Travel at a speed where your headlights, whether low or high-beam, will be able to illuminate a distance and area in front of your vehicle equal to or less than the distance it would take an average driver to perceive a hazard on or approaching the roadway, react to the hazard (i.e. brake, speed up, swerve, or combination thereof), and stop in time so as to avoid collision with the hazard (e.g. animal, obstacle on roadway, pedestrian, other road user). This takes into account that the vehicle must be traveling at the appropriate speed for the conditions (i.e. weather, road conditions, visibility, etc.) and that the driver is not fatigued or impaired in any other way.
make sure you can stop in the distance you see ahead of you.
If you are overdriving your headlights and see an object ahead, you should slow down immediately to ensure you have enough time to react. Overdriving your headlights means you are not able to stop within the distance illuminated by your lights, increasing the risk of a collision. Slow down to maintain control and avoid a potential accident.
You should never over drive your headlights because you are then driving too fast to stop in time for hazards you see on the road.
it means that your going to fast to stop when something comes into the view of your headlights.
Slow down.
It means driving at such a speed that you can't see upcoming road hazards because your stopping distance is greater than the effective illumination of your headlights.
The obvious answer is to slow down. You can also train yourself to use your high beams as much as legally possible. The last option is to upgrade your headlights to some of the newer, brighter - yet street legal - headlight bulbs. In particular, the SoLux bulbs have the longest-beam and the closest simulation of true daylight of any street legal bulb. See sources and related links below to research upgrade headlights.
"Overdriving" HeadlightsYes, it's very easy by simply driving too fast, BUT... it's extremely dangerous!!!!!!
Drive SLOWER than 80 miles per hour. Slow down. Over driving your headlights means while night driving you don't have enough reaction time between when you see the animal in the middle of the road and you hit him. Slowing down allows a longer time between the area you see and time your car arrives at it.
At night with your headlights on you can only see just so far down the road. Overdriving your lights is driving so fast as to not be able to react to something that is beyond the beam of your lights.
Slow Down. In driving, like the rest of life in this country, we seem to have a sense of entitlement. It's our right to go fast. We shouldn't have to slow down for anything or anyone.
Slow down! That's the easiest answer. Make sure your headlights are clean of dirt, debris, and bugs. Take your car to an auto repair place if you want to properly align your headlights, which maximizes the distance you can see. Also replacing your headlights with Xenon headlights will increase your visibility.