Driving is an act that comes with the responsibility to do everything possible to ensure the safest driving experience for yourself and others. Not being able to see properly will affect your ability to do this. Here are some tips for safe driving.
Driving – an activity that puts yourself, those in the car with you, and those on the road with you, at risk every moment! Wouldn’t it be great if everyone thought like this? If everyone accepted what a huge responsibility it is when you sit behind the wheel.
When learning to drive, a common phrase will be that you have to worry about others on the road, sometimes, even more than you have to worry about your own driving; however, this does not excuse the driver from doing everything necessary to ensure safety on the roads.
There are numerous elements that will, or can, interfere with your safe driving experience, these include: problems with the car, misbehaving children in the back, another crazy driver who has taken the road as his own personal playground, and your eyes. The latter includes the effect of the glare of the sun, as well as one’s distance vision and whether it is suitable enough for you to be able to see and catch every possible sign post and threat.
A thorough annual eye examination will ensure that you know your distance vision limitations (if there are any) and that you can buy prescription glasses to make up for what is missing. However, even with appropriate prescription eyeglasses for night driving, during the day drivers may find themselves struggling to see through the glare of the sun and this can result in tragedy all round.
The only way to drive safely during the day is to own a pair of sunglasses. After eye surgery, patients should be especially careful about their driving ability and make sure to wear sunglasses during the day. If you wear eyeglasses and do not want the bother of having to change between regular prescription eyeglasses and your prescription sunglasses, there is the option of photochromic lenses. The lenses change from clear to tint when exposed to UV light and return back to clear when the UV light is removed.
The color of the lens of the sunglasses is something to consider as certain colors will distort your view of the colors that you see. Some tips: green or gray colored lenses are said to maintain true color, while brown causes color distortion but improves contrast. Orange and yellow lenses are great for contrast and depth perception but severely increase color distortion. Yellow is often worn by drivers at night as they enhance contrast to a degree. Red is said to minimize color distortion completely. You should also note that turquoise lenses are good to wear if in medium or light conditions as they enhance contrast without causing color distortion.
For night driving, while wearing regular prescription eyeglasses, you should have your lenses protected with an anti-glare coating so that the street lights, or lights from approaching vehicles, will not have you seeing blindly and causing an accident as a result. Even if buying photochromic lenses for day driving, the same rule applies: have them coated with an anti-glare coating.
So take responsibility for your driving! Get your eyeglasses prescription updated and buy glasses with a color tint and anti-glare coating so that you can be sure that your lack of vision will not be the cause of tragedy on the roads.
Hillary Glaser is a social networking specialist and expert in cross-media promotion, currently working on promoting prescription eyeglasses. She is the Director of Marketing and Special Projects for eyeglassespro.com – the easiest way to buy glasses online, which now offers free shipping on all US orders with the code FreeShip10.