Night Driving
Help—I'm only 59 and already having difficulty driving at night! How about you? A Friday open thread...
Readers,
When I was editing Vivian Manning-Schaffel’s recent popular Oldster essay, Should I Be Home or Something, I had a note in the document that went something like, “But what about the people who don’t go out late because they have difficulty driving at night?!” By “people” I meant me.
Vivian’s piece in case you missed it:
It reminded me of a joke my dad told me years ago—something about an older woman dating a younger man who didn’t have much going for him. When her friends asked her what she saw in him, she said, simply, “He drives at night.” 🥁
Over the past decade, although the prescription for my eyeglasses hasn’t changed much, my night vision has consistently deteriorated. Driving after dark tends to be an all-out white-knuckles experience for me.
Specifically, I find it difficult to distinguish which of the many lights up ahead are near and which are far. It’s all just a canvas of darkness punctuated by random lights that all feel too bright, and whose distances I can’t determine. It’s especially bad in the summer, when there’s night construction on highways, which means even more blaring lights.
I’m overdue for an appointment with an eye doctor. (I hope to pay a visit to my uncle the eye surgeon in the new year.) I wonder whether I’m developing cataracts. I thought they only occurred in people 65 and older, but according to the National Eye Institute, they begin to form in our 40s, and can start to impact some people’s vision in their 40s and 50s.
As with so many aging challenges, I like to reach out to others in the hope they’ll tell me I’m not alone. So, in the comments tell me:
How old are you? Do you find it challenging to drive at night? At what age did that start for you? Have you seen an eye doctor about it? Have you had cataract surgery? Did it help? Do you have some kind of “smart glasses” with special night driving lenses? (Do these actually exist, or did I just make them up?)
Please, tell me everything about any difficulty you have—and solutions you found—with regard to driving at night! (Like, do “anti-glare night driving glasses” work?)
How old are you? Do you find it challenging to drive at night? At what age did that start for you? Have you seen an eye doctor about it? Have you had cataract surgery? Did it help? Do you have some kind of “smart glasses” with special night driving lenses? (Do these actually exist, or did I just make them up?)
Thanks as always for reading, being the most thoughtful, engaged, and supportive commenters I’ve ever witnessed on the internet, and for all of your support! I couldn’t do this without your help. 🙏💝
LED car headlights have significant impacts on older drivers as older eyes can't adjust to the strange physical properties of LEDs. There's been a huge increase in people going to the Opticians about their eyesight only to find nothing is wrong with their eyes, it's LEDs that are the problem.
LEDs can appear to be moving and have an intense flicker and brightness that's confusing. This contributes to difficulties in assessing distance etc whilst driving.
In the UK the RAC and LightAware are pushing the government for reform and regulations on LED car headlights.
Sari, I’m an optometrist. There can be multiple causes of night vision issues. Please have a comprehensive dilated eye exam. If it turns out that you need cataract surgery, get recommendations for the best surgeon you can find— one who does hundreds of procedures a year and has low complication rates. Get a diagnosis before you invest in home grown treatments that could turn out to be useless or unnecessary.