Winter sun

[Jocko]

We all like a sight of the sun in winter, but driving in it can be a nightmare. Especially so here in Scotland, where it barely gets above the horizon this time of the year, and certainly never enough to be above the top of the windscreen. We had friends visit us from middle England, this week, and their journey south was a real trial, heading into the low sun the entire way.
Today, as I crossed the Queensferry Crossing, the sun was full on in the centre of the windscreen. I had to sit straight up in my seat to take advantage of the sun visor. There was a car stopped on the hard shoulder, almost invisible against the sun, and I was passing the car before I even saw the chap changing the wheel. No wonder so many cyclists and pedestrians get killed on sunny days at this time of the year.

[John Ratsey]

I completely agree. The optimum worst conditions are when the road is wet so there's glare off the road surface as well as the direct sun. I also suspect that older eyes are less able to handle the challenging light conditions. In addition to the low winter sunshine, morning or evening sun at other times of year can be hard on the eyes if driving in the wrong direction (a well-planned trip involves driving east in the morning and west in the afternoon!).

The safety situation isn't helped by the dark coloured oncoming vehicles which are the last to put any lights on. With the sun behind them the drivers think they don't need lights but forget (or never learnt) that one purpose of lights is to make their vehicles visible to others. I've got a big flashing red light on the back of my bicycle.

[culzean]

Yes, wet roads and low sun area deadly combination,  you need some very lightly tinted either light grey or yellow polarized glasses - they take the glare off non-metallic objects like glass, paint and water - which is why fishermen use them to see whats happening below the surface.  These are advertised as night driving to take the blue out of German HID lights,  but work in the daytime and improve the contrast especially on dull days,  but also take the glare off roads, without reducing the amount of light getting to the eye like normal sunglasses do.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DBM8N8H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Jocko]

I normally have no doubts about when I need my lights but yesterday afternoon, returning home, the sun was still up and the clear blue sky was spreading a lot of light. I know that the legal requirement for lights is sunset to sunrise (the old "lighting up times" being a thing of the past), but when exactly was sunset? I switched my lights on and 15 minutes later my satnav switched to the "night" screen. On reaching home I looked up the time of sunset in Kirkcaldy and it was 16:14, the exact time the satnav colours changed. Good to know.

[Jocko]

without reducing the amount of light getting to the eye like normal sunglasses do.

I can assure you, after spending almost 20 years in the optical coatings industry, that any colour, tint or anything else applied to a lens reduces the amount of light reaching the eye. Even a piece of plain glass between the eye and the subject reduces transmission to 92%. But I have to agree that some colours help you differentiate subjects from their background. When I played golf I had lenses designed to make grass look darker so that a white ball was easier to see (assuming it hadn't been hoyed into deep rough!).

[peteo48]

Interesting discussion and I will now, immediately, stop complaining about the auto headlights on my car coming on too early. They've actually got it right because they do come on when the sun is low in the sky.

[culzean]

Since I have had H4 LED bulbs fitted to our cars I don't mind turning dipped headlights on early,  or indeed all the time like DRL lights,  nothing to wear out like filament bulbs do as the filament 'evaporates' during use and both coats up the inside of the glass envelope reducing light output,  but when too much has evaporated and thinned down the filament they just go pop without warning... I would have fitted the LED bulbs to our MK1's in a heartbeat ( had the decent ones been available back then ) rather than skin my knuckles and deplete my patience taking half the car apart to fit replacement filament bulbs in summer 'before ' they blew in winter,  used to replace the +150% filament bulbs every 12 months,  because they tended not to last much longer than that anyway..