S/O - Is it difficult to you to see when driving in the dark?

[SJ.]

I have a difficult time seeing in the dark when I drive.  For me this is because I am unsure of where the road is going to be up ahead if I am not familiar with the road, this is especially unsettling if I am driving at a high speed (on the highway, for example). I also see starbursts around other car's headlights.  Because of this I generally avoid driving at night except for in my general area.  Perhaps it would be better if I did it more, maybe it is a circular pattern.  Otherwise my vision is just fine.  Anyone else?

[Mergath]

Yup.  I have astigmatism, and I have a terrible time driving at night.  On some roads where it's really, really dark, I have to have dh drive me because I just can't see well enough to drive safely.

[GreenKitty]

This just happened to me last night! I missed two exits, took 25 extra minutes getting to get where I was going. Took a wrong turn on the way home and did two U turns, illegal or not I have no idea.  Both because I was lost and I just can't see things like I can during the day.

[LucyStoner]

When I wear my anti reflective coat glasses I find driving at night much easier. Without my glasses driving is dicey not to say illegal, lol.

[Freckles]

Yup.  I have astigmatism, and I have a terrible time driving at night.  On some roads where it's really, really dark, I have to have dh drive me because I just can't see well enough to drive safely.

 

:iagree: Me too! It's so hard to drive at night here for me because the city doesn't have very many protected left intersections. I can't judge the distance of the oncoming cars because the headlights are distorted. It's exhausting to be "night blind."

[Crimson Wife]

I can usually see okay except when cars coming in the other direction have those awful blueish tinged headlights. For whatever reason, those REALLY bother my eyes.

[saraha]

I don' t see as well at night for sure, but will drive if no one else will drive, but I won't drive at night with my contacts in, only glasses. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Only in the rain. Then the lights reflect off of the wet roads and make it hard for me to see the lane lines.  

[Chris in VA]

Hard for me. Rain makes it nearly impossible, on roads that are not extremely well-lit. 

 

I can see having to give up driving at an earlier age than normal. 

[twinmami01]

I absolutely hate it. I don't go anywhere if I have to drive by myself at night further than 10-15 min away. It sucks!

[Lara in Colo]

I refuse to drive at night on two lane roads with no median.  I will be blinded by passing cars an dI cannot judge distances (like curves).   I do fine on freeways.

[Mandylubug]

I voted no. I have no issue seeing. There are times that I misjudge distance of cars approaching at night. I typically think they are closer than they are and wait longer to turn than is truly required.

[MomtoCandJ]

The glare of headlights about kill me

[Carol in Cal.]

I have more trouble at dusk than when it's really dark.  I have a theory that my eyes don't dilate as much in the early evening as they do later on when it's completely dark. 

[AK_Mom4]

My eye doctor wrote me a prescription even though my astigmatism is very mild, just so that I can have them to drive at night.  I have the anti-glare coating and it makes a HUGE difference. 

 

I also wear them on cloudy days and at dusk when I have more difficulty discriminating the details due to the light levels.  Did I mention that I LOVE the anti-glare coating?

[QueenCat]

My eye doctor wrote me a prescription even though my astigmatism is very mild, just so that I can have them to drive at night.  I have the anti-glare coating and it makes a HUGE difference. 

 

I also wear them on cloudy days and at dusk when I have more difficulty discriminating the details due to the light levels.  Did I mention that I LOVE the anti-glare coating?

 

The anit-glare coating has made a huge difference for me. I have a "moderate" astigmatism. With the new glasses, night driving is fine as long as it's not a heavy rain.

[beaners]

I've just started having trouble with this over the last year.  "Starbursts" is a perfect way to describe it.  I just had an eye appointment and have new glasses, but I still see it faintly.  None of the rest of night driving bothers me.  I actually prefer it because there are fewer cars!  The image around headlights from cars coming the other direction is distracting to the point of danger though.

 

[kitten18]

I voted yes but I'm fine with my glasses on. I don't need my glasses to drive during the day, only at night.

[RoughCollie]

I haven't been able to see well enough to drive at dusk or at night for years unless I am the only one on the road, which rarely happens.  I get the starburst headlights and the glare from traffic behind me and coming toward me totally ruins my abilty to see.  I cannot tell how close a vehicle is to me when they are behind me, either.  Anti-glare coating on my glasses has not worked for me.

 

If it rains, forget it -- I can't even see the lines on the roads.  This has been true since I was in my 20s.

 

Another reason to like summer -- it stays light out longer.  I absolutely cannot drive beginning at sunset, so every day I have to check weather.com to find out when I have to be home.

[Kathryn]

Yes, it started within the last few years.

[Carrie12345]

Astigmatism here, too. I just ordered new reduced glare lenses which will hopefully help. In the meantime, I avoid driving at night and absolutely, positively will not drive at night in the rain. It makes winter extra miserable with early sunset!

[TrixieB]

YES!!!!!!!!

 

I have a hard time seeing at night.  It was worse with my previous pair of glasses.  They were my first pair of progressives and I think I'm sure they weren't made quite right.  I always get anti-reflective coating which is supposed to help, but there's really no way to tell for sure.  I think for me it's just a side effect of... getting old!

[Arcadia]

I don't drive so I am answering for my hubby.  Its hard for him to drive in the dark, fog or heavy rain even if it is on familiar routes. 

[nd293]

I've had this issue since having LASIK eye surgery.

[Wheres Toto]

:iagree: Me too! It's so hard to drive at night here for me because the city doesn't have very many protected left intersections. I can't judge the distance of the oncoming cars because the headlights are distorted. It's exhausting to be "night blind."

 

Astigmatism here too.  I generally drive in places that I spend a lot of time but it's still hard sometimes.  I can't judge distances accurately, I get blinded by cars coming toward me - and it seems like NO ONE turns down their high beams when they come upon another car anymore.  It's really really annoying.

 

Most of the time I do fine, but once I ran a red light because it was at the bottom of a hill and I couldn't see the difference between the red light, and the red tail-lights of the cars going up-hill just on the other side of the light.  It was raining and all the lights blurred together.  Luckily there wasn't anyone coming through on the green.

[Parrothead]

*Sung in my best imitation of Don Henley*  "I wear my sun glasses at night"

 

 

No, usually no problem after I get used to it.

[Guest]

My father and I both have this so it may be genetic and it's also age related. I can't read street signs at night and when I try, my eyes are off the road too long for it to be safe.

 

I can drive familiar routes and I can drive literate kids places. Fortunately my midlife baby is my earliest reader, but he's going to have to work on his reading a bit more before we can safely stay out after dark.

 

Dad is almost 80 and still has his driver's license because he accepts his limitations and errs on the side of safety. He doesn't drive after sunset period.

[gingersmom]

I have had this issue since I began driving as a teenager. 

 

I was told its called night blindness.

 

If I am familiar with an area and theres lights of lights I am okay. 

 

Random places I drive super slow and with my bright headlights on. 

 

I try to limit my nighttime driving. 

[BigMamaBird]

I don't but my Dh does, especially in the rain.

[Mrs Mungo]

I have a difficult time seeing in the dark when I drive. For me this is because I am unsure of where the road is going to be up ahead if I am not familiar with the road, this is especially unsettling if I am driving at a high speed (on the highway, for example). I also see starbursts around other car's headlights. Because of this I generally avoid driving at night except for in my general area. Perhaps it would be better if I did it more, maybe it is a circular pattern. Otherwise my vision is just fine. Anyone else?

Sounds like astigmatism. Have you had your vision checked lately? I am near-sighted and have astigmatism. I am fine driving at night, as long as I am wearing my glasses (I voted yes).

[Ali in OR]

I have always had this problem, so I know it's not just age! As others have said, the anti-glare coating on the glasses I never use for anything other than night driving does help with the headlight problem. Another thing that helps that I didn't learn until several years ago (probably from dh), use the white line on the side of the road to judge where you are in the lane, not the dotted line down the center that is so close to those oncoming headlights!

[beaners]

Sounds like astigmatism. Have you had your vision checked lately? I am near-sighted and have astigmatism. I am fine driving at night, as long as I am wearing my glasses (I voted yes).

 

They should fix it completely? I just got a new pair of glasses, and they did say I have an astigmatism, but I still see the lines of light around headlights.

[Farrar]

I don't drive at night much.  And when I do I'm usually in the city.  On the rare occasions I drive out in the middle on nowhere at night, yes, it's kind of disorienting.  And hard to judge distance.  I'm not sure how much of it is age, my glasses, or just lack of experience driving that way anymore.

[extendedforecast]

I have a hard time judging distances when driving at night. It takes me a lot longer to get from point a to point b just from making sure I can turn or switch lanes safely. I only drive at night when I have to.

[Guest]

I have a problem driving at night. I live in a semi-rural area where not all the streets are well lit. My eyes have a hard time adjusting from light to dark quickly, so if I come up on a light quickly after being on a dark street, it's a bit fuzzy. After I pass a car, it takes a second to adjust back to darkness. (So being on a dark street and passing multiple cars is really no fun.)I also have trouble during the day on a certain local freeway - there is a long dark tunnel and I hate driving through it because it takes a second to adjust to the darkness and then to the light again. I have found that wearing sunglasses through the tunnel helps in that instance. I have no other eye problems.

[jrn]

 I have a problem driving at dusk. 

[NicAnn]

The anit-glare coating has made a huge difference for me. I have a "moderate" astigmatism. With the new glasses, night driving is fine as long as it's not a heavy rain.

That helped me too. I have two pretty bad astigmatisms and couldn't see at all with contacts at night. Once I got glasses, it was much better.

[KrissiK]

Yes, I really have a lot of trouble driving at night, so I try not to. I generally find myself driving about 45 mph if I'm driving in the country. Freeway driving is easier, I guess because there's more light.

[J-rap]

It is difficult for me to gauge distance at night.  For example, if I need to make a left turn and have to wait for a pause between oncoming cars, it's very difficult for me to tell how far away that car really is.  So, I always err on the side of caution and probably a lot of times wait far longer than I need to.

[DawnM]

Yes.  I have had trouble since the day I had lasik surgery.  Before that, I was fine.

 

Also, moving to NC made it harder.   In Los Angeles, the street lights made the whole city light up, even at night.  Here, at night, even with some street lights, it is DARK!

 

Dawn

[BellaStarr]

I don't drive at night unless it's really late and no one else is on the road.  I can't judge distances well at night and when cars are coming on the other side, I might as well be driving with my eyes closed because I can't see a thing. 

[Donna]

I have glasses I wear only when driving in the dark when I don't know where I am going or when it is dark and rainy. I had Lasik surgery about 13 years ago to correct astigmatism and near sightedness (my vision was so bad I was not going to be able to continue wearing the gas permeable contacts I was wearing). My vision was fine until the last 3-4 years. Now I have difficulty focusing when I go from reading to looking a distance and when driving at night.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I live on a rural area( think no lights, no paint, sometimes gravel). I have recently found myself driving very slowly because I feel I can't see. I put it down to age. I do fine on a lit highway.

[Kerileanne99]

Something for everyone to be aware of.

Just because you can 'read the chart' and display even 20/20 vision does not mean that that is always the case. Especially at night.

 

I was diagnosed as 'Night blind' a year ago, but stopped driving at night a few years ago. It got too scary! Those halos around lights, the reflective glare, are often early signs of cataracts. (Although some people do simply have night myopia, a condition that results from the dilating of eyes in certain lights, as I undertand it). And when you have cataracts developing in one eye, you often become 'one eye dominant'. This can lead to a problem with depth perception.

 

My vision issues stem from what is called a Krukenberg spindle, but it acts very similarly to a cataract. It went un diagnosed for years and years...I tested 20/20 and even served in an area of the Army where 20/20 vision is mandated--yet could not see at night to drive safely.

 

Essentially, if you have a cataract the light is reflected, and effectively blinds the eye. Add in the rain where everything is reflected? Suicidal. If you think it is a problem, ask the optometrist/ophthalmologist for a glare test to help diagnose the extent of the problem.

[LibraryLover]

Yes, and it scared me. New glasses for night changed everything.  Get checked.  That so many of you are driving blind is frightening.

 

[Mom in High Heels]

I have trouble at night if I don't wear my glasses.  I just recently got them, and I didn't realize how bad my vision was until I got my glasses.  Even the optometrist was surprised. He asked me what I did to adjust when I read (my right eye is really bad, and I have an astigmatism), and I told him I just made the words bigger on my kindle or iPad.  He laughed.  The glasses make a big difference, but especially at night. 

[Laura Corin]

I had no idea that this was such a problem.  If I didn't drive at night, then I would not be able to hold down a job at this latitude.

 

L

[MyThreeSons]

I have a difficult time seeing in the dark when I drive.  For me this is because I am unsure of where the road is going to be up ahead if I am not familiar with the road, this is especially unsettling if I am driving at a high speed (on the highway, for example). I also see starbursts around other car's headlights.  Because of this I generally avoid driving at night except for in my general area.  Perhaps it would be better if I did it more, maybe it is a circular pattern.  Otherwise my vision is just fine.  Anyone else?

 

I try to not drive anyplace new to me after dark. 

 

I believe that this is very common, especially among women as we get older. I don't know whether it truly isn't as common among men, or whether men just don't acknowledge it as much as women. 

[Carrie12345]

Something for everyone to be aware of.

Just because you can 'read the chart' and display even 20/20 vision does not mean that that is always the case. Especially at night.

 

I was diagnosed as 'Night blind' a year ago, but stopped driving at night a few years ago. It got too scary! Those halos around lights, the reflective glare, are often early signs of cataracts. (Although some people do simply have night myopia, a condition that results from the dilating of eyes in certain lights, as I undertand it). And when you have cataracts developing in one eye, you often become 'one eye dominant'. This can lead to a problem with depth perception.

 

My vision issues stem from what is called a Krukenberg spindle, but it acts very similarly to a cataract. It went un diagnosed for years and years...I tested 20/20 and even served in an area of the Army where 20/20 vision is mandated--yet could not see at night to drive safely.

 

Essentially, if you have a cataract the light is reflected, and effectively blinds the eye. Add in the rain where everything is reflected? Suicidal. If you think it is a problem, ask the optometrist/ophthalmologist for a glare test to help diagnose the extent of the problem.

That's eactly why I bit the bullet and made a double appointment when I took dd. I was very worried. Fortunately, no medical issue. Unfortunately, I still don't know exactly how much the glasses are going to help.

 

It does worry me how many still drive. I don't doubt that it's just as dangerous as intoxicated driving.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Yes, it is difficult for me, I can't see well at night and I get blinded by oncoming vehicles.  Saw someone else mention an astigmatism, I have that as well, perhaps that is why it's an issue for me as well.