]

Despite being a confident and experienced driver during the day, my ability to drive confidently after dark (on unlit roads) is massively reduced. I think maybe I process visual information slower than an average person or something as the distance lit by my headlights seems only just enough to react twists and turns. It makes me really anxious as I feel like I'm driving somewhat blind.

As part of my new job I have to drive home once a week, after dark, down winding country roads for about 4 miles. Visibility and road markings are poor but as its rural its mostly 50mph or national speed limit, broken by stretches of 30mph through small villages.

This is so hard for me to navigate and I feel like I am an absolute nuisance. My strategy is to drive as fast as I can safely see, which is around 40mph (excepting the villages obvs). I know this is a pet hate of many motorists but if I drive any faster I will be at such high risk of missing a turn and veering off the road. I feel driving smoothly at 40 is better than driving a normal speed on the straights then having to brake more than is usualand for bends etc. If it makes a difference it is around 7pm, so not peak time.

AIBU to drive at 40mph in these circumstances, knowing i am an inconvenience (to the odd driver, not huge tailbacks) but that i would be putting my life at risk to drive faster?

Do you have a windscreen with an embedded ariel or windscreen heater? In one of our cars we do. I find it impossible to drive it at night because of the glare from oncoming headlights due to this type of windscreen. Our other, older car, I don't have a problem with because it has neither.

Also a contact lens wearer who struggles in the dark. First I would politely suggest it might be an age thing... I never used to have an issue but do find it a lot harder now, though I also do it far less so it may be I'm just out of practice. But my dad spent his life merrily driving in the dark and now finds it nearly impossible, eyes do change a lot as they age. Second though I was told lenses do make it worse and there is a glasses coating that could well help, though I haven't yet as (third) I was diagnosed with blepharitis and very dry eyes and sorting that along with changing my lenses to higher quality ones has helped me a lot. I also found front fogs useful, though I know it's naughty. But if none of the above sound useful, don't worry at all about going 40 in the 50 - it's hardly going 20 and it's only for 4 miles, most people don't drive to the limit on narrow, windy lanes in the daytime unless they know the road really well so only a total idiot would judge you for going 10 mph under at night!

Just did a journey like that. I hate this kind of thing. Pitch black, windy road, temperature minus 5 Celsius. Did my best with screens and mirrors but kept freezing over so visibility was very poor. I was going 30-40 the whole way. No stopping places to let for the impatient guy behind me overtake, who unhelpfully had his headlights on full beam dazzling me from
behind. Lots of oncoming vehicles didn’t dip their lights either so very tricky. Eventually chap behind me got fed up and overtook over double yellow lines. Caught up minutes later at a traffic light. He sped off again - doing 50 in a 30s zone - and I caught up again. So turns out I didn’t hold him up much anyway. Better safe than sorry and all that

I think 40 in a 50 is fine. Drive within your limits. 40 for 4 miles is only 6 minutes of driving. On a twisty country road in the dark many people might judge it not appropriate to drive at the speed limit.

I have asked several opticians about astigmatism and night driving and never really got anything helpful.

I have similar issues with night vision and therefore driving at night. No astigmatism. Mentioned it to optician as my night vision is significantly poorer than my DHs (I find it's pitch black when he's walking around normally with no need for a torch), but apparently there's nothing wrong, it's just the way my eyes are (maybe not enough carrots when I was young lol, my mum did warn me 😂😂😂).

Anyhow, I do the same as you: Drive as slowly as I need to feel safe which usually 30 to 40 max on the types of roads you are talking about. If that's slower than other drivers want to go, so be it. I'm not speeding up and causing an accident.

I know someone who would drive with front fog lights on when there wasn’t fog and she got a hefty fine. They dazzle other drivers. It’s not a matter of it being ‘naughty’ but dangerous.

4 miles at 40mph would take about 6 minutes. At 60 mph it would take about 4 minutes so I wouldn't even think about it. Drive how you feel safe and maybe get a few driving lessons in the dark to help with confidence. However, I wouldn't be worried at all about inconveniencing people. You're just keeping safe.

I'm the same, I find driving very difficult in the dark on country roads even wearing my glasses.
I use my full beam where appropriate, pull over if someone is basically up my arse and keep my speed to what I'm comfortable with, usually 40/45mph.
My driving instructor always said the speed limit is a limit not a target, drive to the conditions. He also said ignore the drivers behind you, just concentrate on what you're doing as it's very off putting worry about holding other drivers up.
I'm part of a family and friends group where we do airport runs for each other, I dread my turn as it's 45 minutes to the airport all down country roads until you hit the main drag to the airport.
I'm actually a good driver, never had an accident in 30 yrs of driving.
Hopefully in your case as you're going to be doing it weekly you'll start to get used to the road.

I was ok on full beam but struggled on dip until I realised I could adjust the angle of the dip to see further in-front of me.

I used to have to drive 30 miles home in the pitch black along winding, country roads everyday in the winter with my old job. I absolutely hated it but you do get used to it and you learn where the bends and hazards are.

DH never had any sympathy but he now has a similar journey and hates it just as much as I did

You just adapt. Don't rush and allow people to pass you if it's safe to do so.

I'm visiting an opticians because of similar issues, it feels like I cannot judge distances or depth perception at night iykwim.

4 miles at 40mph is 6 minutes. You are overthinking.

This might seem a bit irrelevant, but I often make my way around my own house in the dark, rather than switching lights on.

I think many people are very used to brightly lit environments and just are not practised in using their eyes during the dark. It wouldn't hurt to try walking round your own house in the dark more - or even to go walking along dark roads (provided those places are safe!) When you walk you can go really slowly/feel your way which makes you feel more in control.

My friend has this. I think she went to the optician and got adapted glasses-though I can't recall exactly. Worth an assessment?

Never drive faster than you feel safe to do - ignore the other drivers they can either overtake or wait. If you panic and do this you're far more likely to have an accident.

I have to do the school run along unlit country windy roads for about 7 miles every day. The main problem I find is that now that cars have auto dip beams, I’m blinded regularly as instead of people dipping the beams before they see the actual lights (for example when you can see the lights round the corner) they now don’t bother and there is a short delay before the car auto dips them. My car does it as well and so I try to always manually dip before the auto dip comes in, and use auto as the backup.

That, combined with how insanely bright modern lights are makes night driving absolutely awful.

Luckily I’m moving back to a well lit city soon and will have minimal night driving.

Agree that 40mph is totally fine though. That’s the speed I go, anything faster at night on windy roads feels really unsafe and I know the roads well.

Drive at a speed that is safe for you and the conditions. 40 isn’t unreasonable, 20 probably would be.

When there’s space, pull over and let people behind you pass so that they’re not inconvenienced and they’re not causing you pressure/stress which could result in you having an accident.

This! I had the same, and then my DP noticed my headlights were dipped too far down. Problem solved, and I have no worries driving at night and seeing the road ahead now. Check your headlights!

It's only 4 miles, just sit at 30-35mph the whole way. If you piss people off behind you that's their problem not yours. I was driving home in the dark the other afternoon and two roe deer jumped out in front of me. If I hadn't been doing 30mph I would have hit them and totalled the car. It also made the asshole behind me hang further back.

The angle of the dip is a really good point. How do you know what is too "up" and at risk of dazzling others?

My husband's new car has smart headlights that bend into corners, so I think these things will improve over time.

I think doing 40 in a 50 over 4 miles (some of which is at 30 anyway) it's not really appropriate to pull over. Slowing down from 40 to do so would be more of a hazard and inconvenience for the people behind you than just carrying on at 40. Better to just keep going unless there is something unusual going on.

If it’s only 4 miles, with several stretches in 50 and 30mph limits then the difference in the time taken by someone going at 40mph maximum rather than getting up to 60mph is about a minute, maximum. At flat out 60mph for the whole 4 miles it would take 4 minutes, at 40mph it would take 6 minutes. I would not feel bad about being held up for a minute. There is no need to pull over to save someone less than a minute.

I hate night driving and rural night driving is the worst!

If you do a route regularly you get used to it but should only ever drive at a speed you feel safe.

I drove a rural route last night and none of us were doing the speed limit. I was behind cars doing like me, somewhere between 40 and 50 in national limit areas. I hated it and found it much more stressful than motorways or my regular main road route but sometimes these things are unavoidable.

You should never drive faster than you feel safe to do on any road at any time of day. Just ignore anyone who honks - I doubt they'd stop to help if you crashed into a ditch

Seconding/thirding what others have said - I wondered about why I couldn't see very far ahead, and then realised my headlights were adjusted for a fully loaded car, which angles the lights lower than usual

My optician said that your vision is reduced by up to 25% at night, so it’s not unusual to struggle with nighttime driving. I never drive at 60 down our lanes – you never know when wildlife is going to leap out! And people who do clearly can’t follow the road round our way as they take the “racing line” (I.e down the middle of the road)