# Bad night vision... what to do?



## DiscoMonkey (Mar 31, 2002)

Hey all,
I have really bad night vision (rods aren't working so well) but I was just wondering what my options are? I can't afford HIDs as much as I would like to have them... but I was thinking about fogs lights or driving lights. Will this increase visibility at night? Should I be using fogs at night? What else is there? What about ecodes? much brighter?








TIA


----------



## gotta_jet (Feb 11, 2002)

*Re: Bad night vision... what to do? (DiscoMonkey)*

i've heard e-codes are one of the best bang-for-your-buck things you can do for your car.
and fog lights are supposed to be used to light up directly in front and kinda to the side of you. so you can stay between the lines.


----------



## Daemon42 (Feb 9, 2001)

*Re: Bad night vision... what to do? (DiscoMonkey)*

Nothing will make a truly dramatic difference in light levels except HIDs.
E-codes will help, usually by focusing what light there is in a 
more useful area of the road. 
I find that driving with the fogs on is ultimately counterproductive
because it puts more light right in front of the car but doesn't
extend the distance you can see down the road, and in fact can
hurt it, because you pupils adjust to the higher close up light levels 
by contracting, so you can't see as far. Having lots of light 
right in front of the car can be very comforting, but isn't 
really very useful. Kind of defines the DOT-spec lighting philosophy
though and American cars in general.
Here's my advice and it's going to sound strange, but it's cheap
so at least give it a chance. Go buy a pair of pure yellow shooting
glasses (most common is made by Remington and found at 
any sporting goods store). Try wearing them at night.
They're designed to increase contrast without decreasing total
light levels significantly (such as when shooting in cloudy/snowy conditions
or in a badly lit indoor range, which they all are), but I've found that 
they work great for night driving. Only 2% of the cones in your eye receive blue
light but your visual system cranks the volume up on it really high to 
match the levels received from the red (64%) and green (32%) cones. It means your
visual system works overtime to process blue, and it's particularly destructive
to night vision. The blue component of the light from other headlights tends to 
cause glare, and eyestrain, and kill your night vision from which it takes a while 
to recover. The shooting glasses will eliminate a large percentage of that blue 
component, and thus reduce all the above problems. I find that with them, 
I can look straight into the headlights of an oncoming car
and see beyond it as soon as that car passes, and I can drive around with a 
lot of oncoming traffic for a long time without my eyes getting fatigued. 
And yes, everything starts out with a yellowish tint, but after about 5 
minutes you will not notice it. The eyes adapt to the new idea of what white is quickly. 
I promise. 
I also use them in the rain, snow, and fog because blue light 
scatters more on moisture (meaning you see the moisture instead of the road), and 
by eliminating that component of the light from returning to your eye, you literally can 
see through it better. (Why serious fog light are yellow, not white). It'll also cut down
on the glare from moisture on your windshield. Even on a dreary 
cold cloudy day the shooting glasses can literally make it feel warm and sunny. A cheap
attitude adjustment for those living in the Pacific northwest in the winter.
Give it a shot. 
ian


[Modified by Daemon42, 1:09 AM 11-7-2002]


----------



## GT17V (Aug 7, 2001)

*Re: Bad night vision... what to do? (DiscoMonkey)*

My mom has bad night vision also. SHe drives a 93 Caravan, which has the worse lighting pattern ever. I put Sylvania XtraVisions in, though the pattern didn't change, it was slightly brighter. She hasn't hit anything yet...people hit her when the van is in a parking lot or at a stop light.
Though technically, you're not supposed to drive with fog lights on all the time, but if you install fog lights (the next step for my mom), check within the local laws for a medical exemption (just in case).
Driving lights put light up high and narrow...supposed to be used with the high beams, but local laws would state that any accessory installed lighting are considered to be fog lights, thus not with the high beams.
I used driving lights on my last car, and haven't had a problem with the law either.


----------



## nater (Apr 10, 2000)

*Re: Bad night vision... what to do? (converted_vw)*

A good projector fog light (like the MK3 GTi/Cabrio/Jetta Trek/GLX) if aimed correctly will allow for 'some' light farther down the road. While it will focus a bit more on the area in front of the car they can be made to focus a bit farther down but this would only be logical with the fogs I mentioned above (or similar).
Talk about a nice cutoff, man those things are awesome!!
I've bought some Osram all season h3's to install and will let you know how they turn out-they are a yellow bulb for fog lights.
And by the way, I see as much glare coming from regular halogens at night that it's depressing. I really wish DOT would make these crappy halogen reflector designs illegal.
Oh well,
Later,


----------

