Night
Vision
No
one can see as well at night as
in
the daytime.
But
as
we
get older these differences increase.
A
50-year-old
driver may require at least twice as much light to see the
same thing at night as
a
20-year-old.
What you do
in
the
daytime can also affect your night
vision. For example,
if
you spend the day
in
bright
sunshine you are wise
to
wear sunglasses. Your eyes will
have less trouble adjusting to night.
But
if
you’re
driving. don’t wear sunglasses at night. They may cut
down on glare from headlamps, but they
also make a lot
of things invisible.
You can be temporarily blinded by approaching
headlamps.
It
can take
a
second or two, or even several
seconds,
for
your eyes to readjust to the dark. When you
are fxed with severe glare (as from
a
driver who
doesn‘t lower the high beams, or a vehicle
with
misaimed headlamps), slow down a little. Avoid staring
directly into the approaching headlamps.
Keep your windshield and all the glass on your vehicle
clean
--
inside and out. Glare at night
is
made much
worse by dirt on the glass. Even the inside
of the
glass
can build up
a
film
caused by dust. Dirty glass makes
lights dazzle and flash more than clean glass would,
making the pupils of your eyes contract repeatedly.
Remember that yo~~r headlamps light up far less of a
roadway when you are
in
a
turn
or curve. Keep your
eyes moving; that way, it’s easier to pick out dimly
lighted objects. Just as your headlamps should be
checked regularly for proper aim,
so
should your eyes
be examined regularly. Some drivers suffer from night
blindness
--
the inability to see
in
dim light
--
and aren’t
even aware
of
it.
4-29
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