Can Glasses Help with Nighttime Driving?
A very common complaint is difficulty with nighttime driving due to glare, decreased contrast, and distortion associated with lights. This can make driving at night a scary endeavor, and it may even prevent some from driving at night at all. While some of these complaints cannot be significantly improved with glasses, there are many options with glasses that can alleviate some of the difficulties associated with nighttime driving. It is important to discuss any problems with driving at night with your eye doctor to formulate the best solutions for you.
How is Nighttime Driving Different than Daytime Driving?
When considering things that can impact nighttime driving but not daytime driving, it is important to consider the differences between the two.
The obvious difference is that driving at night has much less illumination in the surrounding environment than during daytime driving.
While this is in and of itself a major difference, it will also create additional difficulties.
At night, headlights, streetlights, and taillights are all illuminated and much more intense due to the lack of surrounding light.
Since there is less light available, the eye will dilate to allow the maximum amount of light to enter the eye.
This is an evolutionary advantage that gives the best vision in dim lighting; however, night driving can actually cause this to be a major disadvantage given the number of lights that will be encountered occasionally.
Glare at Night
One of the biggest challenges that nighttime driving presents are dealing with glare and halos that are created by oncoming lights.
These lights will create a scattering of light off of the road, the windshield, and even the eye itself.
The brighter the light in relation to the darkness around it, the more impact it will have on creating glare.
This glare can be very distracting or debilitating for night driving.
This coating is designed to reduce the aberrant reflections that pass through the lens and into the eyes.
This anti-reflective coating can be a vital tool in treating symptoms related to nighttime driving issues.
Decreased Contrast at Night
In the dim light, contrast sensitivity is reduced. This means that it becomes harder to determine where an object starts and ends from the surrounding.
This contrast sensitivity is what allows us to be able to determine one object or texture from another.
For example, it is contrast sensitivity that allows the ability to determine where the road ends and the grass shoulder begins.
At night, this ability is lessened since there is less light to assist with determining what is being seen.
Glasses can help correct vision as best as possible and may even be able to be tinted lightly to help improve contrast sensitivity.
Distortion with Lights at Night
Another common problem with nighttime driving is that lights appear distorted, smeared, or elongated into a starburst.
This phenomenon is usually due to some amount of uncorrected astigmatism.
Astigmatism causes the eye to perceive a point as a stretched line instead of a perfect circle. When this is applied to lights, it creates a starburst-like effect.
Glasses are a great option for correcting astigmatism, even if the glasses are not needed to be worn all of the time, astigmatism correction can be useful for nighttime driving.
Our eye doctors at GHEye excel in the prescription of glasses, contact lenses and the diagnosis of a variety of eye diseases. Call our optometrists at (571) 445-3692 to schedule your appointment today to be evaluated for nighttime driving glasses. Our eye doctors, Dr. Ally Stoeger and Dr. Jennifer Sun provide the highest quality optometry services and eye exams in the Gainesville VA, and Haymarket VA areas.
A very common complaint is difficulty with nighttime driving due to glare, decreased contrast, and distortion associated with lights. This can make driving at night a scary endeavor, and it may even prevent some from driving at night at all. While some of these complaints cannot be significantly improved with glasses, there are many options with glasses that can alleviate some of the difficulties associated with nighttime driving. It is important to discuss any problems with driving at night with your eye doctor to formulate the best solutions for you.
How is Nighttime Driving Different than Daytime Driving?
When considering things that can impact nighttime driving but not daytime driving, it is important to consider the differences between the two.
The obvious difference is that driving at night has much less illumination in the surrounding environment than during daytime driving.
While this is in and of itself a major difference, it will also create additional difficulties.
At night, headlights, streetlights, and taillights are all illuminated and much more intense due to the lack of surrounding light.
Since there is less light available, the eye will dilate to allow the maximum amount of light to enter the eye.
This is an evolutionary advantage that gives the best vision in dim lighting; however, night driving can actually cause this to be a major disadvantage given the number of lights that will be encountered occasionally.
Glare at Night
One of the biggest challenges that nighttime driving presents are dealing with glare and halos that are created by oncoming lights.
These lights will create a scattering of light off of the road, the windshield, and even the eye itself.
The brighter the light in relation to the darkness around it, the more impact it will have on creating glare.
This glare can be very distracting or debilitating for night driving.
This coating is designed to reduce the aberrant reflections that pass through the lens and into the eyes.
This anti-reflective coating can be a vital tool in treating symptoms related to nighttime driving issues.
Decreased Contrast at Night
In the dim light, contrast sensitivity is reduced. This means that it becomes harder to determine where an object starts and ends from the surrounding.
This contrast sensitivity is what allows us to be able to determine one object or texture from another.
For example, it is contrast sensitivity that allows the ability to determine where the road ends and the grass shoulder begins.
At night, this ability is lessened since there is less light to assist with determining what is being seen.
Glasses can help correct vision as best as possible and may even be able to be tinted lightly to help improve contrast sensitivity.
Distortion with Lights at Night
Another common problem with nighttime driving is that lights appear distorted, smeared, or elongated into a starburst.
This phenomenon is usually due to some amount of uncorrected astigmatism.
Astigmatism causes the eye to perceive a point as a stretched line instead of a perfect circle. When this is applied to lights, it creates a starburst-like effect.
Glasses are a great option for correcting astigmatism, even if the glasses are not needed to be worn all of the time, astigmatism correction can be useful for nighttime driving.