Five Tips for Senior Drivers on Coping with Night Driving

For seniors, night driving is more hazardous than for other segments of the driving population. Their pupils are smaller and, therefore, allow less light into the eye. They also react slowly to changing light conditions. This means night vision takes longer to recover after exposure to headlight glare and the road generally appears darker. Night contrast perception also diminishes.

The best strategy for seniors is avoiding night driving altogether by car pooling and rescheduling commitments. However, if you must night drive, there are ways of minimizing your risk:

Choose Routes with Minimal Traffic

The best route isn’t necessarily the shortest one. A route with less traffic means dealing with fewer oncoming headlights. Less traffic also simplifies driving. Use a map to find a less busy alternate route. Familiarize yourself with it by driving it during daytime hours.

See an Eye Doctor on a Regular Basis

A health condition may worsen your night vision beyond normal age problems. Regular appointments with your eye doctor will catch these conditions before they cause an accident.

Use the Painted Edge Lines

When encountering oncoming cars that do not dim their headlights, look at the painted edge lines on the right side of your lane. These will guide you until the bright headlights have passed. Use your peripheral vision to track the oncoming car.

Slow Down

Driving too fast leaves little time to react to obstacles that appear at the limits of your headlight beams. Increase your following distance behind other cars beyond what you use during the day.

Use Night Driving Glasses

VS Eyewear night driving glasses have a special coating on both the front and back lens surfaces that blocks glare from all bright lights. These include the headlights of oncoming cars as well as those of cars overtaking you from behind. When a car passes you from behind, its headlights can reflect off the inside surface of ordinary glasses. The special coating on the back lens surface prevents this.

To learn more about our night driving glasses and for answers to your questions, contact us today.