It's clear: Cleaning that screen is vital
A clean, undamaged windscreen is an often neglected but important aspect of road safety.While to most drivers it is a matter of course, caring for your car’s windscreen is important not just in terms of the driver vision, but also in maintaining the car’s structural integrity.
It is not just a matter of keeping it clean.
While the windscreen some time ago may have been nothing more than a barrier between the car’s interior and the atmosphere outside (thus its name), these days it not only forms part of the vehicle’s structure – contributing as much as 30 per cent to body rigidity – but also plays a role in the directing
of frontal airbags where they need to go in an accident.
On top of that, and supporting the clean-screen advice, studies indicate that poor vision caused by a damaged or dirty windscreen can increase the likelihood of an accident.
A car’s windscreen, over time, will deteriorate through both age and use. Small stones and airborne particles can cause fine pitting of the windscreen surface, poorly maintained wipers may create visible scratching, while de-lamination of the layers of glass may introduce a milky opaqueness, usually beginning around the perimeters of the glass area. All these impact negatively on driver vision.
Research has shown that driver vision can be measurably impaired by a dirty, pitted or otherwise degraded windscreen, with simulator studies showing something like a 50 per cent increase in the likelihood of crashes in such cases.
Particularly during night driving, the scattered light dispersion through a degraded windscreen is able to affect the driver’s perception and judgement, inducing fatigue and creating general debilitation of performance.
According to a 2001 report by the Monash University Accident Research Centre, field and laboratory studies have shown that “drivers may take longer to adapt their vision following exposure to stray light effects created through a worn windscreen” (dazzling), while “detection distances to objects on the road ahead may be reduced when looking through windscreens with stray light effects.”
The study noted that young eyes seemed to fare better, with the debilitating effects of dazzling from external light sources tending to be more pronounced in older drivers than with younger participants.
The location of specific damage, such as a large stone chip, is important: If it is directly in the driver’s line of vision it has greater potential to impair driver performance than if it is on the passenger’s side, or in a corner of the glass area.
In terms of structural safety, larger stones thrown up by oncoming traffic can inflict enough damage to create a small chip with the potential to become a large crack that may affect the car body’s ability to retain its crash-absorbing characteristics
One thing is vital: A large stone chip, or small crack, must be repaired as soon as possible. Most windscreen repairers these days will explore repair, rather than full replacement, as the first (and cheaper) option. But you must get in early.
So, what are the best things to keep in mind when looking after your vehicle’s windscreen? Expert advice suggests the following:
>> Check that the windscreen washers and wipers are working and that the wiper blades are in good condition.
>> Before you leave the house on a cold winter morning, make sure to clear any frost from the windscreen with warm, not boiling, water. Boiling water may crack your windscreen.
>> Drive with a clean windscreen -- Depending on how dirty your windscreen is or what it has been contaminated with, there are a number of options.
A windscreen or side glass that resists cleaning with ordinary soap and water probably has oil or grease on it. In this instance you could use methylated spirits diluted 1:1 with water.
>> Fix all chips, cracks and replace the windscreen if necessary.
>> It is advisable to repair chips as soon as possible to prevent them from turning into cracks. Also it is important to have chips repaired by a reputable fitment centre
>> Check the effectiveness of your windscreen wipers -- should they not be effective, do not hesitate to replace them.
>> Check the water level in the windscreen wiper bottle. The windscreen will require a clean periodically when travelling long distances.
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