Dimming the Lights

Dimming the Lights
After listening to comments and studying the problem for more than two years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seems ready to act. As this issue of Car & Travel went to press, the agency was expected to take a first step by proposing new rules lowering the maximum allowable height for headlights on passenger vehicles. NHTSA will probably also soon propose more new rules covering HIDs, auxiliary lights, adaptive frontal lighting, aiming and other issues.
However, even if NHTSA would begin regulating all glare sources tomorrow, you'd still have to live with the HIDs, fog lights, out-of-whack headlights and other eye-offenders already on the road. For that reason, safety experts maintain that the immediate solution lies not with engineers designing better lighting systems but with drivers learning to manage the effects of glare.
· In fact, you can do a lot to reduce glare-associated discomfort. Follow these tips: Make glass disappear. If you can see the glass between your eyes and the road, then you're not looking through it; you're looking at it. And that means the glass isn't clean enough. Wipe your windshield thoroughly, inside and out, removing all road grime, accumulated film, and especially bug splatters, which catch and scatter light. Repair chips and cracks in the windshield promptly, and clean or replace your windshield wipers to eliminate streaking.
· Look away. When oncoming headlights threaten to blind you temporarily, "the simplest solution is to avoid looking directly at the glare source," says Dr. Timothy Wingert, associate professor of optometry at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. "Of course, sometimes that's easier said than done, since the glare source is the brightest, most interesting object in your field of vision." Directing your gaze down and to the right (to the white edge line on the side of the road) seems to work best. That way, you can maintain your lane position, and your peripheral vision can still detect the motion of potential hazards.
· Get AR-coated eyeglasses. If you wear prescription eyeglasses, consider an anti-reflective (AR) coating. It costs $80 or more, but most wearers will tell you that it's well worth the price. "I wouldn't own a pair of glasses without it," says Dr. Jeffrey Weaver, director of clinical care for the American Optometric Association.
· Typical plastic lenses transmit only 92 percent of light. But AR-coated lenses transmit nearly 100 percent--eliminating internal reflections. Clinical studies show conclusively that AR-coated lenses improve vision, day and night, and reduce glare and reflections compared with conventional eyeglasses.
· The downside? AR-coated lenses require careful handling, because they scratch and smudge more easily than non-coated lenses. Although their vulnerability to marring scared off many buyers when AR coatings were first introduced, newer formulas have proved a bit more durable.
· Adjust your mirrors. You can adjust your outboard mirrors to fight glare from headlights behind you. From your normal seating position, tilt your head until it rests against the driver's-side window; adjust the left mirror so that you can just see the left rear fender. Then, lean to the right until your head is near the vehicle's centerline; adjust the right mirror until you can just see the right rear fender. This adjustment technique not only shrinks blind spots, but also keeps trailing headlights from shining directly into your eyes. Combined with the "night" setting on the center-mounted rearview mirror, it will usually eliminate uncomfortable glare coming from the rear. If glare still bothers you, consider self-dimming mirrors (available as optional or aftermarket equipment), which darken automatically in response to brighter light.
· Have your vision checked. Eliminate incipient cataracts or other medical problems as possible sources of light sensitivity. Eye care experts recommend a thorough exam every three years for people under 40, every two years for 40- and 50-somethings, and every year for those over 60.
What You Can Forget Some companies’ market yellow-tinted night-driving glasses, which supposedly block the specific wavelengths of light responsible for nighttime glare. Simply put, they don't work. In fact, by reducing the amount of light reaching your eyes, they actually impair your ability to see at night. And, like wearing sunglasses at night or indoors, using night-driving glasses may eventually make you more sensitive to sunlight during daytime driving, as your eyes become accustomed to lower levels of light.
Several years ago, the Federal Trade Commission fined one company--Nationwide Syndications, Inc., marketer of "Night Safe" glasses--for making unsubstantiated claims about its product. However, that hasn't stopped other companies from making similar claims about similar glasses since. A recent study sponsored by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety concluded, "Reasoning based on solid physiological and perceptual concepts, and backed up by almost 60 years of empirical research, yields no real support for the use of fully tinted glare-blocking glasses as a means of achieving safer nighttime driving."
Unfortunately, eliminating glare isn't as easy as putting on a pair of special glasses. The ultimate remedies lie not in quick fixes but in better engineering, better regulation and better driver education.

With the Sun in Your Eyes
Although nighttime glare draws the most complaints to government regulators, daytime driving obviously presents problems, too. Sun glare can make reading traffic lights and signs difficult, temporarily blind you to potential hazards, and turn an ordinary commute into a squinty, headache-inducing experience.
High-quality sunglasses should form your first line of defense. Take these tips on picking a good pair:
· Go eyeball to eyeball with yourself. Those fashionable, barely tinted specs? Forget 'em, says the American Optometric Association. When trying on a pair of sunglasses in the store, look at yourself in the mirror. If you can see your eyes clearly, then the glasses aren't dark enough to provide adequate protection in strong sunlight.
· Go gray. "Neutral gray lenses alter your color perception the least," advises Dr. Timothy Wingert, associate professor of optometry at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Above all, avoid blue lenses. They transmit sunlight's blue wavelengths, which can result in age-related macular degeneration and other eye problems later.
· Go with UV protection. Although ultraviolet light has nothing to do with glare, it can harm your eyes. Look for specially coated lenses or ones made of polycarbonate, which block nearly 100 percent of UV light. Stickers or tags identify lenses that afford UV protection; tint or color alone cannot protect against UV light.
· Go polarized. "Polarized lenses help mostly with reflected glare, such as the kind you get off snow, water and road surfaces," says Wingert.
· To handle other glare that you can't block with sunglasses or the sun visor, safety experts suggest repositioning yourself. Sometimes just tilting your head to one side does the trick; other times, you need to shift position within your lane or even change lanes altogether--provided you have room to do so safely.
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