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Staying Safe When Driving at Night

Even when driving at night can be risky, it’s sometimes necessary. Keep reading this post by AMSOIL: Olson Marketing in Lincoln, NE, for more information on staying safe and avoiding unnecessary risks.

Check Your Vehicle’s Lights

Driving at nightcomes with challenges, but keeping your vehicle’s lights in good condition is a great way to avoid unnecessary risks. Do a full lights check before leaving for your destination to ensure everything works properly. Check your head, tail, brake lights, turn signals, and high beams. All of these lights can be useful at different stages of your drive. Maintaining your lights is also essential in keeping them working properly for longer. Lights maintenance includes cleaning the headlight lens to remove chemicals and dirt from the road that could turn them opaque and cause your lights to dim out. Also, if you’re often driving at night, ask your mechanic to tilt the headlights to light up the road better. Lastly, the lights inside your vehicle can also be adjusted to avoid the dashboard glare and help you adjust better to dark streets.

Maintenance is vital when driving at night as it can help you avoid dangerous situations or have unexpected delays. Call Olson Marketing at (402) 310-6414 for information on the best products for your engine’s maintenance and once you’re ready to order, visit AMSOIL’s online store to place your order 24/7.

Keep an Eye Out for Wildlife

Driving, primarily through rural areas, has the added challenge of keeping an eye out for wildlife. While driving, it’s essential to keep an eye out for animals on the side of the road. Bigger animals like deer are known to cross highways at night and can be hazardous on impact when driving at high speeds. Scanning the side of the road is your best bet in avoiding crashes as animals’ eyes shine with your headlights. If you spot a pair of eyes, honk to scare them off and prevent them from crossing the road. If you spot one in the middle of the road, turn your hazard lights on and wait for them to cross to the other side.Safety tip:Nighttime animals usually travel in packs, so if there’s one animal on the road, there may be others. So if you see one pair of eyes reflected back to you, keep your eyes on the road and look for others.

Avoid Driving Fatigue

Driving fatigue is also important to remember whendriving at night, as it’s common for drivers to doze off and cause accidents. The effects of driving tired are similar to drunk driving as it can cause decreased awareness, it can lower reaction times, and could even cause you to space out. If you start feeling drowsy, it will always be best to stop for the night and rest instead of putting yourself and others at risk. The best way of avoiding driving fatigue is to rest before a nighttime drive, but if that’s not an option or you still feel tired when driving, it’s good to take breaks to stretch, walk around and get your blood flowing. Drinking caffeine beverages and having an energizing snack can also help keep drowsiness at bay. Lastly, if you’re driving with others, sharing driving responsibilities is a good idea so that no one gets overly tired.

Keep your vehicle in good condition with excellent products like AMSOIL’s Signature Series 0W-40 Synthetic Motor Oil. Call Olson Marketing at (402) 310-6414 for advice on the best ones for your vehicle, or visit their online store to place an order today!

Share the Road

Another essential thing to consider when driving at night is always to practice defensive driving. Techniques like defensive driving allow you to react to road problems quickly to avoid accidents. If you haven’t taken a defensive driving course yet, many courses online teach you how to share the road better, prevent collisions and identify issues with your surroundings.

Choose Four Lane Highways

As the last suggestion, whendriving at night, it’s best to choose four-lane highways as they’re safer and less challenging. Four-lane highways usually have a much better separation between you and incoming traffic and a division that protects your eyes from the lights of oncoming vehicles, making these highways much safer for drivers.