A few nights ago, I was leaving a friend's house with my boyfriend when I realized that I was having trouble seeing the road. I then quickly remembered that my glasses were in the side compartment of my door. Driving at night is not only a problem for those of us who wear prescription glasses. Rather, night driving is a problem for most people simply because of the fact that when you drive at night, things aren't as clearly visible to you as they are during the day time hours. Of course, there are exceptions to this such as when you are driving during bad weather.

If you are planning on driving at night, it helps to be aware of the fact that there are usually animals that come out at night and will not hesitate to cross the road right in front of you. Similarly, while there are nocturnal animals that cross the road, there may also be debris in the roadway from other cars or due to a storm, etc. that you may not notice until you are almost right on top of it. Besides this, if someone else has struck and killed an animal, you may wind up having to perform an evasive maneuver at the last minute in order to circumvent a hurt or dead animal. However, despite all of these valid reasons, people still tend to ignore these factors while driving. Perhaps they are in a rush to get home from a long day at work or a party or some other type of gathering or function.

While you may be in a rush to make it home in time to relax a little and unwind before going to bed, it doesn't pay to rush things. All it takes is a piece of someone's bumper in the road at just the right angle, or a deer standing a little too close to the edge of the road to make you turn your steering wheel and lose control of your vehicle. I can remember many instances where it was not only dark out, but it was raining fairly hard as well. In the midst of a torrential downpour, people were speeding! It was only a matter of time before someone I knew hydroplaned their vehicle into the side of the road. They were only lucky that no one was hurt in the incident. Needless to say, when the police arrived at the scene, I am only too sure that they received a ticket for going too fast for the conditions outside.

The next time you plan on driving at night, plan on driving the speed limit or a little below the speed limit. A lot of this depends on your own visibility as well as the weather conditions outside. If there is inclement weather and you really feel like taking things a bit more cautiously, then make sure that you put your hazard lights on to alert other drivers that you are purposely going slow. If night driving really makes you uncomfortable, then try to do the majority of your driving during the day.