OverDriving Headlights

how to reduce risks at night by understanding about headlights

Overdriving Headlights :

At night or under conditions of low visibility, driving at a speed where the area illuminated by headlights is less than the stopping distance at that speed. We cannot drive into darkness.

Normal low beam lights illuminate up to 40m in front of the car. High beams illuminate up to 100m in front of the car. So, if we travel at speeds where the stopping distance is more than above distances,we can't stop on time.

On a normal dry night, for 50m illumination by low beam, safe speed is less than 64kmph on a normal night. For 100m illumination by high beam,safe speed is less than 80kmph on a normal night.

For conditions like fog,rain,snow at day or night, light produced by a low beam or high beam is scattered when the light hits the fog and reduces visibility even further. So,reduce speeds even further for safety.

Most important point : Always use low beams in fog as high beams will reflect the light back into your eyes and reduce visibility. So,speeds should be much lower during fog, as we are using low beams.

An old video of a crash that happened in Amritsar.

Some more sample videos.