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As the OP, I'll put in my .02...
As SOON2BN posted, it is better to take breaks on a long drive - day or night. I know my limitations, and if I get tired, I wouldn't hesitate to pull into a truck stop or service center and grab at least an hour snooze. Just one hour of rest on the road can save your life!
When starting out on a long-distance trip, we like to hit the highway at about 5 am, when it's getting light out, all the drunk drivers are pretty much asleep, and well before any significant work commuters are out. In fact, we find the absolute safest time to be early on Sunday mornings, when there will be NO commute. That's my all-time favorite starting period, and it never disappoints!
When starting out on a long-distance trip, we like to hit the highway at about 5 am, when it's getting light out, all the drunk drivers are pretty much asleep, and well before any significant work commuters are out. In fact, we find the absolute safest time to be early on Sunday mornings, when there will be NO commute. That's my all-time favorite starting period, and it never disappoints!
I love starting out a long cross-country trip at about 4:30am or 5am! The roads are wide and empty, I'm full of adrenaline and caffeine and eagerness to hit the trail. I tune into the news or put on some music, or just relax in silence (usually the rest of the family wants to sleep) and enjoy some productive hours, eating up the miles.
What's dangerous is the last 100 miles or so of a 1000 mile day, trying to get to that comfortable bed in that La Quinta in eastern New Mexico and somehow it is getting harder and harder to keep my eyes open. Times like that, I wish I had a pickup with a shell or a van with a fold-out bed, to just pull into a rest area and sleep it off for a few hours.
Speaking as one that fell asleep at the wheel, nearly killing my family, destroying our van, knocking a diesel truck (No trailer) off of the freeway, and having that guy hit the side of another car, all around 1am in the morning, I can tell you that it is better to drive in the day time...
Maybe for you it is. Some of us with "unconventional" body clocks are actually more active and alert at night.
Maybe for you it is. Some of us with "unconventional" body clocks are actually more active and alert at night.
I agree - a large part of safe driving is knowing your limits as well as your vehicles. Too many people don't respect driving and figure they can go all night, only to doze off and crash. Not everyone can drive at night, but for those who can, its a great way to get places as the number one reason for highway crashes is reduced - traffic.
My biggest beef with night driving is the fact that either I am super sensitive to bright lights, headlights are getting brighter or *******s drive with their high beams on. Drives me insane when someone with super bright lights gets on my ass and just follows me. I often slow down to get them to pass cause I hate having bright lights shining at me at night. I have driven at night and used to notice that I was often the only car for miles at time among a sea of big rigs.
My only concern is drunk drivers after 2-4 am, but a friend who is retired highway patrol told me to always drive in the right hand lane and if a drunk driver is coming toward you they will go right by you. I followed his advice and one night a drunk driver was coming toward me and I was in the right hand lane and sure enough they drove right by me. The police caught up with them a few miles down the road after I and several others called 911. So if your driving at night or early in the morning always drive in the RH lane.
I find wearing light yellow glasses helps night driving by cutting the glare of oncoming headlights. Stopping for a few minutes every hour or so to walk around also helps.
Another thing with night driving that helps your visibility, is dimming the gauge cluster. I find it makes a world of difference for night time country driving.
Also from a Forbes article....
According to the IIHS, an average 6.6 people are killed between the hours of 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., and another 6.6 between the hours of 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Those rates are the overall highest of any time during the day. In 2007, 14,055 people were killed in the 5 p.m. hour. But the hours between midnight and 4 a.m. have the highest number of fatalities when calculated as a percentage of the amount of people on the road, according to AAA. During that time, statistically speaking, 5.87 per 100 million people on the road will be killed.
This is slightly skewed without background statistics. As being a past Paramedic, looking at an entire week most accidents happened at sunrise. They didn't happen due to being blinded by the sun. Most fell asleep when they started their commute in darkness and drove into sunup. The other worse than normal accidents were 3am - 6am on Friday and Saturday mornings due to drunks. What made these accidents even worse is that they happened at speed limit and above. Personally those are the times and days I attempt to not drive at night on.
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