more mature drivers giving up night driving?

Greyduster

I don’t drive at night unless I absolutely have to. My car is very low to the ground and the glare of headlights from larger cars and SUVs hits me straight in the eyes and blinds me.

This is what stopped me driving in the dark several years ago. I couldn’t stand being dazzled by headlights anymore, living rurally most of our lanes are single track with passing places and it became too stressful.

I have always loved driving and still do, and dread the day I can’t do it anymore. The thought of losing independence is beyond awful.
I’m lucky that I don’t have cataracts, but obviously find the bright lights difficult the same as everyone else, including my sons in their twenties.

My optician recommended wearing sun glasses, even in the winter sunshine to prevent cataracts forming.

We only have 5 buses a day here (none on Sunday) between 8-4 to the nearest market town, so would need to use taxis at night if I could no longer drive.

My younger husband (63) developed cataracts in both eyes and was subsequently struggling more at night with flaring. He had been a spectacle wearer since the age of 4 and had both lenses replaced privately. It transformed his sight to perfect for the first time in his life.

I had been anxious with my husbands driving suggested many times at 84 he wasn't as careful as he ought to be,. He thought i was making a fuss. After all he had been a lorry driver 40 odd years ! That was until the day he insisted overtaking a lorry. The police removed his licence using age as the reason.
I was then the sole driver but lockdown came, he became ill so the car wasn't used for some time. When I did go off to the shops I had clearly lost my confidence. I gave up driving at that point. I was 82. I have to say its taken my independenceaway. . I have friends nearing 90 still driving, but not at night.

Given up night driving now, except where there is street lighting. I simply can't see.

I’m 67 and have good eyesight and find the LED headlights blinding . But I will carry on driving as long as I can , both in the day and night, on familiar and unfamiliar roads , on motorways and country lanes . Limiting where and when you drive means you lose confidence in driving . I have several friends my age who won’t drive at night or on motorways, their husbands drive . The worrying thing is if something happens to their dh , they’re snookered .

I was driving back from my sons a few weeks ago after looking after the grandchildren and was totally blinded by the oncoming lights. I’d planned to avoid driving when it was busy but ended up driving in rush hour. I got to a large road island just before my village and completely lost my bearings; along with the glare from the lights the road markings had completely worn away. I resolved after that to not drive at night again on those roads.

Also taking Macushield, which contains several different carotenoids to support eye health. And avoided Macushield Gold as I already take multivitamin.
I normally wear varifocals but have had single vision distance glasses made with antiglare coating. It has all the difference to my night driving.
I had a couple of unpleasant experiences last year where I really felt that I couldn’t properly see where I was going on a dark and wet night. I had to pull off the road and wait for a while before I could continue. But now I’m driving confidently again, even in the wet.
But lack of road markings is a real problem. And I am struggling to see in town with the new energy saving street lights. It really is hard to see people, especially if they are wearing dark clothes, which of course most of us are in the winter. Even when I am walking, the lighting is poor.

Between the council turning road lights off and head lights on other cars which are blinding, they are making it very hard for the older generation to go out in the evening. I bought a pair of night time driving glasses, but still struggle sometimes and I'm a spring chicken in my 60s HA HA....I WISH...HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Driving on country roads is easier at night because you know when cars are coming by the lights. It’s in the day when things come around bends unannounced.

keepingquiet

Can't people get buses anymore? I think I must live in another country because I love going out at night, whether it is driving locally or using buses and trains to get to town or the nearest city.
I get very frustrated with some friends who won't go out after dark and some of them don't even have cars?

I don't get it at all. I refuse to become a prisoner in my own home!

I live in a village with a bus around 0700, 0900, 1100, 1300 and 1500 to and from the city, 8 miles away. The last bus back to the village gets here at 1800.
The nearest village with a railway station is two miles away and along a fast, unlit road with no lights and no pavement. When the train gets to the city it’s still a bus ride away into the centre, my days of being able to walk it are long gone.

The only option for non-drivers is a taxi and as I have heard it’s £40 to get one back here after 10pm, perhaps you can understand why some non-drivers actually find it a lot harder than you do to go out for the evening?

L.E.D lights are like driving towards an oncoming vehicle with constant full beam! I got night time specs that fit over my glasses and reduce glare. Cost me a couple of pounds.... really helps

Etoile2701

keepingquiet

Can't people get buses anymore? I think I must live in another country because I love going out at night, whether it is driving locally or using buses and trains to get to town or the nearest city.
I get very frustrated with some friends who won't go out after dark and some of them don't even have cars?

I don't get it at all. I refuse to become a prisoner in my own home!

I like being at home. What is wrong with choosing not to go out after dark and not owning a car?

Nothing if that's your choice but people do seem to be complaining on this thread.

I have been quite shocked reading how poor public transport is in some places.

The lights are brighter and often ill positioned. It’s time for a change as it’s not just silver hairs affected.
Where I live -lots of big cars dazzling us below.
Tinted lenses not appropriate at night.

Maccushield Gold has a lot of other vitamins added that aren’t really necessary for improved vision ( they’re also quite expensive). In the Michael Mosley programme it said the important thing was the meso zeathanthin (sp) which is in Maccushield and Macusave.

Bukkie

I used a lutein capsule from Amazon. About 90 capsules for £9 and/or Macugold

I began to take Macusheild Gold at the recommendation of an optician but they gave me awful nausea and I had to stop despite several attempts. If anyone could recommend one that didn’t involve nausea ( I know that could be just me) I would definitely try again.

keepingquiet

Can't people get buses anymore? I think I must live in another country because I love going out at night, whether it is driving locally or using buses and trains to get to town or the nearest city.
I get very frustrated with some friends who won't go out after dark and some of them don't even have cars?

I don't get it at all. I refuse to become a prisoner in my own home!

I like being at home. What is wrong with choosing not to go out after dark and not owning a car?

I am only 67 but I’ve hated night driving for a long time. Lately I started using yellow tinted glasses that go over my specs. The difference is pretty good - the dazzle effect is really diminished. You can get them on Amazon or wherever

I voluntarily stopped driving when my eyesight became so bad that I felt it would be irresponsible to risk doing so. But recently (shortly before turning 80) I finally bit the bullet and had my cataracts done. Now safely and very happily back on the road, with my distance vision sharper than ever, I’ve driven – locally – in rain, in the dark, and even (with my post-op dark glasses on) at sunset when the sun was so low in the sky that its light was blinding. But I’m still very mindful of my age and would hesitate to drive on a motorway, let alone on narrow, winding country lanes. In short, my view is that we all need to recognise our limits and not put others at risk.

Astitchintime

It always concerns me when I heard people claim they only drive in familiar routes……….this is complacency and that’s when we take our eye off the ball because, subconsciously, we think we know where we are and what we’re doing. All too often the is leads to accidents.
I’d happily undergo a re-test now I am in my senior years, I don’t want to be that person who kills someone when I was popping to the shops, involving a journey that I’ve driven for years and years.
As for the lights……if they are so dazzling then surely an adjustment to seating position, tinted lenses and more importantly reassurance from the optician might be the best course of action.

I had my eyes retested about 4 months ago, apparently my readers have got slightly better, but due to cost I will keep current specs and push them down my nose abit, BUT my shortsightedness is the same as it was 2 years ago! I'm early 50's so I was quite surprised, as I had hit -6, then it started to come back down (or go back up depending on how you see it!)

Anyhow, my seat, STAYS as it is, when someone goes in the car (mechanic etc) they are told , forwards yes, but NOT to touch the back of the seat!

My eyes are sensitive, (Hospital Specialist Confirmed) so I always wear transitions, the ones that go dark inside. I remember winter 2009 (when I was diagnosed) and all that funny snow! (Funny as in December, the snow reflected back to my lenses and I spent those 3 months in darkness during the day!)

Our car is 2006 Sportage with older style lights. I've been to town this afternoon to get the Xmas veg, coming up my road, a few minutes from home, (it's been a very dull day here and it was 3.15pm and my lights were on) I was almost blinded and I had to slow down to crawl past.

The culprit? A 3 year old Mini with bloody bright LED headlights, though they could have been it's sidelights as they were like a halo, I noticed that, donut type! Even the newer Minis are lower than my old car.

I do agree some oldies shouldn't be driving, I know of someone who has recently lost his licence due to being retested and apparently "his brain wouldn't let him slow down" they told us (he kept going 30mph in Wales!)

There are also some young who seem to think the minute they pass, they are invincible. When my nieces passed 10 years ago, she told me that she was told she needed to improve on a couple of things! I told her she should have failed then, as in my day, it was pass or fail, no inbetween!

(I passed 1st time when I was 17, I actually thought I'd failed as I skidded on the emergency stop, it had been raining for several days previously, so I swore, carried on, sulked as you do, at the end, he told me I had passed! Told me skidding isn't a fail as it happens in reality!)

I've recently bought some yellow night lenses to clip on my prescription glasses which really help with the glare from headlights, making things much clearer.

I can drive in the dark in the morning but tired eyes can't really cope in the evening.

Sometimes overtaking a lorry leaves you not seeing where you are foe a few seconds. Happened to me recently - it was as if someone had thrown a bucket of water over my windscreen! Scary!

Thank you for this useful thread, very timely for me. I rarely drive and even more rarely at night, so I was horrified when I had to go about 30 miles after dark a couple of weeks ago and really struggled. I felt most unsafe and was aware that motorists behind me were getting frustrated because I was going slowly. I was driving within what felt like my max capacity. Now in a real dilemma. Do I give up night driving and thus get worse, or do I go out and drive in the dark at least once a week to improve?

keepingquiet

Can't people get buses anymore? I think I must live in another country because I love going out at night, whether it is driving locally or using buses and trains to get to town or the nearest city.
I get very frustrated with some friends who won't go out after dark and some of them don't even have cars?

I don't get it at all. I refuse to become a prisoner in my own home!

We have no buses after 17:30

I don't know anyone who particularly like driving at night, especially in pouring rain with cars and lorries throwing up water off the road. Lorries shoul all have those brushes that helps eliminate spray. Sometimes overtaking a lorry leaves you not seeing where you are foe a few seconds.