Jalopnik
A recent study by TUV Rheinland has revealed that some European motorists resort to unsafe practices to avoid headlight glare from following vehicles at night. After polling 3,000 European drivers, they found that 5.1% of respondents from Germany, 5.4% from France and 9.2% from the United Kingdom were likely to resort to sunglasses in an effort to reduce that glare.
The study is being publicized, somewhat predictably, by a company specializing in auto-dimming rearview mirrors, which, we assume, reduce the need for nocturnal sunglass wearing. They point out that 71% of respondents who didn't already have auto-dimming mirrors were unaware that such things exist.
In addition to wearing sunglasses, other popular methods for combating glare include squinting (44% of respondents say they do this), blocking the glare with their hand (21.3%). Only 1.8% would block the glare with whatever they were holding at the time.
Jalopnik does not endorse nor suggest the wearing of sunglasses at night, no matter how cool they make you look. [Source: Gentex]
Comments
What a coincidence, 9.2 percent of British drivers are also Corey Hart fans!
Getting out of the way as soon as is safe to do so is the best option. Is that too obvious?
That's because they don't have the necessary retinal callouses that form naturally in places where the sun shines.
@amblito:
HUH?
If it's the glare from the mirror that's bothering you, dim the mirror. Almost all rear view mirror have that capability. The ones that you can't do anything about are the oncoming vehicles.
How will their auto-dimming mirror fix that?
Is the little lever on the mirror too difficult a concept to understand?
I had a psycho ex-gf who refused to move the mirror into the "night" postion, but constantly complained about the glare in her mirror.
I never understod that.
That or her lust for Saturns, but that's for another comment
@Bento:
Ha! Good one.
Try coming to America, where most other vehicles on the road have headlights at your eye level (if you're in a car). At least most of the cars over there are cars.
I wear my sunglasses at night.
So I can see you with true vision.
If the lights are bothering his eyes, why is he providing shade for
mouth with his hand?
Don't switch the blade
On the guy in shades, oh-no
Don't masquerade
With the guy in shades, oh-no
I can't believe it
Don't be afraid
Of the guy in shades, oh-no
It kinda scared you
'Cause you got it made
With the guy in shades, oh-no
Britain.
Where driving a '96 Citroen Saxo with a 5" tailpipe, headlamp "eyebrows" and 18" Pacific-Rim sourced alloys (£300 a set), whilst listening to Ultimate Hardcore Anthems 6 through a pair of Jensen (or equivalent...dross) 8" subwoofers.
Is the height of cool.
Put stupid fucking blue LED lights in the fucking windscreen washer jets, drive on your sidelights and front fucking foglights to complete the look.
And get some of those oh so original "Lexus style" clear fucking rear lights.
At least we have Marmite.
If we could just convince people that they don't need their high beams just because its dark, most of the problem would go away. That and those stupid HID headlamps, sure they're safer for the DRIVER, but they're just plain annoying to everyone else on the road.
9.2 percent? Isn't that roughly the flattish part of the end of the bell curve? I bet there's another 9.2 percent that adjust the mirror to reflect the glare into the tailgater's face. Somehow that one didn't make the headline.
@Rust-MyEnemy: I've been driven by a boy racer in a Saxo First, it was scary being hooned around in a car where the body panels seemed to be made from tinfoil.
@amblito: My wording there was terrible.
@ash78: You would not like my truck... It's not lifted or anything but the headlights are off slightly (as I have seen on other Rangers driving around) and they are angled slightly upward... When I am right behind someone at night I pretty much light up their whole car, and I don't even have the hi-beams on... until they give me a finger or something.
People seem to be much more used to it here in California though because every other person has a lifted F-250 on its 3rd tranny...
This would not be a problem if people would stop being losers and leaving their high beams on as another car approaches. God I hate those idiots....
Actually, the polarized blue-blockers (the light amber ones that look like shooting glasses) shouldn't noticeably impair your vision, but will substantially cut the glare from those bluish Xenons everybody is using these days. On a brighter note (pun intended), soon every square inch of Europe will be lit with artificial light, making headlights a thing of the past. In ten years. Or so.
Due to the heat and sun down this way, we tint our windows. On our cars, we put limo tint, or as dark as allowed, on the back glass and this takes care of the glare even from the high rise trucks...you can still see well during the day and at night use your sides for backing...
@ranwhenparked: Proper HID headlamps have much sharper cutoffs than standard lamps.
Putting xenon bulbs in standard lamps is different, but don't knock HIDs, they're superior at lighting the road.
@Rust-MyEnemy: That's basically America, but replace the Saxo with a Civic and the drum&bass with rap. Also, remove both wipers and add one oversized, probably blue wiper at a 40 degree angle on the passenger side.
They should wear Yellow tinted glasses.. just like the french motor police does... They don't take away the glare, but in yellow it is not as annoying (just like the once obliged yellow headlights in France) and they enhance contrast on clear days.
I'd rather just install a retractable mirror in the rear to reflect the brights back to the asshole riding up my bumper.
Brake check.
Or, you know, move the mirror to the night position.
I've also slowed down then flipped on my rear fogs. They're glaringly bright
It's a hundred and six miles to chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.
Hit it
+ Watch video
@GreenVanMan: I was waiting for someone to say that.....
Well done.
Sunglasses after dark
They're so sharp
(From 'Songs The Lord Taught Us')
THIS is an interesting article. As one that has retinopathy, which has caused night driving issues, I can see why people do this. Aside from my retina issues, night or low-light vision problems are also caused by radial keratomoy (lasik), as well as ED pharmaceuticals (Viagra), etc.
These three very common things will cause extreme night driving situations to exacerbate oncoming lights in such a way as to 'flare'. I know for me, the flares can be 'seen' as sometimes larger than the whole presented frontal area of the oncoming car. That is, the headlights to NORMAL vision folks that usually look like small, say 8 inch circles of light will look to ME like 8 foot diamater lights coming at me. My personal experience is one where my vision anomalies such as this vary and fluctuate. At times, the lights appear normal-ish.
People that use auxiliary lighting systems make this worse for us vision impaired folks, too. Extra lights really cause issues. However, I have not tried sunglasses at night. But, I wear them all other times. Even when raining and snowing. A bi-focal-ish type sunglasses, with the bottom half being darker, and top half being normal/clear, would be a great way to offer a compromise. I'd buy a pair now that I think about it.
@FThorn:
I'm thinking if you've got that kind of vision problems you probably shouldn't be driving at night.
As far as HID's, my car came with them and they have self levelers that keep them aimed low. I personally find oncoming HIDs to be less stressful on my eyes than normal headlights. I think the problem lights are those that "look" like HID's. The ones the wanna-be's use. These are ultra-bright white (blueish) bulbs that can be used instead of the standard bulbs. These are illegal in a lot of states but seem to get by the cops who are looking for poor innocent speeders like me.
I can't wait to have some nano-robot eyes implanted with high intensity light source compensation, zoom amplification, and nudie vision X-ray spectral control.
As for me, I'm in those 44 squinting percent. Hope soon I'll get rid of that habit and wear sunglasses.
signature: "I like to drink coffee and smoking cheap cigarettes before bed. I dream faster." (c) Steven Wright: Coffee and cigarettes
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