Safe Speed Forums

Coming down the M6 yesterday from Staffs to Birmingham I was caught in heavy traffic and in front of me was a big VW something.

We were all moving along at a steady, but congested, 50/60 mph and the sun was shining off the rear window so badly I had to put the visor down so that I'm just looking at the lower half of the car in front.

Now before anyone says it, I know it's not a good idea but I swear it was so bad I may as well have been trying to look directly into the sun. I've noticed this happens with most modern cars, to be aerodynamic I expect.

Is there nothing that car manufacturers can do, a coating or something, which can reduce this effect?

Not everyone carries a pair of sunglasses in the glove box and this was so bad it would still have been painful for me to follow him.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

We probably could make use of polarising filters, but this would reduce the amount of light going in, although that’s not a problem for rear windows. I don't think they're cheap either.

I believe coatings have been developed for solar panels that offer intermediate refractive indexes (between air and glass), so allowing a reduced change of refractive index; hence more light goes through the glass and less bounces off the top surface. I would hope it is weather resistant.


I always carry a pair of polarised sunglasses with me just in case. These are great for substantially reducing such specular glare while not overly reducing the light for normal vision. These also work very well on wet roads when the sun is in front of you.

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

Hmmm. I've got the prospect soon (once winter sets in) of my daily commute (on the bike) being one of travelling eastwards along the M6, directly into the sun... Which means if the road is slightly damp, I'll have the glare... And once I've got crud all over my visor, I'll have to lift it a tad, and then freeze my face off ah, the joys of biking!

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

....maybe its worse with some of the special glass coatings they use to reduce the amount of solar energy getting into the car (for comfort).

i guess it has to go somewhere, ie get reflected.

Yes, I've suffered from this as well. As Smeggy" said, polarised sunglasses may help. I haven't had any but I know from Camera polarising filters that they are very effective. Surely you'd need to be able to rotate the lenses though?.............

I've 2 different pairs of high quality polarising sunglasses and both certainly help a lot with respect to sun reflected off roads (wet or dry) and cars.

The downside is that they make a lot of newer car windscreens turn a bright irridescent purple or green (looking at the the outside only, they're fine from inside the car).

They also show up the stress patterns in polycarbonate helmet visors (because of the polarising effect of stressed plastics) to the extent that I personally can't use them in combination. The slight shift of the helmet and visor relative to the polarising lenses as you go over bumps is enough to alter the polarising effect such that the reflections can flash on and off in a rather disconcerting fashion.

I needed to buy some new sunglasses and I did a bit of investigation on the best type for driving. I have used Rayban G15 for years so I was looking for any improvements in technology.

The reflections in the windscreen of my car are dramatically reduced by normal polarised lenses but the best I have found are Serengeti Strata Drivers lenses. These are polarised, photochromic and have a light spectrum transmission which filters out most blue which seems to be the worst offender in glass reflections.

Interestingly, the fine film of dirt that gets on the windows from the aircon is also suppressed by these lenses as the light scattered must be in the blue.

NB. I have no connections with Serengeti.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Thankfully no – unless you have a habit of drivnig with your head tilted sideways.
Fixed plane polarised glasses are set up to absorb specular glare from light sources in front of you; this is where driver vision problems occur. Polarisers for cameras are rotatable so they can be set up to cut out (or increase) the hazy glare from the sky when the sun is not in front (or behind); obviously that's not a problem when driving.

Interesting, I haven't heard of them before.

Not wishing to advertise but yonks ago I bought two of the best that money can buy, so I was told - Maui Jim, when I was in America at a cost of $170 and some Revo over here at £125. Both Polarized etc. the dogs danglies.

They are both excellent, and do help quite a bit, but I still have to squint when I'm looking at the back of someones rear window with the sun burning into my eyes.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

I wear my sunglasses, during most daytime driving (including rain ), and always have my windscreen visors down.
I first found the usefulness of this after doing a similar daily trip to Botty Burps, Sun in front going to and from work, I was getting home with eye tiredness/strain, bought a cheap pair of sunglasses from the Petrol station and noticed an immediate improvement, I then invested in a couple of pairs of 'decent' sunglasses (£40-60).
I find winter sports /outdoor sunglasses with Cat 3 protection (highest allowed for driving) do the job well and are quite robust.

I find them helpful in fog, drizzle and spray as they cut down glare, as all we 'see' of fog is basically glare. One thing to remember the guy in front may not see what is ahead as well as you do from behind him, so be prepared for unexpected stops from the car infront.

There should be sales on now as it's inbetween summer and winter sports season.

fatboytim