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& ASSOCIATES
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& Shadow Position Specialists
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Sun
glare poses
special challenge to drivers
by
Debbie Lazaga
WTMJ.com
Wisconsin's Radio Station
March
18, 2019
(Re-printed
with permission. Click here for
original article.)
RBA
File Photo
Look, we're
not complaining, at least we shouldn't be. We've gone WEEKS without
seeing hide nor hair of our big yellow fireball in the sky, but let's
face it, depending on your commute direction, sun glare can be a real
problem.
"The
definition of sun glare is brightness from the sun that affects your
ability to see when you're driving." explains Ralph Bouwmeester, a
principal at R.
Bouwmeester and Associates, a Canadian firm that
specializes sun and shadow position modeling for urban planning.
He
also says departments of transportation have options to help.
"Based on
accident records and finding out that people couldn't see and it was
attributed to sun glare, [some Departments of Transportation] have
actually installed signage; warning signs to be aware of the potential
for sun glare coming up. And it may be for a period of a few weeks in
October or March."
There
are even a few things car manufacturers can do to help, like change up
the materials of our dashboards.
"People
like to get their polish out and clean the dashboard and shine it up.
And really that's one of the worst things you can do because the sun
will reflect off of the dashboard and make things worse." says
Bouwmeester.
Ideally,
the best type of dashboard would be one made with black felt, where
nothing will reflect and it's a dark color.
"But
to keep the shine down is, I guess, a recommendation I would make. To
not use those kinds of cleaning products on your dashboard."
Bouwmeester says.
But
outside of making sweeping changes to car designs, there are other
things you can do to help deal with sun glare.
"I
think that every driver should be equipped with a pair of polarized
sunglasses. The polarized lens actually is going to decrease the
intensity of the source of the glare because it's a tinted lens, so
it's blocking some of that intense light. And then also the polarized
lens eliminates glare off of reflective surfaces. I think
some of the biggest tips you can give people is just making sure that
their windshields are clean. I mean if you look at what the first thing
the light is actually hitting before it gets to your eyes is that plane
of glass. So if that windshield is not an optically clean surface,
you're going to have a lot of issues with the glare because all the
build up and dirt, grime and debris on that windshield do act as
sources of light scatter and increase the amount of glare that you're
experiencing." explains Dr. Justin Bazan, medical advisor to the Vision
Council.
So
let's recap:
1)
Grab your sunglasses
2)
Don't shine your dashboard
3)
Use the blue juice to keep your windshield clean.
Dr.
Bazan also says, "It's usually about the time of day and the activities
we're doing. So we know that sun that's directly in the visual access
close to the horizon, such as in the early morning hours and then later
on in the day, is going to be the most debilitating, so the sun that's
directly in your line of sight."
So
maybe shifting your departure time by say 15 minutes might be enough to
help ward off the blinding effects of the sun.
Contact Info:
Ralph Bouwmeester,
P. Eng.
R. Bouwmeester & Associates
Barrie, Ontario Canada
Phone: 1-705-726-3392
rba@sunposition.com
(Please
call or email for complete address details)
More ways to
contact us
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information contained within these World
Wide Web Pages is
Copyright © 2019, R. Bouwmeester & Associates.
All Rights Reserved.
All Trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.
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