Welcome to fall! It’s the time of year that I have trouble driving to work in the morning.
The sun is low in the sky to the east at the time of my commute and there is one spot on the highway where it shines directly into my eyes, making it very difficult to see.
Worse still, this location has an intersection with a traffic light that can be completely obscured by the glare.
The first line of defence is to keep my windshield as clean as possible. I use good wiper blades, winter washer fluid and top up the reservoir regularly.
I also use a good quality glass cleaner on the inside of the windshield. It can be surprising how dirty the inside can get when the defroster is used.
Dirt makes glare worse, so a clean view is a must.
My sun visor and polarized sunglasses make up the second line of defence.
These sunglasses can remove significant amounts of glare and are not to be confused with glasses that have anti-reflective coatings. The two are not the same.
When they are not enough, I use the same trick that I use when I am avoiding headlight glare at night. I watch the edge of the lane so I know where I am.
The last line of defence is to anticipate and slow down. This gives me more time to search out the traffic signals and make sure that I am not going to run a red light.
Keeping in mind that drivers behind me are also affected by the glare I may choose to slow down before it is required so that I am not hit from behind.
For more information on this topic, visit www.drivesmartbc.ca. Questions or comments are welcome by e-mail to comments@drivesmartbc.ca. Tim Schewe is a retired RCMP constable with many years of traffic law enforcement experience. His column appears Thursdays.
