Driving at night does everyone find it hard

sevenhills

SergeantBaker said:

born_again said:

Can anyone else remember being trained NOT to look at oncoming lights? You look to the left of them.😶‍🌫️

Now you mention it, yes I can.

And dim-dip headlights? Were they brought in because side lights were too dim or headlights too bright, this has been a problem for decades, nothing new.

venomx

One thing to consider about about night driving is on some peoples cars the indicator bulb is really close to the dipped ones, meaning if you approach a roundabout you need to take extra care to consider they could be indicating and wanting to turn.
On my car the indicator is well below the dipped beams, almost on the bottom of the bumper, a much safer design I think

diystarter7

venomx said:

One thing to consider about about night driving is on some peoples cars the indicator bulb is really close to the dipped ones, meaning if you approach a roundabout you need to take extra care to consider they could be indicating and wanting to turn.
On my car the indicator is well below the dipped beams, almost on the bottom of the bumper, a much safer design I think

Hi

I know what you mean and I find that most cars over the last few years also have indicators on door mirrors which help or on the side of the front fenders.

Thanks

MikeJXE

Grandad2b said:

MikeJXE said:

I'm 82 and have cataracts and my optician referred me for surgery and told me I am on the borderline and must wear glasses, that was July 2021, I saw My optician agin this year and had new glasses that I wear for driving, I got to the top of the queue in August and asked to go in for what you might call a pre-op. After reading the paperwork I am going to have to sign, like, could bleed, could have complications, could need other surgery. What did me was the last item, could lose my sight, I rang them and cancelled. My sight is more precious to me than my life 

I hope you see sense before you lose your sight to the cataracts. Of course they have to list all the possible complications. Did you think to ask how many cataract operations they perform each year and how many of those result in the patient losing their sight?

I don't care how many cataract operations they perform a year to me it's mine that affects me, yes I have a plan, when I am told by my optician or by my own realisation that my driving is being affected I will have laser privately.

Grumpy_chap

MikeJXE said:

 I will have laser privately.

How is the private operation any safer than NHS?

sevenhills

diystarter7 said:

I know what you mean and I find that most cars over the last few years also have indicators on door mirrors which help or on the side of the front fenders.

Thanks

How do the manufacturers get away with sidelights too dim/bright, indicators next to the headlights so to make them invisible, this makes driving less safe.
Then you have some people thinking a bit of mist means it's time to put your fog lights on. People lighting up at different times, 90% with their headlights on, despite it not being lighting up time.

Does anyone actually know when lighting up time is?

elsien

Grumpy_chap said:

MikeJXE said:

 I will have laser privately.

How is the private operation any safer than NHS?

It's not. It's possible that it's the same surgeon as well, doing a bit of private practice alongside the NHS.

If the surgeon thought the cataract surgery carried a higher risk for you, they would say so. My grandmother was warned that the risk of her sight getting worse was higher than for other people, as part of the informed consent process.  I think MikeJXE may also find that  his vision may get worse without him realising how much by because it is a slow cumulative effect. Hence the number of people post surgery who are surprised by how bright everything has suddenly become. 

Just to add to the debate, I had laser eye surgery a number of years ago for short sight rather than cataracts. I have not regretted it, but because I made a decision to leave one eye slightly short sighted to help with reading as I got older, it does mean that there is more glare with night driving than there would otherwise be and I need glasses to drive just at night to cope with this.  Fine driving without them during the day. 

MikeJXE

Grumpy_chap said:

MikeJXE said:

 I will have laser privately.

How is the private operation any safer than NHS?

I didn't say they were, the NHS doesn't do laser and it my opinion laser is safer for me

elsien

MikeJXE said:

Grumpy_chap said:

MikeJXE said:

 I will have laser privately.

How is the private operation any safer than NHS?

I didn't say they were, the NHS doesn't do laser and it my opinion laser is safer for me

The NHS does do laser surgery for cataracts.
Can I get laser eye surgery on the NHS? - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Did you have a specific type in mind that you think they don't do? 

Cloudane

Good eyesight here as tested by opticians last year but I'm finding it harder and harder due to LED headlights.  Almost every time something comes the other way now I get dazzled.  There are also now auto-high-beam systems in some cars (only found out when I had a hire car - here was me wondering why people were driving around a well street-lit town on high beam) which can be a bit slow at dipping.

The human eye is actually surprisingly good in the dark, but in the LED "arms race" I think we've become over-reliant on brighter and brighter artificial illumination.

Probably the case with mine - it's an older car with traditional bulbs.  If I were to fit LEDs (not actually legal to retrofit AFAIK) I could probably compensate from the dazzling by lighting the road brighter.  And so the arms race continues as everyone gets brighter and brighter LEDs to compensate for being dazzled more and more by everyone else's...

It's not to the point of being unsafe to drive, but certainly to the point where I take it easy speed wise.  Which is never appreciated in a world where everyone is wanting to be around 20mph faster than the limit, so night driving gets me tailgated even more than usual.

I'm honestly surprised there aren't more people noticing this issue and that it takes an 82 year old with cataracts to comment on it.