New Headlights Causing Sight Problems For Some

A study by Auto Repair Focus discovered 65% of drivers surveyed have an issue with new technology in headlights used in newer vehicles.

“It has actually become such a phenomenon and such an issue that there's a word described to it - which is dazzle. So if you're driving a new high-end car that has these way cool lights and people are flashing you, inadvertently you're dazzling them,” Mark Madeja with AAA Oklahoma said.

Madeja says it’s great if you’re the one behind the wheel because newer headlights do a better job of showing you more of the roadway, but if you’re the person driving in an oncoming car it’s an issue.

“If you're in a low profile vehicle and you're coming up on an SUV you're completely blinded; you're completely dazzled by that effect. So, we're urging motorists to talk to their optometrist to investigative nighttime driving glasses.”

Dr. Blane Snodgrass with Twenty Twenty Eyecare tells News on 6 he’s had more and more patients complaining about driving at night.

“You'd be surprised how many patients say, 'I just don't drive at night anymore because it's such a problem,'” Snodgrass said. “They even cause something called disability glare that can sometimes take up to 10 seconds to recover from, and in 10 seconds you can be in a ditch or hitting the car oncoming.”

As a solution, Snodgrass tells his patients they can get drive-safe lenses that can come in a prescription or non-prescription to absorb, filter and even eliminate the glare-portion wavelengths of those LED, Xenon, halogen and even incandescent lights to where it’s not there at all.

AAA also suggests looking quickly to the right of the roadway to make sure your vehicle is lined up with the white line on the edge of the road and look up again when the vehicle has passed allowing you to stay in the correct spot on the roadway without feeling that blinding effect.

“The way technology looks like it's going to go, cars will be equipped to dim or lower the lights - but that's not here yet,” Madeja added.