DRIVING AFTER DARK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23057, 7 December 1936, Page 14

DRIVING AFTER DARK

REDUCED SPEED ESSENTIAL DANGER FROM GLARING LIGHTS "As the sun goes down, so must our speed," is the opinion of Harold G. Hoffman, Governor of New Jersey, based ,on an analysis of motor accidents. His investigation showed that road fatalities, in proportion to the number of cars on the road, are much greater in numbers at night than in daylight, and his conclusion is that " we are driving too fast for our eyes." Studies by the State of Michigan and the University of Maryland (he writes) showed that the average speed on improved highways was 43.3 m.p.h. during the day and 41.5 at night. Ten per cent, of the cars checked were doing 60 at night. The fundamental point is that the poorer the light, the more sluggish the eye and the slower the response. On top of this, the eyestrain consequent to night driving induces an unbelievable amount of nervous fatigue, which dulls both eyes and brain. You can't possibly be as good a driver in the dark as in daylight. Hence your speed should be moderated.

Better '-■eadlights won't solve the problem. Any car can be equipped with lamps that will show clearly 500 feet ahead, but on the road uneven topography bounces that brilliant beam over an excessive range; haphazard maintenance permits the ]~"-ids to get out of alignment. The upshot is that the oncoming driver is blinded—and under those conditions your hazard is just about as great is if it were you who couldn't see.

Old as this glare problem is, we still don't seem to grasp the fact that the first f Mng to do is slow down. Records show that the dazzled driver does everything else but that. Here is a random report which says that the driver, travelling about 40 m.p.h., was blinded by two approaching cars and ploughed into a truck ahead of him in spite of two tail-lights. ,One dead. Here is another where the blinded driver runs down four pedestrians, killing three. The report says: "Due to glaring headlights and black asphalt, I did not see the pedestrians until I was about five feet from them." In case after case eye-witnesses and police officers testify that the driver made a frantic effort to avoid the accident at the last moment. But invariably his speed wpr too great. In the dark the pupil of the eye must expand to a maximum to gather as much light as possible, and when a brilliant beam strikes that wide-opened pupil one is painfully dazzled. Further, the pupil expands about 60 times slower than it contracts. If it needs one-six-teenth of a second to contract under the impact of a brilliant headlight, it will need approximately three and three-quarter seconds to expand enough to enable us to see on the dim road after the offending car has passed. Should we be travelling 40 miles an hour, our car would move 220 feet during .this partial blindness. And a lot of things can happen in 220 feet! . The finest lights often depreciate 60 per cent, in six months under the care afforded them by the average driver. Even assuming perfect equipment, movement complicates the matter. In one test it was shown that while a driver could see a pedestrian 90 feet away in the glow of his stationary car's lights, he could not see him more than 65 feet away when driving 35 m.p.h. And at 35 m.p-h. you can't stop in less than 110 feet. , A 1 When the weather, the road, the headlights, brakes, tyres, and driver are all in perfect condition, 40 m.p.h. is absolutely the maximum safe speed at night. But 69 per cent, of those cars checked on the highway had defective lights. Equipped with 30-mile-an-hour headlights, the average motorist insists upon driving 40 to 60 miles an hour after dark. No wonder, then, that on poorly lighted highways where congestion doesn't prevail, but speed does, the night fatality rate is 26 times higher than the day rate!