#DimTheLights

There’s this romantic idea of a night-time drive; of driving under the yellow street lights of the city, of passing by bright billboards and signs in the city centre, and enjoying the cool-blue moon as you drive on the highway while letting the fresh breeze melt your worries away. In real life though, you need to be more alert to avoid the stray pedestrian, animals, and other obstacles, make sure that the truckers acknowledge your presence on the road, and also avoid getting blinded by people driving with their high beams on.

There’s an etiquette to using the high beam on your car, and Apollo Tyres has plenty of tips to help you master it. Here’s some of them explained in detail:

#DimTheLights in the city:

Street lights in most cities light up the road quite well, negating the need for using high beams. Using the low beam is not just less irritating for other road users, it also allows others to notice your car easily – helpful while changing lanes, merging into traffic, or while negotiating crossroads. Use high beams only in sections where the street lights are unavailable and while making sure you don’t blind other road users.

#DimTheLights on the highway:

While it makes more sense to use high beams on the highway, it should be used judiciously to avoid discomforting others. When in a convoy of cars, using the low beam will make it easier for the driver ahead of you to keep focus on the road. Oncoming traffic will also be able to see their path better when they are actively trying to avoid getting blinded.

#DimTheLights on road-rage:

High beams, especially flashing them, is often decoded as rude and rash behavior. Modern LED lights are great at lighting up the road but they also pose the big risk of blinding fellow road users. Continuous flashing of high beams can leave other road users with the ‘moth-effect’ where they inadvertently drive towards the direction of the light and cause accidents. Some may even take this as a sign of aggression and that can only lead to more trouble. Don’t use the high beam to bully your fellow road users, be patient, show compassion, forgive, and move on.

#DimTheLights in the rain/fog:

Regular headlights are not effective in the rain or fog, instead utilise the fog lamps installed on your car – these are placed lower to the ground and in some cases are of a different colour. Fog lamps have a better spread of light on the road, inherently they do not have much range – but in inclement weather you are expected not to drive too fast anyway. Fog lamps emit a lower wavelength which tends to not bounce off objects including raindrops and snow crystals, which improves visibility. High beams of your regular headlamps would bounce back immediately and blind you instead of increasing visibility.

Indian roads are one of the most dangerous ones in the world and Apollo Tyres’ #DimTheLights campaign hopes to reduce the danger by encouraging drivers to use the high beams on their cars responsibly. You can visit this link to learn more about the initiative and take a pledge to #DimTheLights for a safer future on the road.