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On my way to the in laws for xmas, I drove over the A66 heading to Penrith. Xmas eve the roads were quiet and I was able to use main beam for most of the journey (9pm). However parts of the route seemed to suffer from an excess of road signs on both sides of the carriageway and they were so reflective I had to use dipped beam simply because it messed up my night vision. Has any one found this?
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Not just the A66.
The poor woman whose job it is to listen to my rantings is probably fed up with me cursing them every time we are out in the hours of darkness.
You approach a junction, trying to pick out the features and work out where the road goes, and you can't see anything clearly except the huge and very reflective signs.
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There are a number of places in Sussex where the paint and rumble strip road surfaces, the old signs warning of a bend and the driver's eye actually seeing where the road is going and how sharply, not to mention the fluorescent arrows ahead pointing in the appropriate direction, are deemed insufficient to keep you out of the weeds and joined by a stupid last-few-seconds light-up sign saying something moronic like 'Slow down'.
It's enough to make you borrow a Lotus XI and try to take the damn bend at the NSL.
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My other pet hate on a similar vein is over bright traffic lights. I know they need to be seen in daylight but why can't they be dimmed at night?
There are some that I encounter regularly, they control the one way traffic over a narrow bridge where there is a sharp corner to enter the bridge. The lights are so bright you struggle to see bend as you approach it.
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It's enough to make you borrow a Lotus XI and try to take the damn bend at the NSL.
That slow? When I had the Morgan 4/4, I had to slow down to join the M1 southbound at junction 6. Not sure what the curvature of the bend in the slip road is, but I've seen mimsers test their brakes still work at 40mph
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I genuinely wonder if there are varying degrees of light sensitivity among people? I can honestly say that the reflectivity of road signs has no adverse affect on me and nor, by way of a bit of a drift, do brake lights on cars waiting in front of me or to xenon headlamps coming towards me. No discomfort or irritation at all in any of those situations but I gather some do find those examples a problem.
I don't use or need glasses for driving. Is there a correlation between those who do and sensitivity to light perhaps? Not saying there is, just asking if it's maybe a factor ?
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>> I genuinely wonder if there are varying degrees of light sensitivity among people?
I think that's right, doesn't sound unreasonable to me.
road signs has no adverse affect on me and
>> nor, by way of a bit of a drift, do brake lights on cars waiting
>> in front of me or to xenon headlamps coming towards me.
Yeah that's me for car lights, especially brake lights which also annoy me. Not bothered by street lights.
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>> I don't use or need glasses for driving. Is there a correlation between those who
>> do and sensitivity to light perhaps?
Not for me, I have an eye test each year, always passed with no problems.
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There is a certainly a huge difference in the ability of different people to deal with bright lights and glare. it has to be said it is mainly an age thing, the older we are the less our ability to cope. There are other reasons apart from age though. This article form the RNIB is very informative.
www.rnib.org.uk/eye-health-eye-conditions-z-eye-conditions/light-sensitivity
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The other thing is, is the area street lit? Raise the ambient light levels and reflectivity is of less concern. It does not help that the modern tendancy is to festoon an area in signs informing one of this and that with the net result that one pays less, not more, attention on what other road traffic is doing.
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>> I genuinely wonder if there are varying degrees of light sensitivity among people?
Yes, indirectly with age at least - what happens is that the dynamic range, or contrast ratio, decreases with age. So the "exposure" for dark areas needs to be higher - resulting in blinding from bright areas, and the consequent adjustment renders the dark areas black when there just isn't enough range.
Photographers will be familiar with the phenomenon, especially in digital cameras - with the early ones, it was often impossible to capture a scene without total loss of detail in either the dark or light areas. HDR overcomes this by, in effect, making a composite of shots at different exposures. Difficult to achieve with eyesight, although the eyes can actually adjust sensors to do it up to a point.
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>> I don't use or need glasses for driving. Is there a correlation between those who
>> do and sensitivity to light perhaps? Not saying there is, just asking if it's maybe
Yes. Those with short sight and therefore concave lenses will simply gather less light into the pupil. All lenses will have some refractive scatter which reduces contrast.
I don't actually need specs for distance, only near vision - up to 2 feet or so. I wear varifocals only so I don't have to keep taking reading specs on and off. I find night driving much easier without them.
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While I don't have a problem with any lights, be they brake, xenon, LED or whatever, I have noticed that large, very reflective white signs can confuse the auto dipping headlights on my car into thinking that there's an oncoming vehicle!
Last edited by: PeterS on Sat 27 Dec 14 at 20:06
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It has become a little uncomfortable driving at night now due to the brilliance of some modern bulbs.
I also notice a scenario where some cars seem to project headlights from a distance as if they are using main beam, but when they hove into view that is clearly not the case.
NOW. My major Beef part one. DRL's. Wtf are they all about. Some are so bright that it is painful to see them and others are clearly too low therefore causing a reflection off of damp roads.
DRL Beef No. 2. I have lost count of the amount of d/heads who deem it suitable to run with drl's in weather where clearly correct lighting is required. Do they not realise that their rears (where they keep their brains) are unlit? I do despair of the average motorist.
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>> Not sure what the curvature of the bend in the slip road is,
This isn't a slip road, it's a very sharp bend in an old A road, with the road descending on the bend. Much over 30 in an ordinary car is pushing it. You might get round it at 60 in a Lotus XI or similar, but I wouldn't bet on staying to the left of the white lines. All the road would be more like it.
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>> That slow? When I had the Morgan 4/4, I had to slow down to join
>> the M1 southbound at junction 6. Not sure what the curvature of the bend in
>> the slip road is, but I've seen mimsers test their brakes still work at 40mph
It may have been modded since* but when I lived in Watford (86-90) leaving at 6 s/b required a rapid loss of speed - short and very tight run off.
*If not altered it has at least been superceded by the direct link from J5 to the ring road.
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J6 not modded at all. Leaving at J6 southbound is a giggle, but I hardly ever do it although it is the nearest junction to my house.
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On Christmas Day about 13:30 I was exiting the A1(M) J9 for the A505 and the many road signs were very very bright due to the sun being just at the right angle. Not experienced that before.
They were brighter than night time.
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Well, of course I don't know whether this is right or wrong, good practice or bad, but as I said earlier, the brightness of lights outside my vehicle, whether from bulbs or other sources doesn't seem to bother me as much as some say it bothers them and I wonder if that is because of something I was taught when learning to drive.
I was told never to fixate on any one point while driving, but instead to keep my eyes moving, constantly scanning rather than staring, forward, left, left mirror, forward again, rear view mirror, forward again, right, right mirror, forward again and so on. Never pausing on any one view for more than a fraction of a second. To this day it's ingrained behaviour so even if there are areas of brightness and others in shade you're never "there" long enough to be discomforted by any of it. The other thing it apparently gives you is a sense of change if you're sort of taking still photographs with your brain as opposed to "filming" .
Like I say, dunno if it makes a difference but it's how my driving is hard wired now. So far so good anyway.
;-)
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>> I was told never to fixate on any one point while driving, but instead to keep my eyes moving, constantly scanning rather than staring ...
My first road experience was cycling along the long straight roads in the fens and my father taught me that technique to avoid being dazzled by car headlights which were miles away. Like you, RD'H, I don't have any problems with glare, but I'm inclined to think that's just the way we are. My other half is more sensitive to light and wears shades out of doors in the slightest sunlight, whereas I never need to wear them.
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If one is being subjected to bright lights, but you don't need depth information, close one eye. Army trick, does work but does need a bit of practice when it doesn't matter.
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The speed at which one's vision adapts to sporadic glare when driving at night with other traffic does decline as one gets older. When I start getting moments of driving into a dark tunnel on blind faith alone, I realise yet again that it's time to back off a bit, and I usually do. So far so good.
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>> If one is being subjected to bright lights, but you don't need depth information, close
>> one eye.
Very true. I discovered that by accident once lying in the garden reading a book in bright sunshine. The glare from the white page was greatly reduced by closing one eye.
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highly reflective road signs - Manatee
