I *can* drive at night still, but I hate it. On the back country roads near where I live people frequently are turning their brights on and off as they encounter occasional oncoming traffic, but sometimes they just leave them on and the strength of the light in my eyes combined with the particular glare of the bulbs they use for headlights now (are they LED or something? They're different than they used to be, I know.) I am literally blinded for long moments every time I pass oncoming traffic and it prompts enormous anxiety.
Thank you-- EXACTLY! I, too, feel utterly blinded for a moment when that happens. I think whoever invented those new, ultra-bright lights has never had to drive into them on a pitch-black country road. I avert my eyes to the extreme right when that happens and then feel anxious because -- What am I missing in that moment? Etc.
I’m 48 and I’ve been avoiding night driving when possible for the last four years. I’m a migraine sufferer and the new super bright headlights are hell on my eyes and head. Thank you for writing this.
Hey, there's a reason old people eat dinner out at 5 PM -- and it's not the Early Bird Specials. Lots of us can't see to drive in the dark -- my sister and I have been this way since our 50s. I hate it, but we adjust.
In my experience, it’s the LED lights. I can’t look into an LED lightbulb without having vision problems, much less oncoming headlights. I drive perfectly well in older model cars with incandescent lighting on rural highways but the minute I get oncoming traffic, forget it. Yeah, you can see a lot more of you’re driving a car equipped with them but they really are a danger to anyone approaching you.
Hey Allison. I can barely see in the day and the combination of necessary scaffolding and sidewalk scooter jockeys makes day and night in Manhattan a nightmare for me.
But now at least I have an explanation--growing up in Brooklyn and dumping my carrot sticks at lunch at PS 161. I knew it would catch up to me. Maybe I wanted to get caught. I feel relieved somehow 🤷🏼♂️ thanks.
Thanks for sharing, Alison! Your story touches so many elements common to a lot of people with chronic conditions--the knee-jerk reaction of self-blame, the way that you are forced to reckon with identity, and the grieving process. I hope writing this was a little therapeutic (I bet it was!)
I so relate to this! I’m 64 but have had issues with night driving for more than a decade. One year in my 50s I thought I’d need to give it up but it got lots better. For me, eye drops for moisture have been key. And finding out that transportation depts often save $$ by marking roads with paint that isn’t clearly visible in rain has helped my self-perception. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Alison.
Your comment about transportation depts is very disheartening, but I don't doubt for a minute that it's true. Maybe if that info is publicized more, something will be done to change the situation.
This U.S. Dept of Transportation article is old (1993), but I hope their thinking hasn't changed!
"Existing longitudinal pavement markings yield benefits far greater than their costs. They increase safety and reduce congestion. Much of the safety benefit is achieved during periods of poor visibility. That suggests checking roadway retroreflectivity regularly and restriping promptly when retroreflectivity drops below recommended levels." https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/summer-1993/benefit-cost-analysis-lane-marking
Are you SURE you can’t have cataract surgery yet? It transformed my vision from 20/1200 to 20/20 and yes! I see well and now drive at night. Well, if you can’t do it now you have something to look forward to at 70!
Catherine -- you are right that many people have cataract surgery in their 50's. I have no idea if cataracts are the issue here but being young isn't a reason not to get your cataracts removed.
Here’s why people in 50s and 60s aren’t candidates for cataract surgery/vision correction I am told. All surgery carries risks and if no medical reason for surgery exists, surgeons don’t want to operate. But if your eyesight is curtailing your life maybe find a cooperative surgeon!
Oh how I relate! I’m 70 and have not been able to drive at night for about 2 years. Fortunately, my husband can still see at night, so he drives. But I also have to keep track of time and sunsets if I am out and about by myself during the day. As frustrating as it is, I am grateful I recognize I’m not safe driving at night, and I make everyone who is driving just a little bit safer because I’m not going to cause an accident between sunset and sunrise!!!
Yes, this affects me, though not enough to stop me from driving at night. For what it's worth, my Dad had it too, so a lifetime of screens isn't necessarily the cause!
I turn down the dash lights in my car when I'm driving at night and I find this helps tremendously. With so much glare outside of the car, the last thing I need is glare inside, too!
While neither my husband nor I have an actual diagnosis of a nighttime visual impairment, we do both wear glasses/contacts. Driving in familiar settings at night is fine, but long trips that get us home late at night are a bit stressful. Luckily, there are only a few of those a year.
Thank you for sharing this...as someone with pretty “crappy” vision - full of floaters (since I was 13!), super sensitive to light amongst other issues, I’m noticing that it’s getting worse and worse with times of the day as I get older (53 and counting) and the bright-blue-white-LED-brighter-is-better-right? insanity that we are in now is not helping anyone, no matter what your age or how good your vision is. I was reminded of this as the daylight is shifting and I have to get out my yellow/orange tinted glasses for night/early morning driving.
I will also add - anyone else frustrated with the juggle of contacts/“full” progresses/computer progressives over their contacts....and how long you can stay in a contact for the day before you give up? !!
I have astigmatism also and simply can’t see with contacts to drive at night. Glasses are far better. I’m 62 and still drive fine at night with them. No issues so far, thankfully.
I'm old now, but the problem started for me in my 40s. It took a few years before i admitted it, and completely stopped trying to drive at night. My friends now just pick me up, for night activities. I feel liberated when daylight savings time starts, but really am comfortable with either cocooning or depending on others as the days grow shorter. IMHO the problem is all those who won't acknowledge that they can't drive safely after dark. It should be recognized as a normal limitation, someone no one is embarrassed to admit.
Oh gah, me too. I mean I CAN drive at night if I have to, but the dark and oncoming lights mess with my peripheral vision something awful. My rods and cones are just not what they used to be. Fortunately I'm in NYC and can generally avoid night driving, but as soon as Labor Day comes and goes, forget about putting my white shoes and seersucker away—I'm keeping track of what time it gets dark so I don't get stuck on the road.
I *can* drive at night still, but I hate it. On the back country roads near where I live people frequently are turning their brights on and off as they encounter occasional oncoming traffic, but sometimes they just leave them on and the strength of the light in my eyes combined with the particular glare of the bulbs they use for headlights now (are they LED or something? They're different than they used to be, I know.) I am literally blinded for long moments every time I pass oncoming traffic and it prompts enormous anxiety.
Thank you-- EXACTLY! I, too, feel utterly blinded for a moment when that happens. I think whoever invented those new, ultra-bright lights has never had to drive into them on a pitch-black country road. I avert my eyes to the extreme right when that happens and then feel anxious because -- What am I missing in that moment? Etc.
I’m 48 and I’ve been avoiding night driving when possible for the last four years. I’m a migraine sufferer and the new super bright headlights are hell on my eyes and head. Thank you for writing this.
Hey, there's a reason old people eat dinner out at 5 PM -- and it's not the Early Bird Specials. Lots of us can't see to drive in the dark -- my sister and I have been this way since our 50s. I hate it, but we adjust.
In my experience, it’s the LED lights. I can’t look into an LED lightbulb without having vision problems, much less oncoming headlights. I drive perfectly well in older model cars with incandescent lighting on rural highways but the minute I get oncoming traffic, forget it. Yeah, you can see a lot more of you’re driving a car equipped with them but they really are a danger to anyone approaching you.
Hey Allison. I can barely see in the day and the combination of necessary scaffolding and sidewalk scooter jockeys makes day and night in Manhattan a nightmare for me.
But now at least I have an explanation--growing up in Brooklyn and dumping my carrot sticks at lunch at PS 161. I knew it would catch up to me. Maybe I wanted to get caught. I feel relieved somehow 🤷🏼♂️ thanks.
😂
Thanks for sharing, Alison! Your story touches so many elements common to a lot of people with chronic conditions--the knee-jerk reaction of self-blame, the way that you are forced to reckon with identity, and the grieving process. I hope writing this was a little therapeutic (I bet it was!)
I so relate to this! I’m 64 but have had issues with night driving for more than a decade. One year in my 50s I thought I’d need to give it up but it got lots better. For me, eye drops for moisture have been key. And finding out that transportation depts often save $$ by marking roads with paint that isn’t clearly visible in rain has helped my self-perception. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Alison.
Your comment about transportation depts is very disheartening, but I don't doubt for a minute that it's true. Maybe if that info is publicized more, something will be done to change the situation.
This U.S. Dept of Transportation article is old (1993), but I hope their thinking hasn't changed!
"Existing longitudinal pavement markings yield benefits far greater than their costs. They increase safety and reduce congestion. Much of the safety benefit is achieved during periods of poor visibility. That suggests checking roadway retroreflectivity regularly and restriping promptly when retroreflectivity drops below recommended levels." https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/summer-1993/benefit-cost-analysis-lane-marking
Talk to your optometrist about prismatic lenses. It solved this problem for me, at least for now.
Are you SURE you can’t have cataract surgery yet? It transformed my vision from 20/1200 to 20/20 and yes! I see well and now drive at night. Well, if you can’t do it now you have something to look forward to at 70!
Catherine -- you are right that many people have cataract surgery in their 50's. I have no idea if cataracts are the issue here but being young isn't a reason not to get your cataracts removed.
Here’s why people in 50s and 60s aren’t candidates for cataract surgery/vision correction I am told. All surgery carries risks and if no medical reason for surgery exists, surgeons don’t want to operate. But if your eyesight is curtailing your life maybe find a cooperative surgeon!
Oh how I relate! I’m 70 and have not been able to drive at night for about 2 years. Fortunately, my husband can still see at night, so he drives. But I also have to keep track of time and sunsets if I am out and about by myself during the day. As frustrating as it is, I am grateful I recognize I’m not safe driving at night, and I make everyone who is driving just a little bit safer because I’m not going to cause an accident between sunset and sunrise!!!
Yes, this affects me, though not enough to stop me from driving at night. For what it's worth, my Dad had it too, so a lifetime of screens isn't necessarily the cause!
I turn down the dash lights in my car when I'm driving at night and I find this helps tremendously. With so much glare outside of the car, the last thing I need is glare inside, too!
While neither my husband nor I have an actual diagnosis of a nighttime visual impairment, we do both wear glasses/contacts. Driving in familiar settings at night is fine, but long trips that get us home late at night are a bit stressful. Luckily, there are only a few of those a year.
Thank you for sharing this...as someone with pretty “crappy” vision - full of floaters (since I was 13!), super sensitive to light amongst other issues, I’m noticing that it’s getting worse and worse with times of the day as I get older (53 and counting) and the bright-blue-white-LED-brighter-is-better-right? insanity that we are in now is not helping anyone, no matter what your age or how good your vision is. I was reminded of this as the daylight is shifting and I have to get out my yellow/orange tinted glasses for night/early morning driving.
I will also add - anyone else frustrated with the juggle of contacts/“full” progresses/computer progressives over their contacts....and how long you can stay in a contact for the day before you give up? !!
I have astigmatism also and simply can’t see with contacts to drive at night. Glasses are far better. I’m 62 and still drive fine at night with them. No issues so far, thankfully.
I'm old now, but the problem started for me in my 40s. It took a few years before i admitted it, and completely stopped trying to drive at night. My friends now just pick me up, for night activities. I feel liberated when daylight savings time starts, but really am comfortable with either cocooning or depending on others as the days grow shorter. IMHO the problem is all those who won't acknowledge that they can't drive safely after dark. It should be recognized as a normal limitation, someone no one is embarrassed to admit.
Oh gah, me too. I mean I CAN drive at night if I have to, but the dark and oncoming lights mess with my peripheral vision something awful. My rods and cones are just not what they used to be. Fortunately I'm in NYC and can generally avoid night driving, but as soon as Labor Day comes and goes, forget about putting my white shoes and seersucker away—I'm keeping track of what time it gets dark so I don't get stuck on the road.