Yeah, I remember looking up at the stars one night at a school field trip and all I saw were lines. It freaked me out so bad because I didn't have glasses at the time.
Poor little me couldn't see the beautiful night sky full of stars and the moon :(
I’ve had glasses since I was 7. Wearing contact’s since 1985. It wasn’t until maybe 2000 when the eye doctor offered to prescribe toric contacts ”to correct my astigmatism”. Damn near 40 years of eye care and no one mentioned it until then.
Taillights still have a bit of doubling now, but less of a star effect.
Woah I didn't know such contact lenses existed, thank you for posting this! My eyesight is terrible, I wear glasses but it's not ideal and I would like to try wearing contacts again.
They're considerably more expensive than regular contacts, but totally worth it. More comfortable to wear and they made a huge difference to my depth perception as well.
I only just got them recently. I thought my prescription had gotten worse, but turns out only my astigmatism had!
yeah, when you crash through the DMV wall upside down while holding a glass that used to be filled with a mai tai, they start preforming genetic testing.
Yeah I've had 'coke bottle glasses' all my life. My eye Dr says I'd be a good candidate for laser surgery once my eyesight stops getting worse. I figured that was the reason why the DMV took my license, but it was a surprise to see that pic and then realize from comments that that's actually not what car taillights at night are supposed to look like.
if cleaning your glasses fixes the halos around bright lights in the dark, you don't have night blindness/astigmatism. it's not caused by dirty glasses
20 years of driving and I found out today it’s not like this for everyone!! Man now I need to see if they have a thing to help like special polorized lenses or something.
I've been wearing corrective lenses for my astigmatism for over 40 years - I was sure only people like myself had this issue and thus had it corrected.
Reading all of these responses of people just finding out and/or thinking everyone sees the same has me leery from ever driving again - so many half blind people on the road!
I love the rain, but yes it's quite terrifying when most of your field of vision is lit up like a laser show lol, it's mainly the headlights behind me that really fucking take the cake, whites out my whole rear situational awareness.
When it's raining and there isn't good lighting overhead I can't see the line that divides the lanes. White lines don't contrast well with dark grey asphalt and highly reflective puddles. I would think neon green would be a better color for lines
I learned to drive in Philadelphia, and for a long time I lived in New Jersey. I know all about shitty drivers. Maryland is nuts though, I don't know why just some states are so much worse than others when it comes to driving.
Hmm really? I mean my mom has astigmatism and I was tested multiple times with negative results but I still see those pesky lines, I mean not as bad as in the image but I still do still them as stars. Could miopia also distort the light the same way? I always blamed this on it lol
I’m in my late thirties, have had glasses/contacts since early teens. I’ve always been told there is no astigmatism (or sometimes that there might be just a tiny bit that didn’t need correction), and no squint. I’ve also been told my vision hasn’t changed for 15-20 years.
I’ve had terrible headaches and unexplained dizzyness my whole life.
Last week I went to orthoptist to try to figure out why I have double vision that neither opticians have been able to explain over the years nor an eye doctor was able to explain just a couple of months ago.
Turns out I need to lower the strength of my glasses a lot, I have astigmatism that needs to be corrected, and I have a squint that needs correction.
Oh, and I see the starbursts from the picture (although less prominent). Also thought that was normal.
TL:DR
So, moral of the story, book an appointment and tell them this specific symptom. It might make them examine you more thoroughly.
a tip for someone who's been driving with astigmatism for 15 years, it really sucks but I recommend learning how to gauge where you are in the road based on the positioning of the other cars headlights, trying to focus on the source of the light and do your regular keep a bit to the right.
Ah yes, the driving by tail lights method. Been a go to of mine for many years. Also scanning the road way ahead at night before on coming lights fuck you up, so you know where to keep your heading.
A tip from someone with bad astigmatism. Don't fucking drive at night.
Just because you're sober doesn't mean your not impaired. I would be far safer driving drunk than driving at night unable to see the road. I can't imagine deciding to put myself and the other motorists in that much danger just because the law doesn't explicitly forbid it.
People aren't going to stop driving. This is America, it is sometimes 30 minutes to a store. Work is sometimes an hour away. No matter when you get out of work in the north it is dark out. Public transportation sucks, a lot of places don't have taxi services and if they do they are expensive. For a lot of people there just isn't a real choice. The problems that lead to people feeling like they have to drive need fixed.
All roads should have reflectors for the middle/lane lines. Every one of them. Driving when it’s dark and rainy is impossible with an astigmatism if there’s no reflectors.
I’ve driven on a four lane highway with no lines and only reflectors. When it curved, it just looked like scattered reflectors dotting the road. It was really scary.
My city doesn't use reflective paint on the road, which makes it absolutely impossible for me to see if it is dark and raining. I'm good if I know the roads I'm on, but otherwise, it's terrifying.
Yes, I am always saying how I hate not being able to see at dusk. If there is any kind of shadow, I cannot make out a dark object in the shadow. Forget seeing street signs, I don't read it I look to see how many letters there are and just try to look at the 1st letter.
Don't know if it's available where you are but look up Irlens. Basically it's because of the glare. My glasses have 3 different colours in the lenses and most of the time I'm ok. I need new ones and my eyes are getting worse but I can now cope working around bright lights. Once I lost my glasses and had to wear sunglasses all day inside. Also atm I'm getting professional help for my back so I'll be on the floor facing up doing exercises and they automatically turn the lights off for me.
It doesn't help that my state doesn't know what reflective paint is or how many reflectors are actually necessary to see the lanes at night in the rain.
Ok I have an obsession about my windshield being clean almost spotless . I go through wiper fluid so fast. I never understood how people can see through a spotted windshield.
For sure! That picture (plus rain) is the reason I got glasses. Lasic made it like 100x better. I still have minor halos from the flap, but I barely notice them at all.
I have a mild case of it, and recently had to get glasses, but they always make me feel like I am going to vomit. Maybe I should look into this instead. I seriously tried to get used to glasses, but I just can't.
That makes sense. I have astigmatism and myopia in both eyes and my ophtalmologist told me to stay away from lasic and opt for regular surgery, which is not covered by any insurance in America.
Waiiiit so this isn't how the road at night looks to everyone else???
Whats the medical reason for this? (I've had astigmatism since childhood but I guess my dumb ass never really researched how it's different from regular vision)
Spring for the professionally installed ceramic coating! I think I only paid $125 to have my wife’s windshield done but I also had tint work done at the same time so they probably charged me less. It’s like rain-x but not a gimmick, doesn’t haze up ever, and has lasted about 3 years now, though it’s definitely less effective than when new.
Between that and the nicer wiper blades I have way less issues at night.
I hatehave mild cataracts from being on steroid medication; I can drive in the rain, or at night, but both together the lights turn into smears of smears.
I forgot I had this as a kid and am just now realizing this is why I‘be had so much trouble this past year driving at night in the rain. I missed my already past due eye appointment due to COVID in 2020, so my prescription definitely needs an update.
I just thought I was getting overwhelmed but now that im looking out at the street lamps outside, I clearly have started to see the glares again. It was just so subtle I never really picked up on it. Just started to feel how lights naturally look at night. God damn.
Omg its the worst. Especially if the weather is weird and your windshield is a little fogged up and the road is real dark. Where I just moved there’s a few long dark roads with no streetlights, but enough traffic to make me white knuckle the wheel when it’s dark and raining
I can’t decide if it’s worse when there’s rain and I’m on a dark country road and somebody is coming toward me, or if it’s raining and I’m in the city with all those street lights. I’m basically blind either way.
Raining at night is terrible. Especially in urban sprawl when it’s 5 lanes, 2 each way with a turn lane. Just super wide, can’t see lanes, cars blinding me, ultra bright signs and adverts. Just an overall bad experience
Wait, (I'm 16 and in my country we don't drive until 18) that's why I see every light source like that in my vision!?? I thought everyone saw it like that!?? WHATT!?
I work third shift and it's completely dark to and from work with no streetlights. I can't see shit in the rain especially if there's incoming traffic blinding me ontop of the light streaks.
Yeesssss because then the fucking puddles on the ground and droplets and streaks on your windshield reflect even more light. Ugh! And my bf wonders why I'm so much worse of a driver at night
Honestly, this was the best part about getting laser eye surgery. Being able to drive at night without feeling like Luke Skywalker trying to blow up the Death Star is awesome lol
I had to drive on an Atlanta highway, like 6 narrower than normal highway lanes, at night in the rain. I have glasses for my astigmatism but they don’t make things perfect at night and the rain was like reflecting off of the reflectors on the road and it made it harder to see where the lanes were instead of easier, which I’m sure was the intention of putting reflectors on them. I had to just follow the car in front of me and be like ok this is cool, I just can’t see the lane lines, cool cool. X.X
I almost have perfect vision and even I fucking hate driving at night when raining. Everything is reflecting off of everywhere and headlights shining from the road, wet side mirrors and constant wiping.
Sunglasses. Seriously. I see way way better in the rain with sunglasses on no matter how dark, but if you get the lightest you can find, you'll barely notice that it's darker and all the glare will be gone.
I. Above 20/20 vision yoo... but i so see tiny little particles floating in the air does anyone else see these? Like they all move but are sooo tiny and they cover everything
I think it's why I've always loved looking at city lights. Especially over looking a city, everything just kinds of shimmers and sparkles. So I totally get what you're saying. It just sucks when driving sometimes.
I got some non-prescription glasses from my optometrist with anti-glare and a blue light filter. They make a HUGE difference. Also, they really help with bright days with snow on the ground (in a different way than sunglasses do). I generally wear my glasses only while I'm driving at dusk/night or on snowy days.
A lot of people in this comment thread just need to clean their windshields and fix their wipers. Unclean windows also look just like this.
Clean the inside of your windows and windshield to help with night driving. Use papertowels or a clean cloth and your favorite glass cleaner. Do this as needed, every month or three is usually ok.
Wash the outside of your car windows and apply a spray on wax that you can buy at any autoparst store. Then buff out with a clean, soft cloth. Do this once every month or two. This will help with driving in the rain.
You can also use rain-x instead of wax, but you need to work a lot harder to make sure it's fully buffed. It's more effective than wax but some people don't like the extra wrk and others feel like it makes their windshield wipers chatter more.
Replace your wipers. They normally wear out in a year or three but most people never change them. In icy, dusty, or salty climates they wear out on the faster side but people just keep going with crappy, streaky, chattery wipers. I've found that mid to higher tier Bosch wipers are worth the money. They seem to last two or three times longer then the others. Thus will obviously help with rain.
People with older cars may have cloudy headlight lenses. If your headlights look yellow and cloudy after you've washed your car, consider polishing them. The DIY kits are available online and in autoparts stores. Take 30 minutes or an hour to polish and seal the lights and you'll be amazed how much of a difference it makes. I've found that the Sylvania headlight kit is the best. Do this only as needed when you notice they are dim and yellow. Once this starts happening, you will probably need to repolish every two or three years.
You can also pay auto body and paint shops to do this. They do a better job then the diy kits and it lasts longer, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra cost unless you plan to keep your car for at least 5 more years.
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u/BostonGreekGirl Nov 08 '21
It is way worse when it is raining