Driving at night

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Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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[redacted]

tomsugden

2,233 posts

227 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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I don't enjoy driving at night, but needs must. I got some varifocals last year and it made a huge difference to night driving.

Davie_GLA

6,521 posts

198 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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HI struggle at night and every year my eyesight is perfect. New LED lights etc don’t help and piss poor street lighting that hasn’t moved on much from candles in jars.

Total Drivin

144 posts

65 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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I prefer driving in the dead of night when the world is asleep. I thoroughly enjoy a good Sunday morning blast between midnight and 6am to the coast to watch the waves crash on the rocks whilst the sun rises mid summer.

Back to reality the the daily rat race especially the winter commute when it's dark and rainy at 5pm roads rammed with humans all trying to get home. Not so much.

Glasgowrob

3,232 posts

120 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Echo the above much prefer overnight to evening driving.

Done north of 100k miles a year for the last few years and you do see some worrying sites drivers obviously tired making mistakes and dozing off.

The biggest problem a lot of people struggle with is vision you might have perfect eyesight but doesn't mean you might not struggle in the dark speak to your optician about it. And glasses with an anti glare coating make the world of difference at night

Buster73

5,042 posts

152 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Quite happy with night driving, but sometimes I struggle with the hour as the sunsets and pure dark .

Don’t know why either.

Jimi.K.

238 posts

76 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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I'm surprised there aren't more regulations on headlight brightness - modern LEDs and Xenons are just too bright meaning even when properly adjusted you get blinded by oncoming traffic coming over the crest of hills or on uneven roads. I'm young and my eyesight is fine, but if my eyes took any longer to recover from momentary-blindness than they currently do I wouldn't feel comfortable driving at night.

I was driving along the M4 at midnight yesterday and there were multiple occasions where I dimmed my rear mirror because I was being blinded by a car behind, only to find it wasn't some idiot with badly adjusted aftermarket Xenons, but an brand new car with LED headlights!

timberman

1,280 posts

214 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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I've always preferred driving at night but only in the summer months when it's dry,
the roads are much quieter and the occasional headlight doesn't really bother me,

however in the colder months and especially when it's wet I find the reflections of lights off the road can be quite dazzling which can make progress more difficult,
that coupled with tyres having less grip and the chances of hitting potholes and other dangers due to reduced visibility I tend to avoid it unless necessary.

Pica-Pica

13,621 posts

83 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Davie_GLA said:
HI struggle at night and every year my eyesight is perfect. New LED lights etc don’t help and piss poor street lighting that hasn’t moved on much from candles in jars.
Funnily enough, I seem to be better now at driving at night. I have LEDs, and yes, you get the LEDs that are a bit bright over bumps etc.

Streetlights? I don’t where you live but they are much brighter now, we have LED streetlights mostly (rural Wales), so bright that birds are singing all through the night at the back of us.

If oncoming traffic headlamps are too bright - you don’t have to look at them, you know! As you drive, your eyes must be scanning everywhere, and that includes the kerb-side. If you feel blinded by headlamps, direct your eyes to the left hand edge of the road and focus there. That will help a lot.

Jimi.K.

238 posts

76 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Ah yes good point. I've recently switched to an Audi A5 and I have the seat as low as it goes so that explains why I've been finding it worse recently! My rear mirror is almost permanently dimmed at night now as I'm tired of being blinded by drivers behind!

timberman

1,280 posts

214 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Jimi.K. said:
Ah yes good point. I've recently switched to an Audi A5 and I have the seat as low as it goes so that explains why I've been finding it worse recently! My rear mirror is almost permanently dimmed at night now as I'm tired of being blinded by drivers behind!
yep
I find a big difference between driving my 911 and my wifes Tiguan, much easier to see where I'm going and a lot less dazzle from other road users in the tiguan, and much more suited to driving at this time of the year.

Ed/L152

480 posts

236 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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I have better than 20:20 vision, but have developed some astigmatism. I didn't realise this was an issue because I'd never previously had cause for regular eye tests. My astigmatism is only noticeable in high-contrast environments - i.e. car headlights at night when it causes smearing of the image.

A bit like this (although photo is possibly just from a dirty windscreen):


Just saying, you may have otherwise good vision but still benefit from glasses to drive at night.

Edited by Ed/L152 on Saturday 12th January 10:31

MitchT

15,788 posts

208 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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I have my eyes tested every year. Pretty much perfect eyesight but driving in the dark is a nightmare due to fking HIDs.

RemyMartin81D

6,759 posts

204 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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You've not suffered until you've ridden a pre facelift fzs600 fazer. They are outrageously bad.

Dr Jekyll

23,820 posts

260 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Ed/L152 said:
I have better than 20:20 vision, but have developed some astigmatism. I didn't realise this was an issue because I'd never previously had cause for regular eye tests. My astigmatism is only noticeable in high-contrast environments - i.e. car headlights at night when it causes smearing of the image.
Not sure how accurate this is. But I was told that if your eye is a complicated shape you might have more astigmatism at night when your pupil enlarges, and a normal eyetest won't pick this up.

mike9009

6,918 posts

242 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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I am in a similar position. I have cataracts in both eyes, but my left eye is rapidly changing its prescription atm. Oddly, I have found my night vision has improved from last year. LED lights don't bother me too much, I still despise people driving with front fog/ driving lights on though - but that has been the case for the last 20 years! smile

I went to the opticians yesterday, who said I am fine to drive. My biggest struggle is reading screens at work. At that focal distance I am getting a slightly double image, probably because my prescription is quite different between the two eyes now. I am needing a new prescription every three months which with varifocals and maxed thinned lenses is becoming an expensive habit - although Specsavers have a 50% off offer if you buy another set of glasses within six months which has helped - luckily they honoured this despite my different prescription.

I have my first 'cataract clinic' appointment in Feb - so hopefully I will just get both eyes done (might need to go private for that though....) With the difference in prescription, I would otherwise need to wear one contact lens rather than glasses - which I am not keen on. It will be strange because I have worn glasses since the age of 7. Not wearing glasses for distance work will be strange and potentially liberating??

I am also quite young for this, but with high myopia (-8 and -9.5), diabetic, hereditary early on-set cataracts and a vitrectomy under my belt, it was going to happen sooner or later!

Are they going to do your cataracts operation soon? Best of luck....



Mike


Pica-Pica

13,621 posts

83 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Jimi.K. said:
Ah yes good point. I've recently switched to an Audi A5 and I have the seat as low as it goes so that explains why I've been finding it worse recently! My rear mirror is almost permanently dimmed at night now as I'm tired of being blinded by drivers behind!
Is it not auto-dim? My 1998 E36 had auto dim back then.

Ed/L152

480 posts

236 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Dr Jekyll said:
Ed/L152 said:
I have better than 20:20 vision, but have developed some astigmatism. I didn't realise this was an issue because I'd never previously had cause for regular eye tests. My astigmatism is only noticeable in high-contrast environments - i.e. car headlights at night when it causes smearing of the image.
Not sure how accurate this is. But I was told that if your eye is a complicated shape you might have more astigmatism at night when your pupil enlarges, and a normal eyetest won't pick this up.
Definitely, any lens aberration is worse at larger apertures. I have had the room dimmed at the astigmatism part of eye-tests, but not every time.

Robmarriott

2,633 posts

157 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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Pica-Pica said:
If oncoming traffic headlamps are too bright - you don’t have to look at them, you know! As you drive, your eyes must be scanning everywhere, and that includes the kerb-side. If you feel blinded by headlamps, direct your eyes to the left hand edge of the road and focus there. That will help a lot.
Nonsense, your pupils narrow to compensate for the brightness so the darker bits appear darker, that's the problem.

Old halogen lights were dimmer, high pressure sodium street lights were dimmer and a combination of those meant that you could see more at night, despite what you'd think.

Baldchap

7,507 posts

91 months

Saturday 12th January 2019
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I have good eyesight, even in low light, but I have glasses to reduce the workload on my eyes in low light at my optician's suggestion. Whilst they don't necessarily change what I can see, they seem to help with very fine details in low light, reducing the time it takes to see things (if that makes sense). I keep them in the car and only wear them at night, but I'd say they are very worthwhile.

So even if you have decent eyes, don't skip those optician appointments!