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Sharksbaja
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5814
Registered: 9-7-2004
Location: Newport, Mulege B.C.S.
Member Is Offline
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Hwy 1, Driving Baja at night.
We've all heard stories, seen the ghostly wrecks in the ravines , and the shrines that litter the length of the transpenninsular route.
It's legacy is still being written, many of us have seen the dark side of the highway. Driving Baja at night.
It's not uncommon to witness or be near an event of tragic proportions on the carrera at night. Those who drive the road regularily will give
testimony to it's scope of mishaps.
I am one of those who has been more recently a regular feature running back and forth many times a year. I have seen some doozies. No deaths tho.
I wonder, is every night like that? I mean, is there an accident somewhere at any given time during the night?
Then I think, what a long road it is.
If people who insist on driving at night understand the risk, be prepared. High intensity lighting with "all-at-a-time" ability lighting may save yer
butt.
Be prepared at every vado for livestock. Don't use excessive speed. Anticipate every oncoming vehicle carefully.
The road is very narrow so approaching on-coming vehicle position on the road is difficult to judge.
If you fear that you will get clipped, slow and turn on a flasher or signal, no matter. It will make them think about what YOUR intentions are.
Be a defensive driver. Be ready all the time. Don't do it if you don't have to.
Say a little prayer if you do....
DON\'T SQUINT! Give yer eyes a break!
Try holding down [control] key and toggle the [+ and -] keys
Viva Mulege!
Nomads\' Sunsets
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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I love my new driving lights (always wanted some ) but as it has been warned here
before, if you've been running them for half an hour or so between cars and suddenly go to low beams for someone on-coming, it is like like driving 45
with a candle in a coal mine. I just have 220 watts. and it is flippin spooky when you turn them off. Any way to avoid the momentary blindness?
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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jerry
Super Nomad
Posts: 1354
Registered: 10-10-2003
Location: loreto
Member Is Offline
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slow down guys your movin too fast ya gotta sleep some time and reviveyour body or it will take its toll one way or another so be a bird down with
the dusk and up with the dawn the rest is just fooling your self what time you steel from one will be payed back by the other besides theres another
site just around the next corner and hopfully better then friggin head lites, death, or distruction
jerry and judi
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Sharksbaja
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5814
Registered: 9-7-2004
Location: Newport, Mulege B.C.S.
Member Is Offline
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Gonna do it anyway
| Quote: | Originally posted by jerry
slow down guys your movin too fast ya gotta sleep some time and reviveyour body or it will take its toll one way or another so be a bird down with
the dusk and up with the dawn the rest is just fooling your self what time you steel from one will be payed back by the other besides theres another
site just around the next corner and hopfully better then friggin head lites, death, or distruction |
Heck yea, it's dangerous.
Jerry, you mean even like in the winter when you've driven since 6am and yer destination is an hour of driving in the night, I'd say go for it , just
me. But then, I bought a house in the flood-plain , remember? Night driving is another gamble in your life, isn't it? Just a hell of alot of risk per
minute I suppose..
There is a difference than, say, driving all night long. Seems pretty risky. But then, if you have car trouble or get way-layed, you may end up
driving that road at night unexpectedly sometime. That's part of being prepared in Baja. You just never know what's gonna become a memorable
experience. 
I don't condon night driving the road and have stated that before. Just realize that people do it anyway and hope people take efforts to minimize
risk(s) It's true, not all people will behave like chickens.
DON\'T SQUINT! Give yer eyes a break!
Try holding down [control] key and toggle the [+ and -] keys
Viva Mulege!
Nomads\' Sunsets
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8921
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Black Trans Lives Matter
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| Quote: | Originally posted by vgabndo
If you've been running them for half an hour or so between cars and suddenly go to low beams for someone on-coming, it is like like driving 45 with a
candle in a coal mine. |
Four 55w lights overhead (I may go to HID in the future w/these), two 150w lights on prerunner bumper, fog lamps on prerunner bumper, and stock 35w
headlights. They still don't seem enough when traveling at 50 m.p.h. in the dark.
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Skeet/Loreto
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4709
Registered: 9-2-2003
Member Is Offline
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Sharks! It is the same in the States!
After I stopped Flying my Cessna 170B, making my First Trip on the Road, I put many Miles on Hwy 1,pulling a 32 FT. Travel Trailer and others up and
down! In 1994 bought a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee 6 Cyl., sold it to Dr. Bogdan Arriga when I left. It had 167,000 Baja Miles in 6 years!.Only driving
in the Dark about an hour before Sunrise.
The problem is called "Lack of Common Sense"" which is displayed in Baja as in the States by the Youth of Today. The "Children of Today{which includes
anyone below 60 years of Age} do not have the Ability to think of anyone but Themselves!! Demonstrated by those thinking that Large Lights and their
past Experiences give them and Edge on Life,never realizing that their Bright Lights may Blind and Kill those that are Subject to Them!!They are only
interested in their Selfish desire to get where they are Going with no Conserdation of others on the Road.
It reflects their "Lack of Knowledge,Experiences in Life, inability to Care about anyone but themselves".
I will Sadly predict that some of those with the above attitude will someday " Bite the dust" and Kill an innocent Person, just like the Drunk Driver,
excessive Speeder, Tailgater, cell Phone user, and just plain Idiot when they get behind the Wheel!!
Someday, or some night, a frustrated Victum will take their 357 Mag, and blow out those "Dangerous lights of those oncoming Killers" and Maybe, just
maybe, they will " Get the Message"!!
Anon The Preacher
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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I want to get clear that I drive at night not by choice but by happenstance. IF it happens, I just want these old floater infested eyes to have all
the help they can get. In 22 lengths of the Baja, I have put a tire off the pavement three times. (except when I planned it!) That's pretty
conservative. At this point I'd say that night security was as big a threat in my mind as my being able to keep it between the lines. The whacko in
the other lane will always be a wildcard.
Adventure travel with a white line. As Sharks might say: If you aren't living on the edge, you're taking up too much room.
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
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I don't intentionally drive at night, but it's happened before. And, when it does, I find myself hugging the rear end of a semi and let that rig
clear the way for me! 
Bob H
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just dancing through life
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Vgabndo
"The whacko in the other lane will always be a wildcard."
Wonder if the person going in the other direction thinks the same thing!
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64476
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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You miss 'seeing' some of the best of Baja if you drive at night!
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8921
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Black Trans Lives Matter
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Skeet/Loreto The "Children of Today{which includes anyone below 60 years of Age} do not have the Ability to think of
anyone but Themselves!! Demonstrated by those thinking that Large Lights and their past Experiences give them and Edge on Life,never realizing that
their Bright Lights may Blind and Kill those that are Subject to Them!!They are only interested in their Selfish desire to get where they are Going
with no Conserdation of others on the Road.
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Although I am 38 years of age, I do have the common sense to power only my fog lamps (which point downward) as a vehicle gets near me on Hwy 1.
Additionally, if it is a Semi truck, I turn on only my parking lights, and pull to the right of the road going about 5 m.p.h. in order that there
isn't a problem in him judging me or vice versa. You don't have to be 60 yrs. old or older to be able to do this. 
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
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Spent a few years in northwest Oregon. Many miles of lonely road at a stretch. It was "open range" country. A black angus in the road is hard to see
before impact, mountains with plenty of elk, deer, black ice, rocks and everything else. Baja isn't the only place that driving at night is
dangerous.
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Wiles
Nomad
Posts: 337
Registered: 10-1-2006
Member Is Offline
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I enjoy everyone's posts. It's always nice to revisit Baja memories.
Back in the early 80's made trip from Buena Park (home of Knott's Berry Farm) to BOLA and back in 24 hrs. Went to pick up boat and trailer. Left BP
at 11:00 am and back the next day at 2:00pm. There were 17 major washouts between El Rosario and BOLA. Arrived at the Bay at 11:30pm, hooked up the
boat managing not to waken Senor Ocana. Did wake up Wally Cambell to let him know that it was us. Left the Bay in my wake at midnight. 2 1/2 hrs
wasted in secondary inspection..thought I was lying.
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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Night driving ---high intensity lights------
------back in the early 70's I had Cessna Landing lights mounted on a roof rack which I used a lot in Utah and western Colorado-----this was before
any regulations, apparently, because none of us had any "bras" on our lights and nobody ticketed us-------we, like Ken C., were polite with them and
never used them when opposing traffic was in sight. Deer, cattle and sheep were the main targets to avoid in the states------when in Baja it was
cattle and horses, mostly.
No amount of super-lights can protect you from the scared animal that leaps up from below the sight-line on the shoulders and is "just there" at the
last min. . it happens all the time------lights AND slow driving are the answer, I think, if you MUST drive at night, and like others, I certainly
don't advise it.
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
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Barry A. I agree!
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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By the way----using high intensity lights----
------when you are coming up behind somebody is also incredibly annoying and dangerous for the poor guy ahead-------dim, or turn off those puppy's
when you can see somebodies tail lights ahead-----it is ony common courtesy, and may avoid having the guy ahead drift out in front of you as you pass
because he can't see. 
Also, if you are passing folks at night, you just may be moving too fast??? 
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8921
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Black Trans Lives Matter
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When using my lights, I am the lead vehicle, and no other vehicle is within 1 mile of me. Come up behind w/your lights, and I don't care - my rear
view mirror has an auto dim feature...that works!
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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Ken------that is so cool------(rear mirrors that dim)---
----where did you get such a thing???? Never even knew they existed.
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jerry
Super Nomad
Posts: 1354
Registered: 10-10-2003
Location: loreto
Member Is Offline
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a guy i know was a long haul trucker he had a great way of dimming headlights behind him he just siffted some bbs out of the window till they whent
out very effective and economical too
jerry and judi
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8921
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Black Trans Lives Matter
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Barry A.
----where did you get such a thing???? Never even knew they existed. |
They're available as "Extras" on Daimler/Chrysler vehicles at an addition ~$200.00
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