more mature drivers giving up night driving?

I won’t drive over the moor at night as it is not lit and , being in a mini, I am dazzled by lights from big cars! However, I have special glasses to try to take away the glare and they do help! I have cut back on night time driving to be honest unless I know the route really well ! No room for complacency though

Plus those glasses you buy from Amazon are not legal so my optician told me 🤷‍♀️

The combination of dazzling headlights, narrow country roads and multiple potholes makes night driving pretty hazardous in rural areas.

The yellow Amazon glasses may not be legal but they do reduce glare.

And it's not just when you are driving or always at night!
I live in a street of semi detached houses, and my living room is directly opposite the drive of the house on the other side of the road. I spend quite a lot of time sitting on my settee, reading or watching TV, and almost daily am dazzled by the headlights of a very large , and tall family car as it comes out onto the road, because the headlights are in line with my eyes.
It's more than just a night time problem, as there seems to be growing habit of having headlights on during daylight too.

I don't complain, as they are good neighbours and probably have no idea how annoying it is

Not all areas have good bus services. We have one an hour and nine after 8 o clock.
My problem with night driving is also the lights and poor road markings.
I’ve tried the yellow glasses you can buy but they only help a little.

I would use public transport if there was such a thing where I live!! If I didn't drive I would have to rely on taxis every time I wanted to get to the shops, Doctor etc. Although it is a disadvantage not to have a bus service, I wouldn't change the peace and quiet of my rural abode!! - It was great to welcome two of Santa's reindeer in my field this morning, having a rest before their busy night!!

I have given up driving altogether - night and day - and I don't miss it one little bit.

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.

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

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?

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!

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

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.

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 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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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.