Night driving

I totally agree. I had an old Mk1 Escort to deliver before christmas. Despite only having standard H4 bulbs (actually a modification on an Escort) it restored my faith in my eyesight - they were amazing! I was a bit puzzled by my difficulties at night as when I move around the house at night when Sue is asleep I don't turn the lights on until I'm downstairs yet can still see my cats trying to trip me up in the dark (and both are black).

The other issue is that the plastic covers start to degrade from day one. This also explains why oncoming traffic can be so dazzling. My drive of choice at the moment is my L200 crew cab as sitting up a little higher stops the dazzle in all but the worst cases.

 

These arrived this morning from Amazon. They fit adequately over my ordinary glasses and feel reasonably comfy. We'll see how they perform on my next night drive,
Jenny

 

Who's correct, Amazon or the AA?

http://www.theaa.com/public_affairs/reports/driving-in-sunglasses.html

What does The Highway Code have to say about driving at night in sunglasses?

 

It's a criminal offence, so its a good job they aren't sunglasses.

 

So exactly what does UK Legislation cover regarding sunglasses, and is it as complex as the tinted widows issue? (factory OK, retro fitted illegal)

Or is it all about how 'cool shades' are described for use - as night driving glasses so not covered by The Highway Code?

 

The rules for tinted windows are complex because there are at least two types of window tint. There is the expensive kind, where the glass itself is tinted, and the more common kind where a self adhesive plastic film is stuck to the window. The latter can severely impede vision.

Well I wouldn't call the ones I linked to 'cool'. They look like safety glasses.

As for legislation, I'm not a lawyer, so I must trust the fact that they are sold as night time driving glasses, have the CE mark which they couldn't have if they didn't meet the required standards, do not impede light across most of the spectrum at all, and are not sunglasses.

 

I'll certainly agree with that, but still suspect that "night driving glasses" are being described as such to circumvent legislation/recommendations prohibiting night use of 'sunglasses'.

Regardless of whether they look like something safe to use in the sunshine whilst using an angle grinder, the important thing is whether they're actually safe or not to use whilst driving at night and there appears to be conflicting information on that.

 

I just wonder why we actually need night driving glasses in the first place.
Something is wrong with lights/lighting at night if that is the case.

And the main reason people need brighter head lights is because they are hacking around the country lanes faster than those roads are intended to be driven on.

 

Glad to hear it FC,

 

My night driving has got worse but I can now read a book and use the computer without glasses.
Next appointment this Saturday - definitely another big spend on new glasses.

 

I resorted to the night driving glasses after considerable research into how to safely and legally overcome the fact that even at 20mph BELOW the speed limit, I still didn't feel I could see well enough after being blinded by oncoming traffic.

I'm not talking about commuting along nice dual carriageways, which are fairly straight and flat and have loads of space between you and the oncoming cars, I'm on about single carriageway winding country roads occupied by, it seems, vehicles with laser canons mounted on the front.

 

And lorries of mammouth proportions dangerously in excess of a safe distance from the middle of the road.

 

A very interesting, but so far inconclusive topic. There doesn't seem to be any properly researched trials on the subject of night driving visions aids. The AA article doesn't really touch on night-vision glasses and the Amazon link's reviews are hardly 'science'.
As I see it (sorry for the pun) there's three main aspects to night driving vision -

The first is the illumination of the road by your own lights. In some cases this MAY be improved by fitting bulbs with a greater output/directivity. It's now very ancient history but in the 60s I had a minivan and the lights were like candles but that was because vans were then classified as commercial vehicles and limited to 40mph so the BMC fitted low rated bulbs even if vans were not "commercial". I fitted standard mini bulbs and it made a big difference. I've also fitted "up-rated" though legal bulbs to another more recent vehicle and they did help particularly on poorly defined roads. In another vehicle I fitted driving lights these onlt worked on high beam but made a big improvement.

The second aspect is dazzle, either direct or by reflection from the road surface. Now I think you could probably reduce reflected dazzle by wearing polarised lenses as they'll reduce it in the same way as they reduce reflected light during low sun, however they need to be light in their density or you'll lose too much general visibility. Direct light (head-on headlights) is another matter though, and the only way I can see of reducing the impact on the retina is to attenuate it via a filter but this also has to reduce incident light from the wider driving environment. It's a win and lose situation.

The third aspect and it's one you can't do much about when it happens,though lifestyle does determine its onset, is that like most of the rest of your body your eyeball and associated "software" gets a bit creaky and slows its reaction and ability to cope with large and rapid variations in light levels. It's a bit like having a point and shoot camera that can only slowly respond to changes in light level.