Donate to Brake

Driving in the dark presents unique challenges that the driving test often fails to adequately prepare learners for.

Host Terry Cook explores the various difficulties faced by drivers during nighttime, such as reduced visibility, limited depth perception, and the challenges of spotting road signs and pedestrians. He emphasizes the importance of gaining experience in dark driving conditions, suggesting that learners should arrange lessons at night to build their confidence and skills. Cook also highlights common issues like glare from headlights and the impact of fatigue on driving safety. By sharing practical advice on how to prepare for driving in the dark, he aims to equip listeners with the knowledge they need for safer journeys beyond the driving test.

The Driving Test Podcast is here to give you all the information and tips you'll need to help you pass your driving test. Whether you're learning to drive, getting ready to start, or helping someone else, this show will get you in the right gear.

For more information head over to TCDrive.co.uk

You can follow TCDrive on Facebook

Check out the other TCDrive podcasts here.

Terry Cook delves into the critical topic of driving in the dark, emphasizing how the driving test inadequately prepares new drivers for this common yet challenging situation. He highlights that while the test may occur during daylight hours, real-world driving often demands skills that are not tested. The discussion begins with the fundamental differences between driving at night and during the day, particularly focusing on visibility issues. Cook elaborates on how reduced visibility affects depth perception, making it challenging to judge distances and speeds effectively. This limitation is particularly problematic at T-junctions and when assessing the distance to pedestrians and road signs. He stresses the importance of understanding how these factors can lead to dangerous situations, especially in rural areas where road markers may not be as visible in low light conditions.

Takeaways:

• The driving test often fails to prepare learners for real-world driving conditions, especially at night.
• Driving in the dark presents unique challenges such as limited visibility and depth perception.
• Practicing night driving is essential for building confidence and skill before taking the test.
• Many learners may not encounter any nighttime driving situations during their driving test.
• Instructors can provide valuable nighttime driving lessons to help students gain crucial experience.
• Awareness of pedestrians in dark clothing is vital for safe driving during nighttime hours.

Welcome to the Driving Test Podcast.

I am your host, Terry Cook of TC Drive, and I'm here as your guide on your journey to passing your driving test and beyond.

That's right.

I'm also here to help you prepare for all those wonderful journeys you're going to go on after you've passed that driving test.

And today we're continuing our look at how the driving test doesn't prepare you for life on the road.

And this is day three of this miniseries and we're going to be looking at Driving in the Dark.

But just before we do, I want to quickly remind you that I'm releasing these episodes throughout Road Safety Week, which is run by Brick, a road safety charity.

Now Brake helps support families of those who have lost their lives due to a road traffic collision.

And unfortunately, there's a lot of crashes every day.

So Break do need that help.

If you would like to donate, you can find a link in the show notes or you can Visit the website break.org uk.

But I wanted to help keep you safe by talking to you about the way the driving test doesn't really prepare you for real world driving and what you can do to get yourself ready.

So, throughout this week, I'm sharing daily episodes and today is day three and we're looking at Driving in the Dark.

Now, if you missed any of the previous episodes, make sure you head back and check them out.

But let's look at how the driving test doesn't prepare you for driving in the dark.

Because on your test it's highly unlikely that you'll drive in any dark.

You'll occasionally get an early test at around 7am, but even then the sun's usually starting to rise, so you're almost certainly going to be taking your test in the daylight.

So what are some of the difficulties associated with driving in the dark?

Well, the first one, I think is fairly obvious.

Visibility.

Visibility is going to be reduced when it's dark as opposed to when it's, you know, nice and sunshiny.

But some of the key things within this we want to look at is a limited depth perception.

So what that means is when it's dark, it's harder to judge speed and it's harder to judge distances.

So if we're at a T junction way to turn, it may be harder to judge how fast that car is coming from the right, whereas in the daytime you maybe will get a really accurate sense of that or how far away that pedestrian crossing is in the dark.

That's going to be harder to assess because we have that limited depth perception.

We'll also have fewer visual cues.

So for example, with other drivers, sometimes when we're deciding whether to go a junction, we can look at the face of that driver and we can see what where they're looking.

We can see are they looking at us, are they gesticulating towards us?

Well, when it's dark, that's going to be harder to see that.

So that's something we may not be able to use in our driving.

It's also going to be harder to spot the road signs and lane markings and those types of things.

So working out which lane to be in and you know you want to go ahead, but you get close to a junction, suddenly realize, oh, this is left turn only.

Especially because a lot of the roads in, in the UK the road markings are great.

So when they're nice and freshly painted, they're easier to see, but often they're faded anyway.

So even harder to see at nighttime.

Then we've got the types of road and the landmarks and the road service and that type of stuff.

So you think of rural roads, often you'll have those black and white arrows on the bends to show you that there's a bends coming up.

Well, they're there primarily for nighttime driving because they'll reflect off your light so you'll see them earlier.

But if there's bends that don't have them, they're going to be a lot harder to see.

So add that to the fact that you've got that limited depth perception that we mentioned earlier, that's going to make it really hard.

Plus the road surface that I mentioned.

Do you think about number of potholes on UK roads and how when it's light we have to kind of drive according to that.

So we're not just putting as tires through massive holes in the road.

Even harder to see at night.

One that I think we often forget about a lot is peripheral vision.

So peripheral vision is kind of seen out the corner of your eye.

Basically you think of when you're driving, we're looking ahead, but we can kind of see that, that scope at the side of us as well.

At night time that almost disappears in a lot of instances because it's just dark there.

So we, we lose a lot of our peripheral vision.

Be okay if I said it could say, wouldn't it?

And the other one is pedestrians.

So I don't know about you, but one of my bad habits is going out in the dark and wearing dark clothes.

So as a pedestrian I'm harder to see.

So when we're driving, it is harder to see pedestrians.

We have to rely on our lights because if they're dressed in dark clothes, we're not going to see them.

So we've got all these kind of problems around visibility that we're likely to come across when we drive in in normal daylight.

Another problem that can come up is headlights.

So first of all, which lights do you use?

Do you use dipped headlights to use full beam?

Do you use your parking lights?

Do you have no lights, having them automatic, all these different types of headlights, and we have to decide which ones to use where.

If you drive in the daytime, you've maybe never considered that before.

We've got the glare of headlights.

So even those that have the dipped headlights on are sometimes really bright and can be glaring, especially if someone behind has got those lights or the full beam on.

Do you know that most mirrors will have the little button on the back, the center mirror, so you've got the button on the back where you can click it and it'll tilt the mirror so you're no longer getting that glare in your eyes.

And the other one I want to mention here is brake lights.

I would really encourage people to use a handbrake rather than a foot break when they're queuing on a night in particular, because those brake lights can get quite dazzling without you even realizing it.

Another one to mention would be fatigue.

Because often if you think about driving the dark, that's going to come in unsociable hours, especially in the summer, you're going to be driving really late or really early.

So fatigue can come into it.

So you can see there's loads of problems.

And really, I've only touched the surface there.

But there's loads of potential problems that can come up from driving in the dark.

So what can we do about it?

Because your driving test won't prepare you for this.

Well, practice.

Get experience in the dark.

You know, maybe you've got a driving instructor on your regular lesson because of Your availability is 2pm on a Tuesday.

Nothing wrong with that.

If that's your availability, that's fine.

The chances are at some point you're going to have a week off work.

So maybe that week you reach out to your driving instructor and say, I've got this week off in a few weeks.

Can we do an evening lesson or an early morning lesson so I can get some experience driving in the dark?

Because it's that experience that's going to help you post test when you've passed, because driving the dark won't help you pass a driving test necessarily, Although it could do, because if you're experienced driving in the dark, you're going to be driving in harder conditions, so the daytime might seem easier.

So maybe it would help you pass a driving test, but it won't prepare you for life afterwards.

It's that practice that's going to prepare you for life after the test.

So reaching out to your instructor and seeing that even if you can't usually do an evening lesson, maybe there's one day or one or two times you can get that practice in before you go and pass.

But again, when you pass doesn't mean that you have to stop having lessons with your instructor.

You could pass and then arrange a lesson with your instructor for nighttime driving.

That's always an option as well.

Because the other thing to consider here is if you're learning across the summer, much like bad weather, you're not going to come across much dark.

It's why this year I started doing 10pm lessons in the summer.

Now, admittedly only one or two a month, I'm not gonna do 10pm lessons every night of the week, but it was to give my students that were learning across the summer some experience at driving in the dark.

But maybe that's not viable for you, maybe that's not viable for your instructor.

So then when you pass and I might start getting earlier, although it starts getting dark earlier, maybe you could reach out.

Alternatively, if you've got parents that you're learning with or anyone else that you're learning with, encourage them to get out in the dark or at the very least get out in the car with them whilst they're driving and watch how they drive in the dark and put yourself in their shoes and see how that would feel.

So the biggest thing again here is probably the practice and the experience of doing it.

Now.

I hope you found this look at how the driving test will prepare you for driving in the dark useful.

I'll be releasing more of these across Road Safety Week, so please consider donating to break this week.

You'll find a link in the show notes and on my TC Drive social media.

Even if all you can spare is a fiver, go and help them to help others.

But for now, make sure you subscribe to the Driving Test podcast because we'll be returning with a brand new format soon.

And until next time, stay safe and drive safer.