Can’t See at Night as Well as You Used To? You’re Not Alone

If you’re a boomer you’re probably not thrilled about driving at night. You can’t see as well in the dark and the glare gets to you worse than it used to.

Thing is, changes occur in your eyes as you age that make driving at night more difficult. You might wonder, though, why do you see well during the day but not so good at night?

The answer lies in how your eyes work. There are two types of photoreceptors in the eyes, rods and cones. When driving during the day we use cones, the structures that allow us to see color.

At night we use both rods and cones. In very low light, just rods. That’s why the road and surroundings look black and white. All well and good, but when we age, we lose rod photoreceptors faster than cone photoreceptors. That means we lose our night vision without much trouble with our day vision.

On top of this, our pupils regulate how much light enters our eyes. And they shrink with age. According to the National Institute of Health, eye specialists have estimated that the retina of a 60-year-old typically receives one-third the light of a 20-year-old retina.

So not only do we see less, it’s also harder to estimate how fast objects are traveling. This makes our reaction times much slower.

What You Can Do to See Better Driving at Night

1. Keep your windshield and headlights clean.
   Get some paper towels and Windex and clean the interior windshield regularly. If you haven’t done this before, you may be surprised at how much clearer the road looks.
2. Reset your interior lights to low.
   When the dashboard lights are high, they’ll distract you from the road.
3. Reduce your speed.
   You probably do this naturally, especially on darker roads. But as we said above, at night it’s more difficult to tell how fast other vehicles are traveling. So keep a good amount of space between you and the vehicle in front of you…and slow down.
4. Use your bright lights when you can.
   But a word of caution, be sure to dim them with oncoming traffic. You don’t want to distract drivers coming at you. You can also have your auto repair shop check the alignment of your headlights. Have the shop make sure they aren’t set too high and in the eyes of oncoming traffic.
5. Don’t drive tired.
   You might want to enjoy a meal out at a local restaurant a bit earlier than you used to. Not so much for the deals on the menu, but to avoid driving home later when you’re more tired.
6. And here’s the easy one: don’t drink and drive.
   Whether you can see well or not, this is the thing that gets so many people in trouble. And the danger is exponentially multiplied when it’s harder to see at night in the first place.

We urge older drivers not to blame themselves for their poorer night vision. It’s a natural phenomena and they can’t help it. What they can do is change their behavior in the above simple ways to help keep everyone on the road safer.

Or enjoy more nights at home by yourself or with family and friends. You deserve it!

Until next time,

Your SZW Team

SZW Insurance is your Utica area Trusted Choice™ independent insurance agent. Call us for a quote on insurance for your home, car, business, or life at 315.792.0000. Or request a quote here.