Best Sunglasses For Driving
To reduce glare on the roads, wear sunglasses and you will find driving from A-B much easier, squint-free! From a summers day to a winters morning the sun’s blinding glare can cause dangerous driving conditions. This glare is often reflected off snow, puddles, your bonnet or the car in front as well as directly hindering your vision and often blamed for car accidents. However, these accidents can be easily prevented!
Don’t just go for your favourite fashion brand, an on-trend design or the cheapest pair. There are a few factors you need to consider when buying sunglasses! Specifically for driving to make sure you have the most suitable, safest pair:
- Do the lenses cover your eyes fully to protect from sunlight?
- What colour are the lenses?
- Do they pass the sunglass standards of your country?
- Are they a novelty pair of eyewear?
- Are your sunglasses polarised? This is recommended.
Frame size
Wearing a frame which covers your eyes are vital so that all areas of your vision is protected. This does not include oversized fashion frames. They may be a leading trend this year but they can be hazardous to your peripheral vision, which is a risk while driving.
We recommend going for a fitting frame such as an aviator or a wrap-around. These glasses are used in the motorsports industry as they provide sun protection from every angle.
Lens Tints
Sunglasses come in a range of lens colours, but some are fashion lenses and not necessarily appropriate for driving. Bright coloured lens especially in pink, blue and green tints can distort your coloured vision, this can be hazardous when seeing road signs, traffic lights and potential hazards!
We advise buying a pair of sunglasses in grey or brown polarised lenses for your driving glasses! These lenses won’t alter your coloured vision, no matter what colour you are looking at.
Sunglasses Standards
Make sure your sunglasses stick to the Standards of your country.
European Standard
The European standard is EN 12312-1. The European standard tests on UV transmittance and categorised the four filter levels (0-4). The British standard (BS EN 12312-1) test sunglasses against their UV transmittance. All sunglasses that meet the British standard will carry the ‘CE‘ mark or ‘UV 400’ which should be visible on the sunglasses.
US Standard
The US standard is the ANSI Z80.3-2018. This standard requires all sunglasses (including toy sunglasses that can be worn as fashion sunglasses) to be tested for UV and visible light transmittance, as well as meeting the FDA standard 21 CFR 801.410 for impact resistance.
Australian Standard
The Australian standard is the AS/NZS 1067:1:2016. The standards test on the transmittance of visible white light (light we can see). The Australian standard has categorised the lens filters into four ranging from 0-4.
Tint Depths
Below are the tint depths FashionEyewear offers with prescription sunglasses. All of our lenses and tint depths protect you from UV light transmittance and within the European sunglasses standards.
0. Non or very light tint
- For aesthetic, fashion, novelty or comfort purposes.
1. Light tint
- Only 25% tinted (slightly tinted)
- Suitable for indoor use
- 100% UV protection
- Weak levels of sunlight
- 60% tinted
- Suitable for driving
- Best for medium sunlight
- 100% UV protection
- Average levels of sunlight
2. Medium tint
- 60% tinted
- Suitable for driving
- Best for medium sunlight
- 100% UV protection
- Average levels of sunlight
3. Standard tint
- 75% tinted
- Suitable for driving
- Best for medium-strong sunlight
- 100% UV protection
- For use in strong sunlight
- Best for water or snow sports where light is reflected
4. Dark tint
- 85% tinted
- Best for strong sunlight
- 100% UV protection
- Not suitable for driving
- For exceptional levels of sunlight
Novelty frames
Novelty frames are not suited for driving. They are used for novelty wear only, so the chances are they do not fit with the sunglass standards which are suited for driving. Dependent on your novelty eyewear, these frames could also be irritable and a distraction while driving.
For Motor Sports
If you drive professionally we have the best glasses in the sports business for you. Shop Oakley, Maui Jim or Prada Sport for our advanced frames for motorsports. Maui Jim and Oakley both have their own sports performance lenses as well as our standard, Essilor and Nikon range.
What is a suitable coating or lens type to add to my sunglasses?
Light sensitive lenses:
Light sensitive lenses, also known as photochromatic lenses change tint depending on UV light, therefore not suitable for driving. Transitions Xtractive, however, has been adapted for driving, you can add this at our checkout.
Polarised:
This is the best choice to use when driving. Polarised lenses reduce glare from headlights and light reflecting off wet road surfaces.
Varifocals can be included:
Just add your prescription at the checkout!
Elite Sun Coating:
Our Elite Sun Coating has many features - this includes scratch-resistant, back surface anti-reflection, anti-glare, smudge resistant, water repellence and dust repellence in one coating! We advise you to add this coating to any of your sunglasses as it is tailored to drivers and is great value for money!
Remember!
Fashion Eyewear is an online optician, therefore you can add your prescription to any of our eyewear whether they are a pair of sunglasses or optical. Simply shop our prescription sunglasses selection or glasses on our website. Choose your favourite frames and click ‘add prescription’. Our simple step by step check out will help guide you through our lens packages, brands and choices. We have every lens type available to fit your needs, whether you need single vision, varifocal, distance or for driving. We also have the best lens brands for you to choose from Essilor, Nikon, Maui Jim, Ray-Ban, Oakley and our own Fashion Eyewear standard packages. After choosing your coatings, add your prescription and use our Fashion Eyewear Pupillary Distance Metre to measure your PD.
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