Poorly maintained headlights can have an adverse effect on the safety of all road users. Although car insurance can provide you with financial protection for a road traffic accident, simple headlight maintenance can make an accident far less likely.

If headlights become dirty they give out less light, making it difficult for drivers to see and thus increasing the likelihood of an accident. Poorly positioned headlights and dirty windscreens can also increase the chances of an accident as oncoming drivers can be blinded by glare. Although headlights themselves can be expensive, basic maintenance of them tends to be cheap.

Though your car insurance can protect you financially from the costs incurred by a traffic accident, chances are they won’t pay for damage that results from wear and tear. Luckily, the simplest way to improve the performance of your headlights is very cheap. If you clean your headlights whenever you clean your windscreen, you can increase visibility by a startling amount.

According to the AAA foundation, nine out of every ten cars has headlights that greatly reduce vision and need to be replaced, repaired or cleaned. Grime builds up quickly on busy roads and it only takes a thin layer of dirt to block the light given off by your headlights.

Smudges, streaks and road grime also catch and refract the light leading to glare. If you wear glasses, a simple scratch on your specs can also make glare worse so if you clean your windows, windscreen and glasses inside and out, you can reduce glare and in doing so, make the road safer for both you and other drivers.

As obvious as it sounds, checking your headlights regularly is one of the most responsible things you can do when it comes to car maintenance. Make sure your headlights are aimed in the right direction and see if there are any cracks in their surface.

Cracks let moisture in, which dims the headlight and increases glare for other drivers. So if you find any fracture lines in your headlights, you need to replace them as soon as you can. There are also a variety of resins on the market that you can use to seal up the crack until you’re able to replace the headlight.

If glare or diminished visibility lead to your car being damaged, your car insurance provider should be able to offer you financial protection. Well-maintained headlights can transform visibility so significantly you should hopefully never need to make a claim for that reason.