What type/style/color lens do us older guys need at night

November 17, 2021, 06:38 PM

Rey HRH

I'm going to give an opposite thought here. And it's something I'm preparing for myself.

I saw my dad get old and still driving. Towards the end, he kept getting into accidents. And paying for it out of pocket including the other party as he didn't want the insurance to know. What came to my thought is that not only could he get hurt but he could also harm or kill somebody else.

My wife and I vowed that we would prepare our mindset to not drive anymore when we get to that point.

I try not to drive at night anymore. I have the same problem of glares and halos. On a rainy night, I can't see road and I have to look to the right side of the road as the oncoming headlights started to blind me.

And I've had cataracts when I was mid-forties and got fixed for them. I've had the laser surgery needed post cataract surgery to remove the film that develops.

So I don't drive when the sun goes down anymore. I think it's just good citizenship to recognize when we start to be a hazard to ourselves and to others.

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.

November 18, 2021, 05:08 AM

trapper189

^^^Good observation. My mom couldn’t get her license renewed because she couldn’t pass the eye exam. All of us knew she shouldn’t be driving, but were unable to convince her. The crazy part is that she was up for automatic renewal, but a glitch in Connecticut, my parents haven’t lived there in 30 years, caused my mom to be flagged in some national database and Florida, where they have lived for the last 30 years, said she had to visit the DMV and take the eye exam to get renewed. If not for the glitch, she would have a license good for another 7 years.

That being said, there’s no fix for my mom’s eye problems. I see nothing wrong with getting your eyes fixed or using glasses to continue driving if that’s an option. I would have had to quit driving in my late 20s if not for glasses.

November 18, 2021, 07:38 AM

joel9507

I dislike driving at night. Due both to the increased importance of seeing surroundings (darn deer!) and the lack of light.

What colored glasses do is absorb some colors, and pass the rest. I wanted every photon I could gather.

So I had a pair of 'night only' driving glasses made with no color whatsoever, and anti-reflective coating on the inside so idiots following with high beams wouldn't distract.

Very happy with them. Only thing that would be better, IMO, would be a prescription IR headset. But haven't seen those at the optician.

I think some high-end cars have a night IR mode (for the center console screen? Heads-up display?) but I don't drive at night enough to warrant going to a luxury car (or an IR headset, for that matter) to address it.

My wife is fine driving at night, and if I have to drive, I just go a bit slower so that ninja deer have a better chance of survival.