Driving at night is only fun when you’re a teenager, blessed with perfect 20-20 eyesight, and cruising along the main drag looking for some form of action. As you age, your night vision continues to deteriorate, to the point where you can only see at night 10% of what you’d be able to see in the day. Driving at night is no longer fun - it is a nerve wracking, headache producing task that can quickly escalate into pure terror. Unfortunately, irrespective of how many carrots you munch, or how many beta carotene tablets you pop, nothing you can do is going to significantly improve it.

You may have seen advertisements for night vision glasses - the kin of night vision goggles used by international spies everywhere. The fact is the night vision goggles work because of the incorporated infrared feature. Your simple tinted (amber or blue) night vision glasses cannot do the same thing, regardless of the claim. At best, so called night driving glasses can reduce glare from street lights and oncoming headlights. At worst, they will distort your vision even more than not wearing glasses would.

So, what option do you have, aside from wearing the very unfashionable night vision goggles modeled at the local weapons fair, if you have to drive at night? You can be sure to wear up-to-date prescription glasses which have an anti-reflective coating, and you can keep your windshield clean and streak free. Or you can toss your car keys to your teenager, buckle up, say a prayer and look forward to a long night.