Maintaining Your Eyesight While Driving at Night
Maintaining your eyesight while driving at night is critical for driver safety.
We’ve previously shared tips on driving safely at night, and one of the most important factors is maintaining your eyesight. Ultimately—if you can’t see clearly, you can’t drive safely. Keeping your eyesight in top form is more difficult at night, and with the onset of winter, truck drivers will be spending more time on the road while it’s dark.
Windows & Mirrors
Keep your windows and mirrors clean to avoid dirt and debris clouding your vision, as well as severe glare from streaks. You can switch your rearview mirror to a night view to keep yourself from being blinded by headlights. It’s also important to check your windshield wipers and make sure they’re in good working order. If they’re streaky, they might need to be replaced before the worst of the winter weather hits.
Dashboard
Any bright lights can affect your vision while you’re night driving, and it can take a while for your eyesight to readjust. Dim your dashboard lights once the sun goes down to keep them from interrupting your vision. This will also make it safe for you to regularly check your dashboard to monitor your speed, gas, and all other pertinent information. Just make sure your dashboard is always easily visible.
Yellow-Tinted Glasses
There are yellow-tinted “night driving” glasses that can be easily purchased just about anywhere. It’s important to note, however, that these glasses should be avoided for night driving. Yellow-tinted glasses are meant for blocking blue light. This might sound beneficial when you think about how you need to minimize your exposure to bright lights while night driving, but blue light is what keeps your brain awake, and these yellow-tinted glasses can make it more difficult to see overall.
A better option is anti-glare lenses, which will maintain your regular eyesight and keep your vision clear while minimizing the glare and flash of bright lights of passing cars or lights reflecting off of your rearview mirrors.
Eye Exam
Don’t forget to keep up with your annual eye exams. Even if you don’t currently need corrective lenses, it’s always good to keep these appointments. This will let you know where your vision is at, and you can get recommendations from your eye doctor if your vision begins to deteriorate. It’s better to stay on top of it just in case you do end up needing corrective lenses, or even if you just want special lenses for night driving. It’s never safe to drive when your eyesight isn’t at its best.
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