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If you do need to wear spectacles or contact lenses for driving, it's vital to ensure you wear them at all times. This may sound obvious but every day tens of thousands of motorists drive without their glasses because of vanity, or because they have forgotten them, or because they are only driving a short distance. No matter what the reason, these people are a potential danger to themselves and other road users.

Essential Checks
To help you see the road ahead more clearly, ensure that your windscreen is clean and scratch-free, both inside and out, at all times. Your car lights are important so make sure that the headlamp glass is clean, the bulbs are working at full strength and your lights are properly adjusted to provide good road illumination while not causing glare for other road users.

Look slightly to the right of oncoming traffic at night to avoid suffering from glare which can take some time to recover from.

Drivers' Eyewear
Some spectacles are better than others for driving, with rimless designs or those with thin rims being particularly suitable as they allow greater all-round vision than those with heavy frames. Spectacles with plastic lenses are lighter and safer. Anti-reflection coatings can be applied to any lenses at a reasonable cost, helping you to see more clearly and cut down on glare, especially when driving at night.

Make sure you keep your spectacles and contact lenses clean at all times - it's best to keep a cleaning cloth in the car. It's also sensible to keep a spare pair of glasses in the car so that you never forget them. This is also important if you normally wear contact lenses because on long journeys when your eyes get tired it is often more comfortable to switch to a pair of glasses. It's also a useful safeguard if you suffer from hay fever.

Sunglasses
If you need to wear prescription glasses to drive, never replace them with non-prescription sunglasses when it is sunny. It is dangerous.
Instead, get a pair of prescription sunglasses (which need look no different to normal sunglasses) or clip-on lenses over your prescription lenses. When using clip-on sunglasses make sure you check their suitability for plastic lenses.

You should never use tinted glasses at night. Nor should you use them in conditions of poor visibility such as heavy rain, fog and snow showers. This rule also applies to sunglasses and tinted motorcycle helmets.