Sort of OT: glasses for night driving?

I know that this has been discussed previously possibly here, possibly on a Usenet group that sadly has been mostly abandoned due to trollery and the movement of most people to at least lightly moderated fora... I also know that a lot of "as seen on TV" night driving glasses are of dubious benefit.

As an added wrinkle, I wear prescription glasses but not contacts, so if I do acquire something specifically for night driving, it would have to be done through an optician, or at least someone like Zenni or Warby Parker.

The specific issue I have is glare from other motorists. I picked up a new pair of regular prescription eyeglasses yesterday; apparently that prescription was different enough from the one I've been wearing for the last five years or so that by the time I left work to go home (after dark) I had a bit of a headache going. A good portion of the drive was in bumper to bumper traffic on undivided roads, and sadly, my semi-humorous generalizations about the intelligence of Maryland drivers seem to be not that far off the mark. A shocking percentage of motorists had their brights on even though they were traveling at 5 MPH at best and were facing a similar line of oncoming traffic, a reminder flash accomplished nothing in any case. Combine that with the occasional polished metal semi trailer and by the time I got to my destination I was feeling much worse and about ready to drag the next offender out of his car and (5th amendment rights invoked.)

So, the question is, is there anything that can be done eyewear wise to mitigate this glare, since it seems that attempting to get other motorists to comply with the law and common courtesy is a Quixotic pursuit? Would the light from a vehicle headlight tend to be polarized, or is that typically only the reflections off of a reflective surface? I'm thinking of something with a very light tint and polarized lenses, but I just have no idea if that would yield any benefit or if it would be a waste of time and money to experiment.

I do have two pairs of prescription sunglasses, both polarized, but both have a G15 tint making them completely unsuitable for use after dark, even as a quick experiment.

Thanks for any insight!

N8N said:

I know that this has been discussed previously possibly here

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Yes.

Would the light from a vehicle headlight tend to be polarized[?]

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No. That would greatly reduce the output.

I'm thinking of something with a very light tint and polarized lenses, but I just have no idea if that would yield any benefit or if it would be a waste of time and money to experiment.

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Polarization is tantamount to deep tinting, considering how polarization works (it doesn't realign the light, it just blocks the light that isn't aligned).

I, and a close friend of mine, have a set of prescription glasses made with CR-39 plastic, BPI Winter Sun tint, and the usual antireflective coatings. Fantastic, particularly when it comes to oncoming HID headlamps.

Alaric Darconville said:

Yes.


No. That would greatly reduce the output.

Polarization is tantamount to deep tinting, considering how polarization works (it doesn't realign the light, it just blocks the light that isn't aligned).

I, and a close friend of mine, have a set of prescription glasses made with CR-39 plastic, BPI Winter Sun tint, and the usual antireflective coatings. Fantastic, particularly when it comes to oncoming HID headlamps.

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So the glasses you have, are they polarized, or only tinted? Not sure which would be better - I'm thinking that the polarized would do a much better job of cutting headlamp glare, but I'm not certain if in practice this would make them dangerous in low light conditions.

i use yellow shooting glasses at night for driving, afaik they are not poliarized. they really help with glare, also i use curved mirror, it too, helps a lot against high beams and hid kits behind, it is still bright but does not blind nearly as much as with regular flat mirror, i only get blinded when lights hit driver side mirror. pass side (factory curved), and curved one inside, you can look at. not to mention fov is much wider than stock mirror, i rearly look in my side mirrors.

actually polirised gl;asses may not always a good idea in the car, i mean in some cases they block some type of lcd , my wifes bmw has on windshield nav screen, similar to fighter pilots heads up display, but with polarised glasses she can not see the reflection. my old nissan had lcd display that would be very hard to read with polarized glasses on.

Polarizing is definitely NO NO NO for anything but sunglasses to be used during daylight, and polarization itself does nothing to cut headlight glare -- a set of lenses that pass only 30% of incident light because they're polarized and a set of unpolarized tinted lenses that pass only 30% of incident light would do the same job of cutting headlight glare, and pose the same extreme safety threat if worn at night.

-Virgil- said:

Polarizing is definitely NO NO NO for anything but sunglasses to be used during daylight, and polarization itself does nothing to cut headlight glare -- a set of lenses that pass only 30% of incident light because they're polarized and a set of unpolarized tinted lenses that pass only 30% of incident light would do the same job of cutting headlight glare, and pose the same extreme safety threat if worn at night.

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OK, kind of figured that...

So how much difference to they really make? As in, when you have an oncoming vehicle one lane away or right behind you with the brights on, do the glasses make a noticeable difference in comfort and ability to see?

Am tempted to throw an order in to Zenni or something for a pair to those specs and try, then decide whether or not to have a "real" pair made.

you need to try for yourself, get a pair from a store where you can return it, try it, if you do not like it, return.

N8N said:

So the glasses you have, are they polarized, or only tinted?

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Only tinted.

Not sure which would be better

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Tinted.

I'm thinking that the polarized would do a much better job of cutting headlamp glare, but I'm not certain if in practice this would make them dangerous in low light conditions.

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Be certain they would be more dangerous. They'll cut out about quite a bit of the light across the entire spectrum. The BPI Winter Sun tint is much more permissive; its function is just to remove wavelengths shorter than 450nm from the light.

N8N said:

Am tempted to throw an order in to Zenni or something for a pair to those specs and try, then decide whether or not to have a "real" pair made.

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alpg88 said:

you need to try for yourself, get a pair from a store where you can return it, try it, if you do not like it, return.

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Either get them made by a competent optical shop with the correct, calibrated equipment using the correct dyes and processes, or don't get them at all. This is not a normal OTC proposition.

You might know straight off if you don't like them, but they might also fool you into thinking you like them until they let you down.

This really isn't something likely to turn out well with a trial order to a cheap online glasses outfit. If you're not sure whether you'll like them, go get a couple of "K2" or "Y2" camera lens filters out of the used-filters bin at a local camera store and secure them however you can (tape?) to your regular eyeglasses, then go for a drive at night. Or go to a theatre/TV/Film production supply house and get a sheet of Roscolux #4590 CalColor 90 Yellow, cut it to shape and tape it to your glasses, then go drive at night.

-Virgil- said:

If you're not sure whether you'll like them, go get a couple of "K2" or "Y2" camera lens filters out of the used-filters bin at a local camera store and secure them however you can (tape?) to your regular eyeglasses, then go for a drive at night. Or go to a theatre/TV/Film production supply house and get a sheet of Roscolux #4590 CalColor 90 Yellow, cut it to shape and tape it to your glasses, then go drive at night.

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Or you can do that, true. Note, N8N, that the gels aren't going to be antireflective, but it's just a proof-of-concept here. Then you can spend the *real* money on real glasses with the real tint.

The real money may be the sticky bit... I remember having a similar discussion with DS maybe 10 years ago, and it doesn't seem that recommendations have changed significantly. However, having glasses made at a real optician's was expensive then and more so now - I've bought good running cars for less! But maybe it just has to be done because the issue is not getting better. Do you notice real benefit in the specific instance of oncoming traffic running high beams? This is something that I encounter several times a day on a good day, and being blinded by same is my greatest vision related challenge.

yes, mine regular $20 shooting glasses do help with oncoming high beams and hid kits, they are still as bright, but look yellowish and make it easier to tolerate the lights.

N8N said:

Do you notice real benefit in the specific instance of oncoming traffic running high beams? This is something that I encounter several times a day on a good day, and being blinded by same is my greatest vision related challenge.

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High beams, being high beams, not so much. But HID headlamps (whether factory or not), definitely the blue is attenuated, and I see some benefit regarding halogen, too (there's still a small blue component of light in a filament's output).

alpg88 said:

yes, mine regular $20 shooting glasses do help with oncoming high beams and hid kits, they are still as bright, but look yellowish and make it easier to tolerate the lights.

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Depending on how they arrive at their "yellow", they may be unsuitable for night driving. If they're yellow without an orange look, they might be fine. This is why I stick with my recommendation that a competent optical shop do it up for you, especially if your vision needs correction.

This is interesting. I wonder how close that "winter sun" tint is to selective yellow. I also wonder if the yellow safety glasses I borrowed from work are really selective yellow (as they looked to me) or if they are closer to "winter sun." My wife loves them for winter/night driving, though I tend to avoid any sort of glasses at night. With age and gradually worsening cataracts (but not yet ready for surgery), I do notice glare a bit more (though I generally attribute it to idiots with HID "kits"). Maybe I'll give yellow glasses another try. I just hate to reduce the amount of light reaching my eyes at night.

Hamilton Felix said:

This is interesting. I wonder how close that "winter sun" tint is to selective yellow.

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Wonder no more:

Winter sun transmissivity curve: http://www.callbpi.com/pdf_misc/thera.pdf
Selective Yellow transmissivity curve: http://dsl.torque.net/tech/lights/light_color/SY_Transmissivity.jpg

The scales are slightly different, and there are some differences in the 467-525nm range-- I could try to rescale them and overlay them to see what is where. Certainly "close enough".

I also wonder if the yellow safety glasses I borrowed from work are really selective yellow (as they looked to me) or if they are closer to "winter sun." My wife loves them for winter/night driving, though I tend to avoid any sort of glasses at night. With age and gradually worsening cataracts (but not yet ready for surgery), I do notice glare a bit more (though I generally attribute it to idiots with HID "kits"). Maybe I'll give yellow glasses another try. I just hate to reduce the amount of light reaching my eyes at night.

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Yellow safety glasses are less transmissive than my Winter Sun-tinted glasses. I used to wear off-the-shelf yellow safety glasses that I got for lawnmowing and bicycle riding (eye protection is a MUST!) and have worn them while night driving in the snow (so much specular glare in addition to annoying headlamps), but only very sparingly would I wear them night driving otherwise.

Thank you, Alaric. Those charts are great.

These "DriveSafe" lenses from Zeiss look interesting:

http://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/en...eyeglass-lenses/drivesafe-lenses.html#details

"...For many drivers, the greatest visual problems come in low light situations (mesopic conditions like cloudy/rainy days and twilight). Eyeglasses have never been designed to account for the size of the pupil in these conditions. As a result, space perception and distance calculation can be especially difficult when driving.
ZEISS conducted intensive research into mesopic vision in developing Luminance Design Technology.* Standard lenses are designed using single-ray tracing, which does not account for pupil size. This can result in a lens that does not offer optimal clarity, especially when the pupil size is larger in low light conditions…."

not sure how good they are, but they claim Night Time Driving Glasses are scientifically engineered to enhance your vision in low-intensity light situations.

http://www.ѕhаrpеrіmаgе.com/ѕі/vіеw/prоduсt/Nіght+Tіmе+Drіvіng+Glаѕѕеѕ/203426