Steer your way to clear night vision

The transition periods of fall and winter are particularly hard on our eyes: The sun hangs low in the sky in the mornings and early evenings, darkness sets in earlier; long twilight phases and frequent fog impede our vision - especially while we are driving. Special secondary glasses can help improve your vision in these challenging situations.

A familiar scenario: You are driving home after a long, stressful day at work. Twilight has set in, and the sun is already hanging so low that it is blinding you while you drive through traffic. The oncoming headlights are also reflected. You can distinguish the vehicles in the opposite lane, but not until it is too late. Your eyes are overstrained. You realize that this endangers your own safety and that of other drivers on the road.

To make sure you get home safely in the future, see your eye care professional. He or she will recommend a special second pair of eyeglasses for driving that fulfill the extreme visual requirements brought on by twilight, light variations and glare.

Your driving glasses should be equipped with optimal glare and UV protection in your individual prescription strength in order to prevent reflection and glare. Eyeglass lenses that have an excellent anti-reflective coating as well as polarizing and tinted lenses are the ideal way to achieve this objective.

Uncoated eyeglass lenses can act like a mirror, which leads to clearly visible light reflections that impair your vision. When driving, these reflections primarily come from oncoming traffic during the twilight hours and at night. Eyeglass lenses with an anti-reflective coating reduce these disturbing reflections and provide transparent, clear vision, uncompromised perception and diminished driver glare. There are three levels of anti-reflective coating: basic, medium and super. For frequent driving at dawn and dusk and during the nighttime, experts recommend super-coated eyeglass lenses.

It is very simple: Polarizing eyeglass lenses  can filter the reflections – primarily from light-reflecting surfaces such as wet roads and water surfaces. The benefits will be obvious to you the moment you start wearing these lenses: Your vision will be considerably clearer. Thanks to the lenses’ special coloring, your vision will also be richer in contrast and you will experience more brilliant color rendering. You will be able to distinguish oncoming traffic more clearly and sooner, for example on wet roads and when the headlights of oncoming cars approach.

UV protection can also be important for driving glasses. It provides protection against the short-wave ultra-violet radiation that can permanently damage the eye. Brown or grey tints are best suited for driving because they enable drivers to distinguish traffic lights, stop lights or other light signals as effectively and quickly as possible.

By the way: Tinted eyeglass lenses with gradient colors can be especially pleasant for driving. The bottom edge of these glasses is lighter and thus facilitates better recognition of items and information displayed on the dashboard.

Everyone is different. Accordingly, your eyes, the distance between your eyes and your specific vision are all different as well. Of course this also affects the way you see when you are driving. Some people turn their heads to see what is happening around them, while others only move their eyes. All of these things play important roles in the configuration of your glasses and have to be taken into consideration. Custom-tailored, extra-clear precision eyeglass lenses can thus drastically increase your visual comfort zone and relax your eyes.

People do become more sensitive to glare with age. Their visual impression deteriorates and the safety risk goes up. Our tip: Have your eyesight checked regularly – at least as often as you take your car in for inspection. Have an eye test preferably every two years.

Your eye care professional will also recommend suitable frames for your driving glasses. Ideally, you should select frames with small rims and narrow sidepieces that are positioned at the top so that your field of vision is not restricted by your glasses while you are driving. Very small frames with small lenses are often not ideal for eyeglasses you will wear while you are driving.