Choosing the Best Sunglasses for Driving

What type of sunglasses are best for driving?

With the hot, sunny weather showing no signs of stopping, drivers across Ontario will be using their sunglasses more and more often over the next few months. While most people worry solely about their appearance when choosing a pair of sunglasses, it’s important to find a pair that’s practical for driving.
Here are some quick tips for choosing the right pair for you:
Tint
Tint can play a crucial role in how well you see the road ahead. The tint density is rated on a scale of 0-to-4, with 4 indicating the darkest tint.
While many people assume that a darker tint is automatically better, consider a pair that’s in Class 2 or 3. Class 4 is quite dark, and will inhibit your ability to see the road ahead for most day driving.
Colour
You likely already know this, but different coloured lenses can affect how you see different colours. As a result, wearing the wrong coloured lens could hinder your ability to see road signs and traffic lights. Pink, green, and blue lenses can sometimes make red lights indistinguishable.
Brown and grey lenses are typically the best for driving, as both are gender-neutral and won’t alter any of the colours you see. Yellow-coloured lenses are also good for driving.
Polarized lenses
If you truly want to reduce the amount of glare when you drive, you should really invest in polarized lenses. These lenses greatly reduce the glare from headlights reflecting off puddles, and can be extremely useful in any kind of foggy or rainy conditions.
They also provide UV protection, which will reduce the amount of strain on your eyes.
Lens Coating
You could pick the right tint and colour, but it won’t do you much good if your lenses are scratched. To counter this problem, consider an anti-scratch coating. Considering how often people drop their sunglasses, this can also increase the useful life of your lenses.
You could also choose a pair with an anti-reflective coating to improve your visibility.
Frame
When you’re choosing the frame of your glasses, it’s important that you can see clearly from all angles. While large-framed glasses may be more aesthetically pleasing, they can also obstruct your peripheral vision.
Glasses that wrap around are better at blocking the sun and will do a better job of allowing you to see from all angles. Otherwise, you could be creating unwanted blind spots for yourself.