What Are the Ideal Glasses for Driving?

Changing light conditions are a constant challenge for those who drive regularly. This problem is even more acute for people sensitive to light, who have difficulty adapting to varying light conditions while driving. Imagine suddenly exiting a tunnel only to be blinded by bright sunlight – this is the kind of situation we seek to avoid.

Good visibility and clear, comfortable vision are essential for safe driving. When making quick decisions at high speeds, the last thing you want is to be blinded by the sun. Wearing a quality pair of sunglasses, with the right correction, is a common first line of defense.

What Options Are Available Specifically for Driving?

The best glasses for driving should reduce or eliminate glare.

Polarized Lenses: When sunlight is at its peak, polarized lenses offer the best reduction of glare caused by light reflected on the road and other flat surfaces, such as the hood of the vehicle, windshields, and other reflective surfaces of other vehicles.
Smart Drive Anti-Reflective Coating: The Smart Drive anti-reflective coating is specially designed to eliminate the dangerous glare from oncoming vehicles. It enhances contrast and increases visual comfort, making it a significant asset for driving.
Brown, Copper, or Yellow Tints: A brown, copper, or yellow tint for your driving glasses will enhance contrast in sunny and cloudy conditions. It will also significantly help reduce visual fatigue during long periods of driving.
Photochromic Lenses: Photochromic lenses are a good solution for drivers. However, the main challenge is that most photochromic lenses react to UV rays, and a car's windshield can block these rays. This limits their effectiveness inside the vehicle. The solution is to opt for Transitions XTRActive lenses, specially designed to darken even inside the car.

The Best Glasses for Daytime Driving

Polarized sunglasses are a popular choice for daytime drivers, especially in bright weather. They feature a special coating designed to reduce the intense glare caused when the sun reflects off the asphalt, buildings, and other cars around you.

Polarization also helps eliminate glare in hazardous driving conditions, including wet roads, snow, and blinding sunlight. Opt for non-polarized lenses in icy conditions. In this case, you want to see the reflections from hard-to-see ice patches.

Good polarized sunglasses not only protect your eyes from harmful UV rays but also show you the world with better color contrast, clarity, and enhanced detail.

What Glasses Are Ideal for Night Driving?

Driving when the sun is low in the sky and directly in your field of vision can be temporarily blinding. When there's a turn in the road, the sun can appear in unexpected places, making a sun visor almost useless.

Once the sun has set, you face another problem: reduced visibility and the glare of oncoming headlights. Although they block glare, polarized lenses block too much light to be a safe option at night.

This is where another coating on your regular glasses comes into play: the Smart Drive anti-reflective coating, also known as an anti-glare coating. The Smart Drive anti-reflective coating reduces distracting reflections that bounce around your lenses, including those caused by bright headlights and streetlights.

This coating can be particularly useful as you age, when your eyes have more difficulty seeing in the dark and adapting to the sharp contrast between the surrounding darkness and the bright oncoming headlights.

For night or daytime driving when the sun is not present, you can add a light yellow tint to the Smart Drive treatment. This will help further reduce visual fatigue during long periods of driving.

What to Look for in a Pair of Driving Glasses

For your next pair of driving glasses, consider these factors:

• 100% UV Protection: Although few ultraviolet (UV) rays pass through a car windshield, it is still important to be fully protected against harmful rays. Look for lenses offering 100% protection against UVA and UVB.
• Polarized Lenses: A special coating that reduces distracting glare during daylight driving hours.
• Good Lens Coverage: You can't always control the position of the sun while driving, so larger and taller lenses with a bit of curve protect a wider field of vision.
• Durability: The best driving sunglasses should withstand long trips and be frequently put on and taken off without breaking or losing their effectiveness.
• Anti-reflective Coating and Tint: A good anti-reflective coating, specially designed for driving, combined with a slight yellow or brown tint, will significantly increase your driving comfort.

How to Choose Your Driving Lenses

Smart Drive Anti-Reflective Coating

The "Smart Drive" anti-glare coating eliminates dangerous glare from oncoming vehicles, thus improving contrast and increasing visual comfort.

Mainly designed for driving, the Smart Drive anti-reflective coating is not super hydrophobic or antistatic, making it less easy to clean than a traditional premium anti-reflective coating. Although it is entirely possible to wear this coating outside of driving, it will not be as effective in everyday life as a traditional premium anti-reflective coating.

Yellow Tint 25% + Smart Drive Anti-Reflective Coating

Glasses equipped with a light yellow tint specially designed for driving.

Thanks to this yellow tint and the Smart Drive anti-reflective coating, these lenses are particularly effective at reducing glare and decreasing visual fatigue. However, their fixed yellow tint makes them primarily suited for driving.

Transitions XTRActive + Smart Drive Anti-Reflective Coating

The photochromic lenses Transitions XTRActive are clear indoors and darken when exposed to sunlight in the car. Combined with the Smart Drive anti-reflective coating, they become the ideal companion for driving. These lenses can be worn in all circumstances, ideal as sunglasses at the beach and indoors thanks to their very light indoor tint (about 15%).

Transitions XTRActive Brown Polarized + Smart Drive Anti-Reflective Coating

By adding a polarized treatment to the Transitions XTRActive lenses and the Smart Drive anti-reflective coating, you get even more effective lenses for driving in very bright weather. Like the Transitions XTRActive lenses, these lenses can be worn in all circumstances, ideal as sunglasses at the beach and indoors thanks to their very light indoor tint (about 15%).

Transitions Drivewear + Smart Drive Anti-Reflective Coating

The Transitions Drivewear lenses combine the benefits of photochromic technology and NuPolar polarization. They provide an optimal visual experience and enhanced color contrast while driving, effectively reacting to UV rays and visible light. The color and darkness level of the lenses adjust according to the light conditions while driving. They can vary from a light brown tint at 25% when the light is low or at night, to a dark brown tint at 85% when the light is at its maximum.

With their light brown tint, these lenses are specially designed for driving, offering optimized vision. They are ideal for use in the car and outdoors when the sun is present, but their design is primarily intended for driving.

Prioritize your vision for maximum safety on the road with lenses appropriate for your driving needs.

Article published on June 11, 2024