If you find yourself gripping the wheel a little tighter after sunset, squinting at road signs or dreading the glare of oncoming headlights, you are not alone. Darkness shrinks how far ahead you can see, which leaves less time to react to a deer, a pedestrian or a stalled car. The good news is that many night-driving struggles have practical fixes, from your eyes to your windshield to the lights on the front of your car.

Why Night Driving Feels Harder

During the day you can usually see far down the road and pick up hazards early. After dark, your view is limited to what your headlights and streetlights reach. Your eyes also need time to adjust to low light, and each bright flash from an oncoming car or a lit-up screen sets that adjustment back. Add fatigue, which naturally peaks late at night, and it is easy to see why after-dark trips carry more risk.

Start With Your Eyes

Night vision tends to decline as we get older. Pupils get smaller and react more slowly, and the lens of the eye can become cloudier, which scatters light and makes glare worse. Conditions such as cataracts, uncorrected nearsightedness and dry eye can all show up first as trouble driving at night.

Schedule an eye exam if you notice any of the following:

• Halos or starbursts around headlights and streetlights
• Blurry or fuzzy road signs that you could read in daylight
• Taking longer than you used to recover after an oncoming car passes
• Difficulty spotting lane lines, curbs or people walking along the road

An updated prescription or treatment for an underlying condition may solve the problem outright. If you wear glasses, ask about anti-reflective coatings, which can reduce reflections from your own lenses.

Give Yourself Clean Glass to Look Through

A film on the inside of the windshield is easy to ignore in daylight, but at night it catches every passing light and turns it into a smeared haze. Clean both sides of the windshield, along with side windows and mirrors, regularly. Replace wiper blades as soon as they leave streaks or skip, and keep your washer reservoir topped off with fluid suited to the season.

Take a Hard Look at Your Headlights

Clean and restore

Road grime can coat headlight lenses and cut their output. Over time, plastic lens covers also oxidize and turn yellow or cloudy, which scatters the beam. Wash them when you wash the car, and if they look foggy, an inexpensive restoration kit from an auto parts store can often bring them back. A shop can do it if you prefer.

Aim matters

Headlights that point too low shorten your view; lights aimed too high blind other drivers. If your car has been in a front-end collision or you have recently replaced a bulb, have the aim checked.

Not all headlights are equal

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests how well vehicle headlights light the road and limit glare. Many models still fall short of its top “good” rating. The IIHS also reports that vehicles with good-rated headlights have 19 percent fewer nighttime single-vehicle crashes and 23 percent fewer nighttime pedestrian crashes than those with poor-rated lights.

If you already own a car with weaker lights, ask a trusted mechanic about replacement bulbs that are approved for your headlight housing. Avoid aftermarket kits that are not designed for your vehicle; they can scatter light and create glare for others.

Use Your Lights Wisely

Inside the car, turn down the brightness of your dashboard and infotainment screen. A glowing display pulls your eyes off the road and makes it harder for them to stay adjusted to the dark. Many vehicles have a dimmer control or a night mode for exactly this reason.

Skip the Yellow Glasses

Tinted glasses marketed for night driving promise less glare, but any lens that filters light also reduces the light reaching your eyes, which is the last thing you need after dark. Eye care professionals generally advise against them. Your eyes adapt to darkness on their own; clear, clean glass and good headlights do more.

Drive for the Conditions

• Slow down so you can stop within the distance your headlights show you.
• Look toward the right edge of your lane, not directly into oncoming lights.
• Take breaks on long trips and pull over if you start to feel drowsy.
• Plan longer drives for daylight when you have a choice.

This article is for general information only. Coverage varies by insurer, policy and state; review your own policy or talk with a licensed agent about your situation.