Comparison of Pedestrian Detection With and Without Yellow-Lens Glasses During Simulated Night Driving With and Without Headlight Glare

Abstract

IMPORTANCE Some marketing materials for yellow-lens night-driving glasses claim that they increase nighttime road visibility and reduce oncoming headlight glare (HLG). However, there is no scientific evidence to support these claims. OBJECTIVE To measure the association between yellow-lens glasses and the detection of pedestrians with and without an oncoming HLG, using a driving simulator equipped with a custom HLG simulator. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A single-center cohort study was conducted between September 8, 2016, and October 25, 2017, at the Schepens Eye Research Institute. A total of 22 individuals participated in the study, divided into groups to determine response to a pedestrian wearing a navy blue shirt by younger individuals and, to control for participant's age and the interaction of the shirt color with the filter, response to a pedestrian wearing an orange shirt by a group of younger and older participants. EXPOSURES Participants drove scripted night-driving scenarios, 3 times with 3 commercially available yellow-lens glasses and once with clear-lens glasses, with the HLG simulator turned on and off. A total of 8 conditions were used for each participant. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Pedestrian detection response time. RESULTS The 22 participants who completed the study included 12 younger (mean [SD] age, 28 [7] years; 6 men) individuals who responded to a pedestrian wearing a dark navy blue shirt, as well as 6 younger (mean [SD] age, 27 [4] years; 4 men) and 4 older (mean [SD], 70 [11] years; all men) participants who responded to a pedestrian in an orange shirt. All participants had normal visual acuity (mean [SD],-0.05 [0.06] logMAR). No significant difference in response time with yellow lens was found in all experiment conditions; younger participants for dark navy blue shirt pedestrians (F 1,33 = 0.59; P = .45), orange shirt pedestrians (F 1,15 = 0.13; P = .72), and older participants for orange shirt pedestrians (F 1,9 = 0.84; P = .38). Among all participants (n = 22), no significant main effect of yellow lenses was found (F 1,63 = 0.64; P = .42). In all measuring conditions, the response times with the yellow lenses were not better than with the clear lenses. Significant main effects of HLG were found with dark navy blue shirt pedestrian condition for young participants (F 1,33 = 7.34; P < .001) and with orange shirt pedestrian condition for older individuals (F 1,9 = 75.32; P < .001), where the difference in response time between with and without HLG was larger for older (1.5 seconds) than younger (0.3 seconds) participants. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Using a driver simulator equipped with an HLG simulator, yellow-lens night-driving glasses did not appear to improve pedestrian detection at night or reduce the negative effects of HLG on pedestrian detection performance. These findings do not appear to support having eye care professionals advise patients to use yellow-lens night-driving glasses.

Association of Blue Light–Filtering Intraocular Lenses With All-Cause and Traffic Accident–Related Injuries Among Patients Undergoing Bilateral Cataract Surgery in Finland

“…Of note, the US Food and Drug Administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 26 concluded that the manufacturer-supported, product-biased studies 24 , 25 failed to demonstrate that BLF IOLs produce clinically meaningful improved outcomes in driving safety under glare conditions. Furthermore, a recent study 27 showed that blue light–blocking spectacles do not improve pedestrian detection or reduce headlight glare in nighttime driving situations. Our study has shown that patients with BLF IOLs experienced more glare at nighttime driving, whereas other subjective disturbances were comparable between the patients with BLF and non-BLF IOLs.…”

Why Don’t Yellow Night Vision Glasses Work?

“…Compared with clear lenses, none of the 3 yellow night vision glasses improved detection times with headlight glare. If anything, the yellow glasses appeared to slow older participants’ detection times for the nonglare condition (see the article’s Figure 2C).…”

“…The behavior measured in the study was the driver’s ability to detect a pedestrian along the side of the road, or carelessly attempting to cross the road, with and without headlight glare. Unlike in Grand Theft Auto, in which colliding with the pedestrian would be considered a minor infraction, in the Hwang et al study, the driver more humanely honked the horn to signal his or her detection of the pedestrian. In some cases, the pedestrian was wearing dark clothing (blue jeans and navy blue shirt) and in other cases the pedestrian was wearing an orange Hawaiian shirt instead (undoubtedly deferring to the well-known fashion preferences of one of the authors [E.P.…”

“…In this issue of JAMA Ophthalmology in a study using a driving simulator that would be coveted by players of Grand Theft Auto (Rockstar Games), Hwang et al address the question of whether yellow glasses promoted as night-driving aids actually help drivers, young and old, deal with headlight glare. The computer-generated view through the windows of the simulated vehicle is panoramically displayed on five 42-in flat panel video screens arranged in a 225° arc that is 37° high.…”

“…What this study is unable to indicate is why the yellow glasses were ineffective. The article’s Figure 1 illustrates the spectral emission function of the simulated LED headlights and the spectral absorption functions of the 3 yellow lenses being tested . Although the absorption of light by the yellow lenses in the blue end of the spectrum looks impressive, the scale is linear.…”