Anti-dazzle glasses for night driving reviewed - should you buy them?
You can buy glasses that purport to reduce the glare from oncoming cars’ headlights. But are they effective? We test six pairs to find out...
If you struggle with the glare caused by other vehicles’ headlights when you’re driving in the dark, you’re not alone. In a recent study by the RAC, 94% of drivers said they were dazzled by oncoming vehicles at night – 62% occasionally and 32% regularly. Worryingly, more than half of those surveyed said they have either reduced their night-time driving or stopped altogether due to concerns about being dazzled.
It’s not just an inconvenience. Being hit by headlight glare can also be dangerous; 31% of those who struggle with the issue said it takes them three or more seconds to recover, and that’s more than enough time to be involved in a road accident.
While the majority (72%) of drivers polled by the RAC said the problem is exacerbated when they encounter vehicles with whiter-coloured lights, other issues cause problems too. Headlights with incorrectly positioned headlight bulbs can also be dazzling, as can those with dirty lenses that cause light to refract. Dazzling can also be caused by vehicles that don’t switch from high to low beam soon enough, either due to driver error or because the car’s automatic headlights don’t react as quickly as they should.
The problem of headlight glare reached the attention of the Government in 2025, prompting it to conduct independent research into the causes. It concluded that vehicles with whiter lights and those with larger headlights were the main culprits, and it identified areas where more research is needed, including investigating vehicle design and lighting regulations.
While it would appear that the Government is taking the issue seriously, any changes will take time. Some people are turning to ‘anti-glare’ driving glasses that are purported to help reduce the dazzling effect of oncoming vehicles’ headlights at night. Although there is no widely available scientific evidence that night-time driving glasses work, they are available from many online retailers and some opticians.
We bought six pairs of these anti-glare glasses and put them to the test. We tried each pair on a 12-mile test route that included lit and unlit roads, urban and rural sections and a stretch of dual carriageway. As well as using their own judgement to assess the effectiveness of each pair of glasses, our tester wore a heart rate monitor that would reveal if there was a difference in their stress levels during each lap of the test route.
Before starting our test, to provide a baseline to compare with the anti-glare glasses, we completed a lap of the route wearing prescription glasses finished with an anti-reflective coating designed to reduce glare from headlights (as well as lessening the impact of computer screen brightness).
Anti-dazzle night driving glasses rated
1. Tjutr Flip-up Clip-on Night Driving Glasses
Price £13.99
Rating 4 stars
These polarised, yellow-tinted lenses clip onto regular frames, making them particularly suitable for people who need to wear prescription glasses for driving. Although they can be a bit fiddly to attach, they’re so light that you wouldn’t know they were there if it weren’t for their tinting. And they can be flipped up, out of your field of vision, when they aren’t needed.
We found the Tjutr lenses to be as good as the second best rated Zillerate glasses (and better than the others) at reducing the brightness of oncoming headlights. They have a lighter tint than the Boolavard and HeadLight glasses reviewed further down this article, so they don’t make all-white objects appear disconcertingly yellow.
Helpfully, they aren’t as dark as the Zillerate pair, giving better visibility on and around poorly lit roads at night. This was evident from the heart rate monitor reading, which showed noticeably lower stress levels compared with our baseline glasses.
2. Zillerate Night Driving Glasses
Price £21.95
Rating 3 stars
These glasses are designed to be worn alone rather than over a prescription pair. Their pliable arms mean they should fit a broad range of adult head sizes.
The lenses are darker than those of the best pair here, so spotting hazards (such as pedestrians wearing dark clothing) at the side of unlit or poorly lit roads isn’t as easy. However, they’re slightly less heavily yellow tinted than the Boolavard and HeadLight glasses, so the view of the road is more natural and easier to comprehend as you drive along.
Their anti-glare performance is pretty good, too, reducing the worst of the dazzling from oncoming headlights. But given that this is largely offset by the fact that they add to the gloom on poorly lit streets, it was no surprise to see that our heart rate monitoring showed only a small decrease in overall stress levels while driving with them on.
3. Boolavard Night Sight Night Driving Glasses
Price £8.99
Rating 3 stars
These wraparound glasses can be worn alone, but they’re large enough to fit over the top of prescription glasses, making them suitable for a relatively wide range of drivers. Like the HeadLight glasses, they have an additional lens at the front of each arm, presumably to aid peripheral vision, but we felt these were unnecessary.
The lenses aren’t as dark as those in the HeadLight and Myiaur glasses, so it’s easier to see pedestrians and other road users at the sides of unlit streets. However, they aren’t as effective as the higher-rated pairs at lessening the glare of oncoming headlights; the light is turned yellow, but it’s still bright and refracted.
Their tint is stronger than that of the top-rated pair here, making it more difficult to properly discern other traffic. The heart rate monitor showed a very small reduction in stress levels while wearing these glasses.
4. SelectSpecs UK
Price £67.95
Rating 2 stars
According to their maker, the lenses in these glasses combine polarisation and photochromic technology to provide high-contrast vision to block glare for driving. The lenses could be supplied on a range of the brand’s prescription frames.
These lenses have far less tinting than the others on test, so they block less light, and this means they didn’t make it harder to see pedestrians on poorly lit parts of the road. They aren’t too yellow, so there isn’t an unnatural colour cast to your vision.
However, their anti-glare technology did very little to dampen down the brightness of oncoming headlights. In fact, the benefits over our tester’s prescription glasses were minimal, making us question their worth, considering their high price. There was no difference in the stress rate recorded by the heart monitor while wearing these glasses.
*SelectSpecs offered these glasses for sale when we performed our tests, but they were discontinued before we went to press.
5. Myiaur Polarised Night Driving Glasses for Women
Price £13.99
Rating 2 stars
These night driving glasses are marketed towards women, and their square-shaped lenses and a tortoiseshell-effect frame do make them arguably more attractive than those with wrap-around styling.
The Myiaur’s lenses are made up of seven layers, including polarisation and yellow tinting that is claimed to reduce glare in dark, wet and foggy conditions.
However, we found them no better at reducing the brightness of oncoming headlights than the HeadLight glasses. The lenses cut out a lot of ambient light (although they aren’t quite as dark as the HeadLight pair), so they hindered visibility on unlit stretches of road, while making it trickier to see oncoming vehicles. In addition, the deep yellow colour cast of their lenses made it harder to read the road than without them.
While wearing these glasses, no effect was recorded on our heart rate monitor.
6. HeadLight Glasses with Glarecut Technology
Price £19.99
Rating 1 star
These glasses can be worn alone or placed over prescription glasses. Wearing two pairs of glasses at once feels strange at first, but they are light and not uncomfortable once you get used to them.
However, that’s where the positives end. The lenses’ vivid yellow hue gives everything an unrealistic colour cast that can be quite disconcerting.
What’s more, their anti-dazzle properties are poor; wearing them didn’t lessen the glare of oncoming headlights or stop the light refraction that can cause streaks of light to stretch out from around headlights. They’re also the darkest of the glasses tested, so seeing people on the roadside can be tricky. We passed a runner in dark clothes and only spotted them because they were wearing a light on their wrist.
Our heart rate monitor showed a marked increase in stress levels when wearing these glasses.
What the experts say
We contacted the College of Optometrists for its views on anti-glare glasses for night-time driving, and it advised a note of caution.
“There isn’t currently any strong evidence that glasses with blue-blocking or yellow-tinted lenses will reduce glare, improve visual performance while driving, or alleviate symptoms of eye strain,” said clinical advisor Dr Paramdeep Bilkhu.
However, anti-reflective lenses in prescription glasses are worth considering, said Dr Bilkhu. “These are designed to reduce reflections and improve visibility by letting light pass through the lens rather than it scattering. These can help to reduce the impact of headlight glare, making them ideal for night-time driving.
“We urge people to be careful when choosing anti-reflective lenses, and to avoid confusion between those and blue-blocking or yellow-tinted lenses.”
What Car? says...
Our research shows that you can gain small benefits from wearing some anti-glare glasses, but others offer no improvement in vision and some actually make the situation worse. So, unless you’re really struggling with night-time driving, we wouldn’t recommend investing in a pair.
If you do opt to buy some, try them out before commiting to using them regularly, to make sure they help more than they hinder. We’d echo the advice from opticians that the best course of action is to have regular eye tests and opt for anti-reflective lenses on your prescription glasses, if you wear them for driving.
Can better headlights improve night time visibility?
Headlight glare isn’t the only difficulty experienced by people driving at night. In a survey by Vauxhall in January this year, 72% of respondents said they had difficulty seeing pedestrians or animals on the roadside and 60% struggled to read road signs at night.
For some people, the situation appears to be getting worse; 19% of those surveyed are driving less than they were a year ago, and 41% book earlier appointments to avoid going out after dark.
To find out if advanced headlight technology can help, Vauxhall conducted a trial with five drivers who weren’t comfortable about venturing out at night. Their heart rates were monitored while driving a current pre-facelift Astra with regular LED headlights and a 2026 Grandland with adaptive Intelli-Lux HD headlights. The 30-minute route encompassed unlit A and B-roads and lit urban roads.
Among the participants, 35% reported that the new model offered better visibility than the old one, while 39% said driving the new car required less mental effort. Overall, 43% said they’d be more likely to drive at night in a car with the adaptive lights.
Psychologist and driver behaviour expert Dr Neale Kinnear, who was overseeing the trial, said: “Participants weren’t told what was being tested, yet a clear pattern emerged [in those instances where people noticed a difference]. The drive was consistently rated as easier, more comfortable and less demanding with the adaptive headlights. The findings suggest lighting technology can meaningfully change how night-time driving feels.”
The Intelli-Lux HD headlights have more than 50,000 pixels, helping them to deliver brighter and more even light distribution and allowing objects ahead to be detected up to 40 metres earlier than with halogen lights. However, it’s worth noting that most manufacturers offer their own version of this technology.
Tips on how to manage headlight glare
l. Always wear your prescription glasses if you have been told to wear them when you’re driving.
2. Stay up to date with eye tests. You should have an eye test every two years to ensure that your glasses help you see as well as possible when driving, and that your eyes are healthy.
3. When you’re suddenly confronted by bright oncoming headlights, keep your eyes open and look at the kerb or side of the road.
4. If you are dazzled while driving, it’s important to safely slow down or even stop your vehicle when it’s safe to do so until your vision improves.
5. Keep your car’s windscreen and headlights clean; this will help to reduce light refraction, to the benefit of both you and drivers of oncoming vehicles.
6. Dip your car’s headlights when required. Remember that automatic headlights don’t always react quickly enough, so be ready to do it manually.
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