Navigating Autumn Glare: Night Driving Challenges Explained
The clocks go back on Sunday 25 October, and overnight the drive home from work moves into darkness. For many people, that first week of dark evenings is when they notice their eyes aren’t coping as well as they thought.
This isn’t only an issue for older drivers. Glare, halos and blurry signs can affect anyone, at any age, and autumn brings together the conditions that make them worse: low sun, wet roads, rush-hour traffic and long hours behind oncoming headlights.
In this guide, we explain why night driving gets harder this time of year, what certain symptoms may mean, the legal eyesight standard every driver must meet, and the lens options that can make a real difference on the road.
Why headlights feel brighter in autumn
Headlights haven’t changed between September and November, but the conditions around them have. Three things combine to make glare feel much stronger once the clocks change.
Wet roads act like a mirror. A dry road surface scatters light in many directions. A wet one reflects it straight back at you, so you get glare from the oncoming headlights and a second dose bouncing off the tarmac. Puddles, wet leaves and road markings add to the effect.
The sun sits low in the sky. Around sunrise and sunset in autumn, the sun is often right at windscreen height. Low sun and dazzle on the school run or commute can leave your eyes struggling to adjust as the light drops away.
Your pupils open wide in the dark. In low light, your pupils dilate to let more light in. That helps you see, but a larger pupil also lets in more stray light and uses more of the edge of your eye’s lens, where small focusing errors are more noticeable. It’s why a prescription that feels fine in daylight can seem blurrier after dark, and why bright LED headlights can feel so harsh.
Modern LED and xenon headlights are brighter and bluer than older halogen bulbs. Many drivers find them noticeably more dazzling, especially on narrow country roads around Crowborough and the Ashdown Forest, where oncoming cars are close, and there’s little street lighting.
Glare, halos and starbursting: what they may be telling you
Some glare at night is normal. But if lights look noticeably different from how they used to, it’s worth paying attention.
Glare is a general dazzle that makes it hard to see past a bright light. Everyone experiences some, but if it takes you a long time to recover after a car passes, get checked.
Halos are bright rings around lights such as headlights and street lamps. They can be caused by an outdated prescription, dry or tired eyes, smudged or scratched glasses, or changes in the eye's lens.
Starbursting is when light appears to spray out in rays or spikes. It’s often linked to uncorrected astigmatism and can also follow some types of laser eye surgery.
Often the cause is simple: a prescription that has drifted, or lenses without a good anti-reflective coating. Sometimes these symptoms are an early sign of an eye condition, which is why we’d always rather check than guess.
If halos or glare come on suddenly, or come with eye pain, redness, headache or feeling unwell, don’t wait for a routine appointment. Contact us, NHS 111 or your nearest eye casualty the same day.
The DVLA eyesight standard and the number plate test
Every driver in Great Britain must meet a minimum eyesight standard, with glasses or contact lenses if you need them. For car and motorcycle drivers, that means you must:
be able to read a modern car number plate from 20 metres away
have visual acuity of at least 6/12 (decimal 0.5) using both eyes together, or one eye if you only have sight in one
have an adequate field of vision
The 20-metre number plate check is the one most people know, yet DVLA research found that fewer than half of drivers could correctly name the distance. Twenty metres is roughly five car lengths, so you can easily test yourself in a car park.
However, the number plate test is done in daylight. Passing it doesn’t show how well you see at night, in rain, or in glare. Visual acuity and field of vision can only be properly measured in an eye examination.
If you need glasses to meet the standard, you must wear them every time you drive. If your eyesight drops below the standard, or you’re diagnosed with certain eye conditions, you’re legally required to tell the DVLA. Bus and lorry drivers have stricter standards.
Eye conditions that affect night driving
Several common conditions show up first as trouble driving after dark. Many develop slowly and painlessly, so you may not notice until the evenings draw in.
Cataracts. As the eye's natural lens becomes cloudy, it scatters incoming light. Headlights may look smeared or surrounded by glare, and colours may seem duller. Cataracts are most common later in life but can develop earlier, for example with diabetes, certain medications or after an eye injury. They’re very treatable, and we can refer you when the time is right.
Glaucoma. Glaucoma damages the optic nerve and usually affects side vision first. Because it’s gradual and painless, many people don’t realise they have it, yet a narrowed field of vision makes it harder to spot hazards at the edges of the road, especially at night. Early detection matters, and our OCT scans help us spot changes before you notice them.
Uncorrected astigmatism. Astigmatism means the front of the eye is shaped more like a rugby ball than a football, so light doesn’t focus evenly. It’s very common, affects all ages, and often causes starbursts and streaky lights at night. A small amount you barely notice in daylight can become obvious once your pupils dilate in the dark. The fix is usually simple: the right prescription.
An up-to-date eye examination checks for all of these, along with your prescription, so you know exactly where you stand.
ZEISS DriveSafe: lenses designed for the road
If you drive regularly, especially at night or in bad weather, you should ask about ZEISS DriveSafe lenses. They’re everyday lenses you can wear all day, but with a design and coating built around driving demands.
A coating that tackles headlight glare. DriveSafe lenses use ZEISS’s DuraVision DriveSafe coating, which partially reflects the high-energy blue wavelengths that make modern LED and xenon headlights so dazzling. In ZEISS testing, 64% fewer drivers reported glare problems than with other premium anti-reflective coatings. It also helps with reflections from wet roads and street lamps.
A design that accounts for your pupils in low light. ZEISS Luminance Design technology accounts for larger pupils in poor light, helping keep vision clear when it’s dark or overcast.
Easier switching between road, dashboard and mirrors. For varifocal wearers, the DriveSafe progressive design has wider distance and intermediate zones. That means less head movement when you glance from the road to the speedometer, sat nav or mirrors.
DriveSafe is available in single vision and varifocal prescriptions, so it suits drivers of all ages, not just those who need help with close-up vision. Ask us at your next appointment whether it’s right for you.
Why anti-reflective coating matters more at night
An uncoated spectacle lens reflects some of the light that hits it. In daylight, you barely notice. At night, those reflections show up as ghost images of headlights, glare across the lens and reflections of your own dashboard lights.
A good anti-reflective (AR) coating lets more light reach your eye and cuts down those distracting reflections. The result is crisper, higher-contrast vision when you need it most.
A few practical tips for the darker months:
Keep your lenses clean. Smears and fingerprints scatter light and worsen glare. Use a microfibre cloth and lens spray, not your jumper.
Check for scratches. Worn or scratched lenses, or an old coating that’s starting to break down, can cause haze and glare. If your glasses are a few years old, it may be time for new lenses.
Clean your windscreen inside and out. A grimy inside surface can cause surprising glare at night.
Avoid tinted lenses for night driving. “Night driving glasses” with yellow tints reduce the light reaching your eyes and aren’t recommended after dark.
If you already wear glasses, upgrading to a quality AR coating or ZEISS DriveSafe is often one of the simplest ways to make night driving more comfortable.
Book your eye examination before the clocks go back
In the darker months, small changes in your vision make the biggest difference on the road. If it’s been more than two years since your last eye test, or you’ve noticed more glare, halos, or blurry signs after dark, it's time to get checked.
At Arthur Hayes Eyecare in Crowborough, your examination includes a full check of your prescription and eye health, with advanced OCT imaging available. If new glasses would help, we’ll walk you through lens options, including anti-reflective coatings and ZEISS DriveSafe, so you leave with lenses that suit how you drive.
Contact us to book your eye examination or call the practice. Don’t wait until you’re struggling on a dark, wet evening.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for general information purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. If you have concerns about your eye health, please book an appointment with a qualified optometrist.
Arthur Hayes Eyecare is registered with the General Optical Council.