Answer True or False to the following questions to test your Eye-Q.
- Your regular glasses are just fine for driving during the day.
- There isn’t a lens that darkens behind the windshield of a car.
- An anti-reflective coating makes it easier to see at night.
- There is a lens that allows you to see both distance road signs and up close details on a map.
- You only need one pair of glasses for driving in all conditions.
CLEAR, CRISP VISION
Normally, being able to see clearly isn’t a matter of “life and death” but when you are driving a car 65 mph on the highway, it could be. Make sure you have the best eyewear available with the latest in technology for driving during the day and at night.
Between driving to and from work each day, taking kids to school, soccer, dance classes, running errands, taking trips, most adults spend a fair amount of time behind the wheel of a car. The demands on your eyes range from being able to see the road signs up ahead, to reading your speedometer, to looking up directions on a map. In other words, you need to be able to see clearly at all distances and in all driving conditions—both day and night. During the day, you’ll need to see clearly even when bright sunshine is bouncing off of car windshields, slick roads and shiny car hoods. At night, you’ll need to see clearly on dimly light roads as well as in cities with oncoming headlights and glare coming from overhead street lights. With all these demands on your eyes, it’s a good thing technology has kept pace providing eyewear that can meet these challenges.
DRIVING CHALLENGES
DAYTIME DRIVING
If you wear prescription eyewear, you will also need a pair of prescription sunglasses for driving during the day. Polarized lenses are the best at blocking the glare coming off of wet payment, car windows and the hoods of cars. By eliminating the glare, you will have a clear view of the road ahead.ex lens materials.
For those who like the convenience of photochromic lenses—those lenses that change from clear to dark in sunlight and then back to clear again indoors—there are new photochromic polarized lens on the market that work behind the windshield of a car. Today there are lenses that combine the photochromic and polarized benefits into a single lens. Additionally, there is lens technology that filters out specific colors in the light spectrum for greater visual definition. Now your glasses can adjust to the changing light conditions you face while driving to make it easier for you to see. Need help reading the street signs, your GPS navigation system or a standard map? Then a progressive addition lens (no-line bifocals) is just the thing to help you see clearly at all distances—near (the map), intermediate (the GPS on the dashboard) and distance (the road signs up ahead). Your eye care professional will recommend the right lens design for your visional needs and can order you a pair of sunglasses with all the features you need to be a safe driver.
NIGHTTIME DRIVING
Once the sun goes down, it becomes more difficult to see what’s up ahead. With the glare of oncoming traffic lights in your eyes, it makes for a difficult if not> dangerous situation. Unfortunately you can’t wear polarized sunglasses at night to cut out glare but you can make sure the lenses in your regular prescription eyewear have an anti-reflective (AR) coating. The AR coating used for eyewear is similar to the coating found on microscopes, telescopes and camera lenses. The AR coating is made up of a number of layers, each designed to block reflected light. The result is that you will see a reduction in annoying reflections, halos around lights at night and less glare from headlights. This is an important safety benefit for nighttime driving.
