Night Driving Glasses: Do They Work

Driving at dusk or at night can be stressful for many people. The lowered amount of light coming into the eye, coupled with the glare of oncoming traffic, can make it hard to see. And impaired vision can diminish your safety and the safety of others on the road.

To address this issue, many manufacturers market and sell night driving glasses. But, do they work?
In this article, we’ll look at what the research has to say, plus examine alternatives for improving your night driving vision.

What are night driving glasses?
Night driving glasses have nonprescription, yellow-tinted lenses that range in shade from light yellow to amber. Some night driving glasses also have an antireflective coating.

Night driving glasses reduce glare by scattering and filtering out blue light. Blue light is the part of the light spectrum that has the shortest wavelength and the largest amount of energy. Unlike types of light with longer wavelengths, blue light is more likely to cause glare when it enters the eye.

Night driving glasses have been manufactured for several decades. These yellow-tinted glasses were originally marketed to hunters as shooting glasses. They continue to be popular with hunters because they sharpen the contrast of flying birds against the sky during overcast or cloudy conditions.

Do night driving glasses work?
Yellow lenses reduce the amount of light coming into the eye, diminishing visibility. At night, this can be detrimental, rather than helpful.

Night driving glasses are available in many shades of yellow and amber. The darkest lenses filter out the most glare but also, the largest amount of light, making it hard to see in dim or dark conditions.

Some wearers of night driving glasses report that they’re better able to see at night while wearing them. However, visual tests indicate that night driving glasses do not improve night vision, and do not help drivers see pedestrians any faster than they would without them.

In fact, a small 2019 studyTrusted Source showed that night driving glasses actually slow down visual reflexes by a fraction of a second, making night vision slightly worse.