Night Driving Glasses

Night Driving GlassesI've had a couple of regular correspondents ask me recently about night driving glasses. These glasses have yellow lenses and are supposed to cut glare and increase contrast allowing you to see better in the darkness. After a bit of research, it appears that using these glasses is not a good idea.

Yellow Lenses Have No Benefit

Yellow night driving lenses have been shown to provide no benefit in seeing ability at night (Richards 1964). 

They are even hazardous, because they give the driver a feeling of seeing better, which no one has yet been able to explain (Septon, 1968).

Studies have shown that they actually impair visual performance and retard glare recovery. This quote is taken from the book Forensic Aspects of Vision and Highway Safety by Merrill J. Allen, O.D., Ph.D. and others.

Advice From the Optometrists

I contacted the Canadian Association of Optometrists and asked about night driving glasses. The response was that wearing anything that cut down on the amount entering your eyes while driving at night was a bad thing to do. These glasses do that, without causing the reduction in speed needed to compensate for reduced vision.

Older Drivers at Risk

Finally, older drivers are at particular risk if they chose to use yellow lenses at night. Their pupils do not dilate as well under low light conditions so their eyes cannot compensate as well for the loss of light, increasing the risk.

Best Night Driving Glasses

For optimum night driving vision use an up-to-date and clean pair of clear prescription eyeglasses with an anti-reflective coating, clean your windshield inside and outside and make sure your headlights are clean and properly aimed.

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Undoubtedly, any glasses that reduce the amount of light getting to your eyes are going to impair your vision at night.

But it should be recognized that they can indeed enhance contrast in overcast or foggy conditions; photographers using black + white film have used yellow filters for this purpose for years, and many skiers and marksmen will take advantage of goggles or glasses with this type of lens also.

 

I got my first pair around 1980 and was living in Vancouver at the time. I found on wet rainy nights that they did improve my vision. They reduced the glare and made it easier to see the lines. Now living in the interior I mainly use them when meeting a vehicle with blinding lights. I do not wear them all the time.

Then in certain daylight conditions they help with the contrast.

The tint is very light and I definitely find they improve my night vision under certain conditions.

I've long found that wearing sunglasses in snowy conditions really enhances contrast during the day, even when it's overcast.  Tinted yellow glasses may offer a similar benefit.

I agree that reduce the amount of light entering one's eyes while driving at night is a bad idea.  However, I expect that many people are experimenting with yellow lenses because of the glare created by new vehicles, especially pickup trucks and tall SUVs, with overly bright and blinding LED headlights.  I value efficiency, handling and safety, so I will continue to drive cars; however, the large numbers of tall vehicles put car drivers at a distinct disadvantage.  We frequently find ourselves closing one eye to preserve night vision or shielding our eyes when approaching pickup trucks.  I've even had to deal with trucks following on the highway by turning the rearview mirror up towards the headliner (the night setting was still way too bright) and adjusting the sideview mirrors out so that the headlights did not reflect into my eyes.  Of course, this meant that I was totally blind to the rear.

I've encountered JDM Subarus with left-angled OEM headlights, and they posed no issue at all relative to the pickup truck headlights.

Until the regulators and manufacturers figure out how to properly manage truck headlights, people are going to try to find workable solutions.

 

I agree with the comment about too bright LED lights. It does happen more often with pickups and SUVs, but not only. I actually find that Tesla's LED lights are too bright and uncomfortable to drive against them at night. So it's not aftermarket cheap LED lights that cause this problem, in many cases it's the lights from the manufacturer. Also LED lights are pure white which adds to the problem. Halogen lights are not so white.

I think it's up to the governments to pass some law to limit both how bright and white the lights can be (because with current technologies there is basically no limit for brightness) and how far low beam lights can reach that would be applicable to all kinds of vehicles. Then the police should give tickets if the low beam lights reach farther than the allowed distance.

Heck, even the rear red lights can be too bright now so that also has to be regulated.

And back to the topic, I've never tried using those yellow lenses for driving, but if it really helps with blinding LED lights, maybe that's what everybody needs to wear.

Yes, halogens are yellow compared to LEDs with their very high colour temperatures.  But when we first started seeing halogens in the late 1970s/early 1980s, they seemed very white compared to the old incandescent sealed beams!

Yes, even rear lights are getting brighter. LEDs are anything but subtle, and make it easy to create lighting overkill. More light is not always better.

In some cases, you may be seeing rear fog lights. These are required in Europe, even on trailers, and show up on some JDM imports too. Typically, there is a single extra very bright taillight to turn on in foggy conditions, although some cars have two of them.