Night-Driving Glasses

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30513, 7 August 1964, Page 11

Night-Driving Glasses

VISION at night has always v been a problem for motorists, and all drivers have, at some time or another, been blinded by the badly-adjusted lights of an oncoming car. Most of us have also been dazzled by the lights of a car travelling close behind with its lights on full. Tinted windows or spectacles are sometimes put forward as an answer to this problem, although tinted windows in particular are opposed by many safety authorities who maintain they reduce vision at night. For a week we have been

testing a pair of night-driving glasses, made in France. The conclusion at the end of the test is that any advantage derived from using them is so small it is doubtful if they are a worth-while investment,

brighter. They reduce the effect of. shadows and make shadow detail much more visible.

At night the effect is less marked. On a dark country road visibility is about the same with and without the glasses. They certainly do not reduce visibility at all, and an unlit cyclist, for instance, would be just as easy to pick up with the glasses as without them. However, any improvement in these conditions is so small as to be almost unnoticeable. In traffic the glare from approaching headlights is only slightly reduced, and the improvement in visibility of objects to one side of the glare is correspondingly small.

The reduction in glare from following cars was counteracted by reflections from a scratch on the inside of one of the lenses.

In a heavy mist the glasses seem to give a marginal improvement in visibility. It was not possible to test them in a severe fog, as such conditions did not occur during the period of the test. The reduction of headlight glare at night is a little more noticeable in wet weather, when reflection from the road surface seems to be slightly reduced.

These glasses do not reduce vision in any way, but the degree of improvement is barely noticeable.