Night Riders be Prepared...

I prefer to drive after midnight for non-stop long distance journeys - just like inter-continental flights from KLIA.
Reasons for a Long-Distance Night Rider
Usually I go to bed as early as 9:30pm and wake up around 2:00 - 3:00am and sleep again around midday during lunch hours w/o taking any meal because I normally take brunch at 10:00am and dinner around 5:00pm.

Danger for Night Riders!
Surely, there are fewer vehicles on the road after midnight but ironically it is the riskiest time for driving. There are many factors which increase the risk of "after midnight driving".

• Most people on the road are likely to be tired and sleepy.

• Headlight beam from incoming vehicles causing a nuisance to other road users which can leave them blind or black-out for up to a few seconds. The lights of vehicles 'cucuk' from behind also can cause glare.

• Cows, water buffalo and other 'night-active' animals camouflage in the darkness, may appear suddenly on the road out of nowhere and too late for the driver to respond in time.

• Heavy vehicles such as lorries, trucks, buses are driven by Night Riders

Night Riders be Prepared for Yourselves FIRST...
If you are going to be driving at night, no matter what your age, it is vitally important that you are prepared. If you end up making an unexpected trip in the dark and find yourself tired, it's essential that you pull over and rest in a safe place so that you are not a danger to yourself or others on the road. Remember, tired driving is as dangerous as drunk driving because your reaction time can be equally affected, plus you run the risk of falling asleep at the wheel.

Other things that you can do to make your night time trips as safe as possible.

• Make sure that you see your eye doctor regularly for eye exams. (At least once every two years, more often if you have certain conditions. Diabetics should see their eye doctor every year.) This way any problems with night vision can be noted and dealt with. I take green tea or teh o without sugar...
  

• Don't forget your vitamins. Vitamin A deficiency causes a condition called night blindness which can make it difficult or impossible to drive safely at night. I drink carrot susu...
  

Prepare Your Car
There are several things that you should do to get your car ready for safe night driving. This includes making it easier for you to see where you are going as well as easier for others to see where you are without causing nuisance to other road users.
Click for what I've done to Light Bulbs and Day Running Lights [DRL].

• Make sure that your head-lights and tail-lights are all working properly. The head-light covers must be clean whenever you head out on a nighttime trip, especially when there's bad weather like rain, mist or fog. Your headlights should also be properly aimed so that they are focused and directed correctly. Click HERE.
  

• Make sure that your windshield are clean so that there is no glare or obstructed vision.

• Adjust your outside mirrors so that they are in the right place; the body of your car should be just outside of the vision of the mirrors. Your rear and side mirrors should also be adjusted so that the glare from the headlights behind you is not a problem - our 308T rear view mirror has anti-glare feature though.

While on the road

• Night vision can be affected before the sun even goes down, so to make sure that your eyes stay sensitive.

• Make sure that you are looking from side to side so that your eyes stay sensitive to the darkness.

• Do not look at oncoming headlights while driving, it can leave you blind for as much as five full seconds.

• Make sure that you use the right/legal color temperature [ 'Legal' color temperature is 4300K ~ 4700K] and set your light beams correctly.

• If you are driving in the fog, use your low beams or/and fog-lights only because the high beams will not allow you to see well due to direct reflections. Make sure that you don't use your high beams if traffic is coming toward you either, and hopefully oncoming traffic will afford you the same courtesy.

• If you find yourself staring at the white line or other fixed object for too long, you may succumb to ‘highway hypnosis,’ which will decrease your reaction time.

• If you are driving through forest such as from Kuala Lipis to Gua Musang, use your peripheral vision to watch for animals on the sides of the road. Often times, you won't see the animal themselves, but their eyes reflecting the headlights of passing cars. If you have any passengers in your vehicle, ask them to keep watch so you can focus your attention on your driving.

• Continually evaluate your night-time driving skills, so that you are not endangering yourself and others. Sadly, night vision tends to worsen with age, so at some point you may need to limit your night-time driving.

Night time driving can be full of unpleasant surprises, so always expect the unexpected. Make sure you're alert at all times and ready for any emergency situation that could possibly crop up. Above all else, if at any point you feel like you're not seeing clearly, find a safe spot to pull over. And if you can't remedy the situation, just wait for daylight. It's much better to arrive a little later than planned, than to risk your safety and everyone else.

Nevertheless, the advantage after midnight is smooth high-speed driving - most of the time on Auto-Cruise is possible. Also less wear & tear on brake-pads/disk, tyres, air-cond system, etc... and of course less consumption on fuel.

I will be on another inter-continental night trip soon.
Till then, so loooongggg!!!

Happy Motoring

Thanks God! It was Peugeot 308T

Even though I knew that Peugeot 308T had a long list of safety features, I was never really impressed compare to its own outstanding handling and road-holding until I experienced myself the life savers that it had.

My first experience was while doing downhill duel with a proton Waja 1.8 around Bukit Tinggi/Berjaya Resorts. Knowing I was behind looking for an opportunity to overtake, this bugger responded even though we were approaching a slippery right-turn curve. He seemed to be an experience driver but he pushed the the Lotus Tuned Suspension Car to the limits until it over-steered with rear tyres skidded sideways [or fish-tailed] and ended in the monsoon drain. While maneuvering to avoid a collision, Peugeot 308T tyre adhesion and dynamics were also at their limits. I thought I was on a boat. At a flick of a second the ESP light started to flash and the car regained its course and negotiated in the direction it was intended.

Everybody who drives on federal roads to or from East Coast states will normally experience trailing long Q's behind slow vehicles. Driving any car with ample torque [and low kg/bhp ratio] no one is patience enough because overtaking a Q of vehicles on a straight stretch is 'a breeze'. But be careful! what if a car or two in the Q suddenly change lane and appear in front of u for the same purpose? Worse still when they make a sudden right turn? Almost everybody will involuntarily hit the brake. I had this experience with my308 too. The cars sensed an emergency braking and EBA [Emergency Braking Assist] took over by braking to the max and at the same time hazard light turned on. In the process ABS also came into play.

Last weekend I was driving back from Kelantan in heavy rain. As usual I had a bad habit of diving the same speed whether it was raining or dry, sometimes even faster when it drizzled or rained. While I was overtaking at a gentle curve I hit a long pool of water, suddenly I felt 'jerky' as if the engine was switched OFF and ON a few times until the traction was regained. It was actually a combine effort of ASR, ESP and DSC that saved my family and my life...

The following are the dynamic safety features that Peugeot 308T have and proven their effectiveness. I've tested involuntarily and w/o intention.

EBD - Electronic Brake Distribution
EBA - Emergency Brake Assist
ASR - Traction Control
ESP - Electronic Stability Program [watch video]
DSC - Dynamic Stability Control [watch video]
ABS - Antilock Braking System [watch video]

Almost all new cars are now equipped with ABS. But it is important to remember that ABS will not shorten stopping distance, in fact it can extend beyond that of threshold braking in a non-ABS equipped car. ABS is mainly for an emergency situation to prevent brake lock-up in order to maintain steering control to steer clear of an obstacle thus avoid collision. Do not attempt to modulate the brake - the ABS system will take care of the modulation. For cars without EBA however, to correctly use the ABS brakes in a panic situation, the driver must apply the brakes 100 percent, using all available force and steer accordingly.

Happy Motoring and always...
Berhati2 d'Jalan Raya

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