DriveSafe lenses

Pilots joke about their most important safety tool. They call it, the Mk1 Eyeball.

Clear, fault-free vision is not only a pilot’s best safety aid, it’s also a driver’s. When we have to drive in less-than-perfect visibility there’s added workload and a degree of added stress. That’s the finding of optical lens specialist Zeiss, at least. And it’s hard to argue against.

As a glasses wearer I’m fastidious about making sure my specs are clean and smear free when I’m behind the wheel. I wear contacts when I’m riding a motorcycle and alternate between glasses and contacts when I’m racing. Visual distractions eat into your attention ‘budget’.

If you’ve never worn corrective glasses, it’s probably not something you’ve ever come across. But I hate having my sightlines interrupted, be it by fingerprints or glare and reflections – it’s just one of those ‘things’.

So when Zeiss approached me to trial its new DriveSafe lenses which promise less glare and better clarity in poor conditions, the offer ticked a few boxes.

Zeiss claims that the coating on DriveSafe lenses reduces ‘perceived glare’ by up to 64 per cent. In particular, the coating addresses the effects of Xenon and LED headlights.

The technology in these high-end headlights provide better illumination when you’re behind the wheel, but at the expense of other road users, it seems. The Zeiss lenses seek to address this.

The other key difference is focusing times. This is a measure of the short but perceptible time it takes to ‘re-orientate’ your eyes when you’re driving and scanning from the road ahead to mirrors to instruments, etc – part of every second of every drive.

Finally, the DriveSafe lenses are also claimed to maximise vision in low-light conditions. In particular, Zeiss claims the composition of the lenses improves depth perception in such conditions. No bad thing for drivers, we’d suggest.

So how have I found the lenses?

The improvements are frankly not marked, but they are there.

Melbourne’s winter has given me plenty of opportunity to use the lenses in wet, glare-filled conditions. I have therefore driven a few times swapping from the DriveSafe to my ‘normal’ glasses (which I admit have a low-glare optic specified) at each set of traffic lights. I’ve also driven in the country at night and dusk.

The differences in the above conditions are appreciable but not as graphic as the advertising images would suggest. Perhaps this is a function of the relatively low number of cars in the Aussie fleet with high-tech high-intensity headlamps.

The more noticeable effect is the larger middle distance area in the multi-focal lens.

This manifests itself in two ways. One is positive: clearer road-ahead vision and head and mirror checks. One is negative: I find that instrument scanning requires a fraction of a second more.

In reference to the latter, I also find that the (by definition) reduced area allocated to the lens for ‘close’ focus means I have found myself swapping to different glasses once I’m in front of the computer or laptop.

On balance I’ll take the added clarity when driving at the expense of requiring a change of specs when indoors. Of course, this may not suit people who only have one pair of glasses – I’m a bit of a collector and have several.

Wearing glasses is a given for many of us. And even more of us once we get to a certain age.

Zeiss says its DriveSafe lenses are comparable in cost to ‘normal’ high-quality optics. On that basis, if you’re specifying a set of glasses primarily for driving, they’re (forgive me, pun alert) worth a look.

More info:
zeiss.com.au
Your local Zeiss dealer