Prevent Headlight Glare from Oncoming Traffic While Driving at Night

SOLO, Kompas.com - When driving at night, there are several factors that can disrupt a driver’s concentration. One of them is glare from headlights coming from vehicles in the opposite direction. This condition can frequently interfere with a driver’s view and can even cause temporary blindness in the eye, potentially triggering an accident.

Glare usually occurs when the vehicle ahead uses high beam headlights or headlights with beams that are too bright.

Founder and Training Director of Jakarta Defensive Driving Consulting, Jusri Pulubuhu, offers several effective tips for dealing with glare.

‘When we pass another vehicle coming from the front, don’t focus on the light itself. The driver can experience temporary blindness or a blank screen, which is dangerous because the vehicle keeps moving,’ Jusri told Kompas.com, not long ago.

According to Jusri, when a driver starts to be struck by the reflected light from a vehicle coming from the opposite direction, it is better not to direct your gaze at the source of light.

A safer approach is to shift eye focus to the edge of the road so the driver can monitor the lane boundary and road conditions ahead. This technique also helps the eyes not to react too strongly to sudden bright light from ahead while driving at night.

Naturally, the pupil adapts to changes in light. When exposed to very bright light, the pupil constricts to reduce glare. However, this can also make darker areas of the road appear even darker, so drivers need to adjust their gaze to see the road clearly.

‘Don’t focus on the glare; instead, move your focus to the shoulder of the road. This is connected to how headlights are designed by manufacturers, why left-hand side lights are wider towards the shoulder while the right-hand side focuses toward the centre, not to the right,’ Jusri said.

He added that the purpose of such headlight design is to help drivers monitor the roadside.

‘It can also happen when you pass a car whose lights are dazzling; briefly dim the lights (switch between high and low) a few times. The aim is to remind the other driver to lower their beam from “high” to “low”.’

This simple technique can help reduce glare and enhance safety when driving at night.