Treat night-driving glare as a visibility problem to prepare for before the journey and review after you are safely parked. Check the windscreen and lights, learn the vehicle’s controls away from traffic, and reconsider the journey if you cannot see well enough to drive safely. A smooth trip score cannot establish that visibility was adequate.
Start with the glass and controls while stationary
ICBC’s Tuning Up for Drivers manual advises cleaning the windscreen inside and out because oncoming headlights can produce difficult glare through dirty glass. It also recommends practising the switch between low and high beams away from traffic. These are concrete preparation steps, not reasons to look down at unfamiliar controls during a difficult encounter.
Use your vehicle’s manual for the actual lighting and demisting controls. Confirm the settings deliberately instead of inferring them from a bright dashboard. Keep cleaning, adjustment and any phone setup for a safe stationary location. If equipment needs attention, have it checked rather than relying on a journal entry to compensate for it.
ICBC: Tuning Up for Drivers, night-driving preparation
Plan around the journey you can manage
Before leaving, consider the route, expected darkness, weather and whether another departure time is practical. A familiar daytime road can be a different task after dark. This planning decision does not need a numerical driving-score target: it needs an honest assessment of the conditions and your ability to manage them.
ICBC also notes that pedestrians, cyclists and animals can be difficult to see at night. Keep attention on the road and use current official guidance for your jurisdiction. This article is not a replacement for driver training or a set of universal headlight-distance rules. Do not experiment with a phone or data display while moving.
Reduce phone distraction before the trip
Write a factual review after parking
Once safely parked, distinguish what you observed from what a route trace recorded. A useful private note might identify the general stretch of road, weather, the kind of glare you noticed and a preparation step to revisit. Avoid confidently identifying another vehicle’s headlight type from a brief encounter.
For example: visibility felt harder on the wet approach after dusk; check the inside of the windscreen before the next trip and consider an earlier departure. This is an invented planning note, not a customer account or evidence that a particular intervention will solve every visibility problem. Keep it in your own notes if the app does not offer the exact annotation field you need.
Use personal driving history as a record for reflection
Keep visibility separate from the trip score
A speed change or a smooth trace cannot tell you what you could see, why another driver used a light setting or whether a glare problem came from glass, equipment or vision. Roadsy records and analyses driving data; it is not a headlight sensor, an eye examination or a reconstruction of every road condition.
Compare the recorded route with your recollection cautiously. If the location is uncertain, say so instead of assigning a precise point merely because the map allows it. Focus the review on a useful next action rather than turning imperfect observations into a diagnosis or a claim about somebody else’s driving.
Understand driving scores and data confidence
Choose the next step that matches the concern
A dirty windscreen calls for a glass-cleaning check; an equipment concern calls for the appropriate vehicle inspection. Difficulty seeing that is new, persistent or affects your ability to drive deserves advice from a qualified eye-care professional. An app cannot determine the cause or tell you that it is safe to continue.
Research checked October 13, 2026. Use current road information and local driving guidance before each journey. Keep Roadsy’s role modest and useful: review a personal trip record while parked, attach appropriate context in your own records and plan the next journey with that context in mind.