anti-glare night driving glasses

[keith1948]

There have been a few comments on the forum about glare from oncoming cars with LED headlights. Several people I know have virtually given up driving at night because of the glare from headlights. The RAC has just asked the government to take action following a survey that 85% of drivers feel that glare from headlights is getting worse and the blame is aimed at LED headlamps.

Since it is unlikely that the government will take any action on LEDs then the alternative is for the driver to wear anti-glare driving glasses. I have looked online and there seem to be a few available with a yellow or grey tint and/or polarising lenses. I have no experience of wearing these. Does the yellow tint have any effect? I have used polarising lenses in the past on a SLR camera to reduce reflections on water to some effect. I have also used mirror sunglasses which are very good driving into direct sunlight although quite what the effect is for oncoming drivers who see a driver with 2 suns as eyes remains to be seen.

So over to the forum - what are best driving glasses for night driving to reduce glare of LED headlights?

Keith

[RobH]

I'm not sure any grey-tinted glasses will help Keith - apart from many older people needing them to have prescription lenses. For me it's the intense brightness, poor aiming and sharp cut-off of some modern lights.  The problem is the contrast between on-coming lights (particularly from a stream of cars) and the much darker patch in front of me (particularly on un-lit roads), where I am trying to see where I am heading. Dark glasses will just make that dark patch even darker, so won't help at all. 

Earlier this month I was driving East on the A303 late at night, with nothing else going my way but a seemingly ceaseless stream coming in the other direction. Even though I was in the 'modern' with decent halogen lamps, it was most unpleasant at times on the unlit sections. 

 

 

Edited January 11 by RobH

[Phil Read]

I used to have a pair of yellow ones which were a bit like motor cycle goggles and fit over my glasses. they did work to a certain extent but I felt like a pratt wearing them so I gave up.

[stuart]

I was taught when learning to drive look to just past the end of your headlight beam kerbside that way you dont get blinded so much by oncoming headlamps.

Biggest problem I find with LED lights is if you give way or let someone out and they flash their headlamps at you then you cant see a thing for the next few minutes due to retina burnout!

Stuart.

[Tom Fremont]

LEDs are confirmed to cause permanent damage to the eyes and must be eliminated ultimately to secure eye health going forward. For reference:

https://principia-scientific.com/world-expert-reveals-errors-in-assessing-led-light-health-risks/

As many have noted, meantime countermeasures are essential. My wife found some purpose-made " sunglasses " which I use day or night in my modern car. Regrettably, visibility is degraded at night and the view becomes ugly during the day. Moreover, the arms are fairly wide so obstruct peripheral vision. However, they are cheap at $15. They have gold coloured lenses and convert the ultra-bright LED headlights to a bearable intensity in yellow, other type of lights remaining white or yellow as normal.

Spread the word 

[RobH]

14 minutes ago, stuart said:

I was taught when learning to drive look to just past the end of your headlight beam kerbside that way you don't get blinded so much by oncoming headlamps.

Yep that's what I do too, and it helps - effectively 'dipping' your eyes.

Where there are kerbstones they tend to be shown up by the light from oncoming cars but on country roads there usually isn't even a defined kerb to give you guidance.  Mud and tarmac are much the same colour at night  

 

[John L]

Isn't a lot to do with the new SUV's are much higher off the ground, compared to the position of the heights of our lights, I know they should have the same % of dip, or should be, but starting from a higher position.

I also notice the new Led lights on the new cars have a much wider side angle than the old H4 lenses,  my house is parallel with the road but well back at least 25-30 meters, and I'm still able to see cars going past!

John 

[harrytr5]

Speaking to my optician there is no such thing as night driving glasses. I resist as much as I can driving at night and a lot of my friends also. As we get older we are more sensitive of glaring lights. Leds are not helping here at all. British Standards used to have a light testing Lab which I believe is no longer current, as EU rules are, must conform to their standard  and of self certification.

I have LEDS all round on my TR5 so I guess i am a hypocrite and want to be seen.

Regards Harry

[TR Rob]

1 hour ago, John L said:

Isn't a lot to do with the new SUV's are much higher off the ground, compared to the position of the heights of our lights, I know they should have the same % of dip, or should be, but starting from a higher position.

I also notice the new Led lights on the new cars have a much wider side angle than the old H4 lenses,  my house is parallel with the road but well back at least 25-30 meters, and I'm still able to see cars going past!

John 

+1 …..regarding height of headlights on modern SUV’s especially latest Range Rovers and Defenders.

[Lebro]

Are LED lights actually to blame ? I thought it was the HID type causing the problem.

Bob

[Andy Moltu]

Frustrating that the height of the headlamps on SUVs and trucks wasn’t restricted to the same height as a regular saloon.

As for the damaging effects of regular vehicle LEDs I remain unconvinced that they are quite as damaging as the claims in the above link. A lot of opinion rather than hard scientific evidence to support the assertions bundled up with a host of terminology to confirm the status/self importance of the author and her superior knowledge of the subject.

The “publication” would not seem to be a peer reviewed one of high esteem!

 

Yes a lot of people find them dazzling because they are bright white, poorly adjusted and emanating from eye level headlights on Chelsea Tractors.

[keith1948]

Thanks for the many replies. My question is not specifically whether LEDs or height of headlights on SUVs are to blame but what can the driver do to mitigate the glare from headlights that seems to be getting worse. Not looking directly at oncoming headlights is something I have done since learning to drive back in the 1960's. I have also taken to using the dipping feature on the rear view mirror more often. Unfortunately the TR is low down and the 4A doesn't have a dipping rear view mirror. However it is not just the TR but the 2 more modern cars I drive where I encounter headlight glare.

I have today sent off for a pair of yellow tinted specs with polarising lenses and I will see how they work. I have a pair of mirror sunglasses but they reduce visibility at night so not so good. In the past I had some prescription glasses that supposedly had an anti-glare coating but it didn't seem to do anything. At times I have thought that maybe it was just my eyesight but reading and hearing about so many drivers experiencing the same problem means it is something related to modern headlights. Since I can't change all the other cars on the road then I am looking for something I can do personally apart from not driving at night.

Keith

[John Morrison]

 

Interesting Thread this.

Personally I wouldn't leave home without mine, and I have a pair in each car.

I regularly drive the A66 Scotch Corner to Penrith. If you are unlucky enough to meet a HGV climbing out of the Warcop dip, at night, in the rain,

and this HGV will normally be followed by a stream of other vehicle it has slowed, then you are in real trouble of not being able to see properly.

These night glasses, popped over my ordinary perscription driving glasses solve this.

I endorse everything written here about modern headlights, but can't see much likely hood of a see-change here, without real positive govenment will.

 

One tip I used for years, and this was against oncoming vehicles on full-beam, was to as the vehicle approached, to close one eye, then immediately it passed open that eye and close the other, that did work, in preventing being dazzled.

John.

[RobH]

1 hour ago, John Morrison said:

can't see much likely hood of a see-change here

I don't know whether that pun was deliberate or whether auto-correct was responsible but it made me chuckle.

 

I've just seen these, and at the price it might be worth a try:

[Alfrom]

As Bob mentioned above, it is not so much the LEDs that are a problem but more likely HIDs and similar that should be used only in vehicles with working self-levelling systems.

Carried out correctly, the annual MoT check should eliminate the culprits but only on cars that are subject to the test, of course.

And yes, I do have LED headlights, set up against  a garage door to match the originals and confirmed, I believe, during a recentMoT test as having acceptable beams - never been flashed when night driving.

 

Surely tinted lenses simply reduce the intensity of ‘all’ light frequencies, so that the overall impression is on of less overall intensity.  Now if it were possible to have auto-LEDs all radiating at the same frequency, lenses could be tuned to block or at least reduce, only that frequency. . . . Then do the same for HIDs etc.

[RobH]

1 hour ago, Alfrom said:

Surely tinted lenses simply reduce the intensity of ‘all’ light frequencies, so that the overall impression is on of less overall intensity.

To an extent yes - but modern ultra-bright lamps tend to the blue end of the light spectrum which is why they look glaring white, so yellow lenses will attenuate that blue light while still allowing the yellower light from incandescent lamps to pass through.  

Halogen lamps produce a continuous spectrum of light which peaks at the redder end of the spectrum. LED and HID lamps give light with distinct peaks towards the blue end. 

The higher the 'colour temperature' the more the light tends to blue, and photon energy increases as wavelength shortens. Attenuating the blue light reduces the overall light energy markedly. 

 

 

Edited January 11 by RobH

[Richard65]

One of the causes of the discomfort is due to flare. This is made worse by dirty windscreens inside and out, not wearing distance specs ( use an anti reflection coating)if you need them, not cleaning said specs, and early lens changes ,most over 65 have early lens anomalies.  Rodenstock made me some lenses before my retirement with a nearly clear filter that cut out near uv light and some of the blue spectrum, I find them great but they are expensive and not able to try before you buy. Other lens manufacturers probably have something similar.

Closing one eye to approaching traffic does affect depth perception, I have measured this effect in 1970s. Some if not most tinted ‘night driving specs’ do not have enough light transmission, I cannot recall the legal standard.

[RobH]

6 minutes ago, Richard65 said:

use an anti reflection coating

I had driving glasses with this coating and after about a year the coating degraded and actually produced annoying star-shaped flare from point light sources.  This happened on the replacement pair too.  My latest pair I deliberately specified with no coating and so far they have been fine. 

Built-in obsolescence ? 

[Richard65]

Not with the lenses I supplied. Cheap Chinese rubbish in lenses as well as TR parts

[RobH]

A fairly well known high-street opticians. These were proper prescription glasses costing the usual arm-and-leg.  

[Richard65]

Take them back Rob. Most manufacturers of the lenses have a ‘warranty’ of 1 or 2 years. 

[keith1948]

8 hours ago, RobH said:

Halogen lamps produce a continuous spectrum of light which peaks at the redder end of the spectrum. LED and HID lamps give light with distinct peaks towards the blue end. 

The intensity/wavelength graphs are really helpful in showing that LED headlamps have a larger peak in the blue end of the spectrum. It should be possible for headlamp manufacturers to coat their lamps with a film to reduce this peak if this is the cause of glare. Meanwhile it looks like yellow tinted specs might be able to reduce the blue light. I have some red tinted specs for use with a laser theodolite  but the whole world becomes red. They would reduced blue glare but not for driving use. I am guessing but the depth of yellow colour in tinted specs will determine how much of the blue is filtered out. I don't know if a polarising filter would do anything. Somewhere I have some polarising filters for photography. I shall have to find them and see what they do if anything.

Keith

[RobH]

33 minutes ago, Richard65 said:

Take them back Rob. Most manufacturers of the lenses have a ‘warranty’ of 1 or 2 years. 

I tried that - they said 'no' as it was more than a year. As  I said, my latest proper prescription pair have no coating and are OK. 

(I find cheap Chinese 1.5 diopter reading glasses are not bad for distance use and don't suffer from flare.......)

 

Edited January 11 by RobH

[RobH]

2 minutes ago, keith1948 said:

It should be possible for headlamp manufacturers to coat their lamps with a film to reduce this peak if this is the cause of glare.

The blue peak is why the lights look so bright, so I very much doubt they will do that as there is then little difference from halogen. 

[RobH]

I've just received the clip-on yellow lenses. The enclosed data sheet says they reduce blue light in the range  380 - 500 nm by 84%  and overall light transmission, VLT, is 75% of normal.  ( by contrast the quoted figures for silver-mirrored sunglasses are 86% and 11% respectively ).

Sounds promising.