Night Driving and Sensory Overload

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I've been having trouble driving at night recently because my sensory problems (especially auditory and visual) have been getting worse due to lack of sleep (it's finals week at university.) I get visual overload from all the headlights and the sharp contrast between bright lights and a black background. It's obviously not safe to drive around wearing sunglasses at night; do any of you deal with this? What do you do about it? (apart from not driving at night; sadly that's not an option.)

I have the exact same problem. I tried sunglasses and it just made it harder to see anything. I get really bothered by people going the opposite way and people behind me shining their stupid lights in my mirrors. I hate driving on narrower roads at night because I totally lose sight of the road for several seconds when someone is driving past and going the other way.

What do I do? Sometimes I try to use my hand to block the light, which does help, but that also obviously takes one of my hands off the wheel, and takes my focus off of driving, so it might not be the safest thing to do. Other than that, I just get mad and yell at them

A few times in the past I almost had a panic attack, because someone's car was really loud as it passed, or I just totally couldn't see and thought I was going to crash. And today a big tumbleweed blew right in front of me out of the darkness, and I had already ran into it before realizing it was just a tumbleweed. It freaked me out because I thought it was an animal.

Anyway, I don't really know how to help unfortunately, I am still trying to figure out how to deal with it myself

have you tried 'night glasses'?
those are either yellow-tinted' (non-prescription) or polarized glasses, both block the edges of light, without lowering ambient like regular sunglasses.
i use my polarized quite often when driving at night. they are great for day activities as well, since they are used for that, but i got tinted polaroids for the day, to combine effects, and untinted for nighttime

If it's connected to having less sleep, the most likely solution would be to sleep more?

I don't see why it isn't safe. I wear sunglasses at night, they reduce glare. Best to check whether there are any laws where you live in relation to this though.

I wear wraparound sunglasses (wraparounds save headlight glare affecting your peripherals when cars go by you) and ear defenders. With good ear defenders you'll still hear ambulances coming etc, but what they will do is reduce the low-level sound you hear from the underside of the vehicle.

I used to use yellow/orange-tinted glasses when I had to drive at night. I didn't have them on the whole time, though. I kept them within reach whenever I needed them. I rarely have to drive at night anymore.

I drive semi trucks on the night shift for a living.

How is your eyesight? Do your glasses or contacts have anti-glare technology? It's critical you have them if you wear glasses, it makes a huge difference. Otherwise, if you're temporarily blinded by headlights from another driver, we're trained to watch the road markers until they go away. You can also re-direct your rear view mirror.

I actually find I'm more sensitive driving during the day than I am during the night. Something about the night is more soothing for me. So long as I'm well rested, I don't really have many sensory issues. I can blast music louder than I can during the day, there's less stress of the roads being crowded. Other drivers don't make me feel threatened. I suppose it's just me though because I actually get a lot of comfort from driving.

The only real danger I find in night driving is elk. There's a deer strike at my terminal at least once a week, but I also drive in the rocky mountains, so that plays a huge factor.

I don't drive, but I also hate the headlights myself. I especially hate those LED ones that cars are now getting. Those are murder on my eyes. =.= I do like the suggesting of night sunglasses though.

Those sometimes get to me too.

I have flashed my brights at people thinking theirs were on brights, only to have them flash theirs back so then I know theirs actually aren't.

I tried sunglasses at night too but they didn't help much. The contrast was still too much. And I had fears of being pulled over and ticketed for it.

I wish I had something to offer that was more useful, but sometimes it helps me to focus my attention on the outer stripe on the road when someone is passing (while still being aware of whether or not they are staying in their own lane). Or intentionally looking at the darkness just to the side of their headlights as they are approaching even from a distance so that the headlights are always in my peripheral vision.

It's scary. I was going on only two to five hours of sleep a lot in college due to having issues keeping up and had to drive almost an hour home at night.

It's the same for me.

I'm actually kinda surprised that night driving could cause MORE sensory issues. I always thought that daytime driving, with EVERYTHING being bright, there being more noise, and there being about a billionty more drivers, some of whom may or may not be clinically insane, would be alot harder to deal with. I end up driving almost entirely at night and am on a nocturnal schedule to avoid alot of that. It's darker, quieter, and I'm often the only one on the road. At least, on the sorts of roads I drive on (I avoid crowded areas like the plague; I'm used to broken-down roads near farms in the middle of nowhere). Even in crowded areas though there's alot less "presence" from other people, or so it seems anyway.

Hm, is it the contrast between the bright light sources like headlights, and the surrounding darkness that does some of it?

yeah, i hate those; they are the reason i first put on those glasses; heavy traffic in darkness, and one of those stuck behind me.
even worse, his were light blue, the color or torture, i could not see anything at all anymore... (he was in my inner as wel as both external mirrors at once, i was truly blinded)

at least they are not using those same LEDs for street lighting... oh wait; they are...



for me, yes.
nighttime lights are brighter then daylight headlights, and the surroundings are darker at night, which makes the problem worse (during the day i am also desentised a little, due to the sun).

I went years feeling reluctant to drive at night but then after I got a different car I started doing it again. And now I'm finding it is easier for me to drive at night than during the day. Bright lights still bother me some at night but not as much as they used to.

I'm not totally sure why getting a different car changed things but the main thing is it feels much more comfortable to ride in than my old car. The seats are better, the suspension is better, and it's a heavier car so all in all it's a much smoother ride. I didn't realize how much I was reluctant to drive the other one because of how uncomfortable it was. I think the overall discomfort made my sensitivity to light worse. For me when one sensory thing is bad, it increases my sensitivity to everything else.

So it might sound really weird but you might try doing something to soothe your other senses rather than just focusing on solving the visual problem.

Driving at night is tough as heck - the glare from oncoming headlights can be brutal. Also, we live in the country so there's the issue of wildlife (especially deer) on the road.

I prefer driving at night to day.
It is more dark at night, even with the headlights.
Also quieter.
Much less traffic and faster to get to where I drive.

Driving at night drives me round the bend. Even at 10:30pm on a Wednesday night on the A41 there's always a f***ing driver behind you. Or if there isn't, there soon will be.

Daytime driving can be annoying when the light is glarey or you're driving west into the setting sun. But nothing raises my vitriol more than a driver with too-bright lights at night time. I wish I could put a flashing neon sign on the back window of my car, saying "You're blinding me, you moron".

Seriously, I can't tell the difference between regular headlights and full beam sometimes. The pale blue LED lights are the worst. And unfortunately they're only going to become more common.

Yeah, I have some orange-tinted sunglasses that I wear on my nose like reading glasses so that I can look through them when there's an oncoming car and then over them after it passes. It's not ideal, but it's the best I've come up with. The glare really disorients me. Normally, I avoid driving at night, but yeah, not always possible.

I think it's the fact that more serious incidents occur at night, drunk drivers, getting out of your car at night, the fear of hitting something you might of not been able to see. Just me personally, I find being around all the other cars during the day poses a greater risk for me.