£5000 fine for wearing sunglasses

[Mr Vlad]

Is this country, well those who write the highway code rules, gone STARK RAVING MAD? Jeez they're planning on fining drivers 5 grand if caught wearing sunglasses. They say if  the sun is in your eyes then pull over and stop! Ridiculous. I'm lost for words about this nonsense. 

I'm a professional driver and I wear polarised sunglasses. I also have night time glasses which are incredible. No more dazzle from on coming cars especially when it's raining. 

From what I've seen tons of folks are up in arms about this stupidly. 

What do you think?

[NemesisUK]

This isn't new and it's not for wearing sunglasses but wearing sunglasses of the wrong category.

All respectable manufacturers of sunglasses categorise their range depending on the light transmission % (and other things). When I was buying prescription sunglasses for driving my optician very carefully explained the options. This was a good 10yrs ago and I'm afraid I don't recall the specifics.

[H3XME]

I think that people who write these up and make these decisions are deluded drug using hypocrites. I wouldn't worry about sh*t like this because it just makes me mad. I saw an article earlier about using air con this summer might get you £5k fine too because the "rules" state that you car has to be properly ventilated LOL. Do they think the air con is connected to your exhaust pipe or something?

[NemesisUK]

Most of all this reporting is just click-bait headlines ...

[H3XME]

4 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

Most of all this reporting is just click-bait headlines ...

Most likely. To be honest, even if it was true, how many people would actually follow this?.. barely anyone

[Linas.P]

Next thing - £5000 fine for welders, because with those damn mask they are hazard! (lol)

[McRattlehead]

I believe cat4 sunglasses are deemed too dark to drive with.

[Rabbers]

I was once pulled over in Belgium for driving in fog without my lights on.  The policeman, believe it or not, was wearing sunglasses. 

[Cactus]

On a side note 

 

and the world we are living in

 

cows may have to wear masks so dont complain. I cant see them complaining.

 

[Linas.P]

I thought methane was coming from the other end, but sometimes one learns something new! 

[Bluemarlin]

I assume the logic is that wearing inappriopriately tinted sunglasses is no different to an inappropriately tinted windscreen.

 

 

 

[Herbie]

4 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

I'm a professional driver and I wear polarised sunglasses. I also have night time glasses which are incredible.

What are these night glasses Vlad?

[JeffL]

4 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Is this country, well those who write the highway code rules, gone STARK RAVING MAD? Jeez they're planning on fining drivers 5 grand if caught wearing sunglasses. They say if  the sun is in your eyes then pull over and stop! Ridiculous. I'm lost for words about this nonsense. 

I'm a professional driver and I wear polarised sunglasses. I also have night time glasses which are incredible. No more dazzle from on coming cars especially when it's raining. 

From what I've seen tons of folks are up in arms about this stupidly. 

What do you think?

Like Herbs, I'd like details on those night time driving glasses, please.

[Linas.P]

2 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

I assume the logic is that wearing inappriopriately tinted sunglasses is no different to an inappropriately tinted windscreen.

It didn't go well with motorcycle helmet visors, but somehow they now trying to apply same faulty logic for glasses. You are right, they probably thinking this way, but the idea is quite stupid thought (and I obviously I am talking about people who decided to compare it that way), because the key difference is that you only put glasses on when you need them, if at any point it becomes too dark you take them of, whereas tinted windscreen is permanent. 

I remember driving with quite dark sun glasses and it was fine on the motorway, but then I turned into B-road going trough dense forest and I had to take glasses of, because it was too dark despite being middle of very sunny day. Issue solved.

I assume "night driving" glasses are just clear polarised lenses, so they have no tint (or maybe yellow tinted, but there is trade-off), but are still polarised to reduces glare which is always good... which brings me to the other point - the amount of people who forgets to turn off high beam, or have those nasty fake xenon's, or just generally misaligned headlights, or drive with fog lights is just criminal... or in other hand nowadays there are plenty of idiots just driving with DLRs!!!

[Barry14UK]

I asked my Optician for prescription sun glasses a few years ago and he showed me some which he said were the darkest permitted for drivers.  The polarized one were certainly better.  The drawback is that that I can't read the HUD display when they are on and there comes a tipping point when visibility means they should be removed.

I also have some night glasses. These are a very pale  tinged towards amber.  I bought them at a truckers centre in the USA. Can't say I have seen them in UK.  They do help slightly in some conditions.  When faced with a blinding light I adopt a trick we were taught in military training to close one eye and open it when it's dark again. This helps the closed eye focus more quicky than if both pupils had been affected by (flares) or in this case bright lights. 

[ALAW]

7 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Is this country, well those who write the highway code rules, gone STARK RAVING MAD? Jeez they're planning on fining drivers 5 grand if caught wearing sunglasses. They say if  the sun is in your eyes then pull over and stop! Ridiculous. I'm lost for words about this nonsense. 

I'm a professional driver and I wear polarised sunglasses. I also have night time glasses which are incredible. No more dazzle from on coming cars especially when it's raining. 

From what I've seen tons of folks are up in arms about this stupidly. 

What do you think?

I once had nightvision glasses they were called ambervision

[Mr Vlad]

I can't remember what my night time driving glasses are. Got them over a decade ago but they're of a yellowish colour. Got them from a car show somewhere. 

[Vlady]

This is a second stupidest suggestion I read about in 2 days - the 1st one was about doing MOT every 2 years! 🙂

 

[Linas.P]

5 hours ago, Vlady said:

This is a second stupidest suggestion I read about in 2 days - the 1st one was about doing MOT every 2 years! 🙂

Doing it every 2 years wasn't the worst part (many countries does it without issues) - stating that it somehow helps with living costs was the real brain dead thing. 

[Rabbers]

I don’t know if photochromatic lenses, namely ones that darken according to the intensity of light, are as popular as they once were, but they are seriously to be avoided by drivers.  I once had a prescription pair I ended up not liking but kept in the car as a spare for emergency use.  On one such occasion I had them on when entering a lakeside road consisting of a long series of short tunnels separated by equally short sunlit stretches, and I soon found myself virtually blinded because the lenses’ change from dark to clear was insufficiently quick even after I significantly slowed down.  I was pretty much forced to take the glasses off after deciding that my short-sightedness, unaided, was less dangerous than keeping them on.  As unpleasant driving experiences go, this one ranks high in my memory. 

[Moleman]

10 minutes ago, Rabbers said:

I don’t know if photochromatic lenses, namely ones that darken according to the intensity of light, are as popular as they once were, but they are seriously to be avoided by drivers.  I once had a prescription pair I ended up not liking but kept in the car as a spare for emergency use.  On one such occasion I had them on when entering a lakeside road consisting of a long series of short tunnels separated by equally short sunlit stretches, and I soon found myself virtually blinded because the lenses’ change from dark to clear was insufficiently quick even after I significantly slowed down.  I was pretty much forced to take the glasses off after deciding that my short-sightedness, unaided, was less dangerous than keeping them on.  As unpleasant driving experiences go, this one ranks high in my memory. 

How long ago was this?

Photochromatic lenses do not work when inside a car due the UV being cut out by most car glass.

I have a pair of prescription sun glasses for that very reason.

[Barry14UK]

Yes photochromic glasses can be good in most circumstances but they don't change quickly enough to deal with intermittent bright and dark conditions experienced in quickly changing conditions, or at least when I had mine.  Maybe this aspect has been improved now.  After all welding glass can change pretty instantaneously nowadays.

[Rabbers]

37 minutes ago, Moleman said:

How long ago was this?

Photochromatic lenses do not work when inside  a car ..,

About 30-35 years ago, and they certainly worked inside a car (a BMW325 in my case) albeit not promptly enough in the described circumstances.  Haven’t had any since so can’t comment on improvements, if any.

[Moleman]

23 minutes ago, Rabbers said:

About 30-35 years ago, 

Things have moved on a bit since then.

[Rabbers]

3 hours ago, Moleman said:

Things have moved on a bit since then.

Good to hear.  Never doubted it but nice to have confirmation.  Maybe I’ll give polychromatic lenses another try when I next get new glasses.

Incidentally, you have a great nom-de-keypad for a thread on the subject of sight!