Night Driving Glare and How to See Past Oncoming Headlights

At 60 mph you cover about 27 metres every second. When an oncoming car's lights dazzle you, it can take two to five seconds for your eyes to recover, longer if you are over 50. That means you may drive the length of a football pitch with only a rough idea of what is in front of you. Night driving glare is not just uncomfortable; it is a gap in your vision that you can shrink with a few habits and some cheap maintenance.

Modern LED and high-intensity headlights have made the problem feel worse for many drivers, and complaints to motoring groups have risen sharply in recent years. You cannot control the other car's lights. You can control where you look, how clean your glass is and how your own car is set up.

Why Headlight Glare Hits Harder Than It Used To

Older halogen bulbs gave a yellowish light. Many newer LED units produce a bluer, whiter light that the eye perceives as brighter and that scatters more inside the eye. SUVs and pickups also mount their headlights higher, so their beams land closer to the eye line of someone in a hatchback.

Add a slightly misaligned beam, which is common after a car is loaded with luggage or has had suspension work, and you get the familiar experience of feeling that every second oncoming car has its main beam on even when it does not.

Where to Look When Night Driving Glare Hits

This is the single most useful technique, and few drivers are ever taught it.

As an oncoming car approaches, move your gaze down and toward the kerb side of your lane: the left edge in the UK, the right edge in countries that drive on the right.
Use the white edge line or kerb as your guide to keep the car in position.
Keep the oncoming car in your peripheral vision, not your central vision. You still know where it is, but its lights are not hitting the most sensitive part of your eye.
Once it has passed, bring your eyes back to the road ahead and well into the distance.

If you are dazzled anyway, ease off the accelerator and slow down gradually. Do not brake hard, and do not try to retaliate with your own main beam, which only blinds the other driver as well.

Clean Glass Matters More Than Anything You Can Buy

A windscreen that looks clean in daylight can turn into a sheet of light at night. The culprit is usually the inside of the glass, where a film builds up from heater fumes, plastics in the dashboard and breath. Each smear catches the oncoming beam and spreads it across your view.

Clean the inside of the windscreen every two to four weeks in winter with a glass cleaner and two microfibre cloths, one to clean and one to buff dry.
Replace wiper blades every 12 months. Worn blades leave streaks that flare in headlights.
Top up the screen wash with a proper additive, not plain water, which leaves a film as it dries.
Wipe your own headlight lenses. Dirty or yellowed lenses reduce your view of the road and scatter light at oncoming drivers.

Set Up Your Car to Cut Glare From Behind

Glare from the car behind is the other half of the problem. Most manual interior mirrors have a small tab underneath; flick it to the night setting and the mirror shows a dimmer image. Many newer cars have auto-dimming mirrors that do this for you, as long as nothing is stuck over the sensor on the back of the mirror.

Door mirrors can also catch high headlights. Angle them out slightly so they show the lane beside you rather than the car directly behind, which reduces glare and covers more of the blind spot. Our guide to adjusting your mirrors so you actually lose the blind spot walks through the exact positions.

Finally, check your own headlight aim. If you regularly carry heavy loads, use the headlight levelling dial on the dashboard. Setting it correctly stops your beams from dazzling everyone else, which is a courtesy that tends to come back to you.

The Problem With Yellow Night Driving Glasses

Yellow tinted night driving glasses are sold everywhere as a cure for glare. I would not use them, and neither do most optometrists I have spoken to.

Any tint, yellow included, reduces the total amount of light reaching your eye. At night you are already short of light. The glasses may make the oncoming headlights feel softer, but they also make dark-clothed pedestrians, cyclists and potholes harder to see. Research has repeatedly found no real improvement in what drivers detect at night when wearing them.

What does help: an anti-reflective coating on your normal prescription lenses, which cuts the halos and reflections inside the lenses themselves. If you wear glasses, ask for it at your next eye test.

When Glare Is a Sign to Get Your Eyes Checked

Some glare is normal. A sudden increase, starbursts around every street light, or taking much longer to recover than you used to can all point to changes in your eyes. Early cataracts are a very common cause from the late 50s onward, and they often show up at night before they bother you in daylight.

Book an eye test at least every two years, and sooner if night driving has started to feel stressful. In the UK, you must be able to read a number plate from 20 metres in good light, but that tells you nothing about how well you see at night. Driving in poor visibility generally makes these issues worse, which is why the same principles apply when you are driving in fog with the right speed and lights.

FAQ

Should I flash my lights at a car that is dazzling me?

A single brief flash is sometimes used to signal that someone has left main beam on, but in the UK the Highway Code says flashing should only be used to let others know you are there. Never hold your main beam on in response.

Why do some headlights seem so much brighter than others?

Colour, mounting height and aim all play a part. Bluer LED light appears brighter, high-mounted lights reach your eye line more directly, and a beam aimed too high dazzles even at normal brightness.

Is it safer to avoid driving at night altogether?

If glare makes you feel unsafe, reducing night driving is a sensible step while you get your eyes checked. For most drivers, cleaner glass and better eye technique make a large difference first.

A Five Minute Glare Routine

Tonight, clean the inside of your windscreen, check the night setting on your mirror and make sure your headlight levelling dial is at zero for an empty car. On the road, look toward the kerb side edge when lights approach and slow gently if you are dazzled. Then book that eye test. More practical guides are collected in our road safety section.