Of course, the prime consideration when choosing glasses for driving this to pick a frame for your spectacles that is comfortable, fits well and has a good field of vision. The less thick the arms of the glasses are the better, as they will always impede your ability to see to the side to some extent. You should also look for glasses that are robust and can tolerate extremes of temperature as they are likely not to be treated very well in your car. A good choice for a glasses frame that fulfils many of these criteria is one that is made from a strong alloy such as titanium.
As well as the obvious purpose for the glasses of correcting vision when driving, they are also commonly used in order to attenuate strong light as prescription sunglasses and to diminish glare that may be generated by road hazards such as light reflecting from the road surface or strong light shining from oncoming traffic.
Typically prescription sunglasses have been the only solution available when driving in strong sunlight that they have a significant drawback which is the gradient of tint is really only suitable for a relatively small range of strong incoming light. Outside of the car, this can be addressed by using photochromic lenses in the glasses such as transitions or other brands which will allow the tint to change in intensity according to the strength of the incoming light. Unfortunately, this glasses lens system will not usually work when used behind a windscreen as the chemical process within the glasses lens requires ultraviolet light in order to be activated and modern windscreens actively filter out this light as a matter of course and so nullify the ability of the spectacles lenses to change the depth of tint.
There is however a new solution to this problem called Drivewear lenses. These new glasses lenses have the distinction of being the only available optical lenses for spectacles that will change the tint intensity with both incoming ultraviolet and visible light. So now there is a great alternative to having to change prescription sunglasses to clear glasses on the fly while driving as it is possible to continue to wear the same pair of glasses as light conditions change, allowing the glasses lenses to change instead.
The other challenge for driving glasses which is to address glare and strong reflections is usually addressed by incorporating polarization into the glasses. This facility is also enabled in the new Drivewear lenses and so there is now no need to make the trade-offs between how dark a tint is required for the current driving conditions and which have spectacles to wear. Glasses incorporating the Drivewear lenses may of course also be worn when not driving, as there is no compromise in optical quality required in order to achieve the benefits of photochromic spectacles. They are also available with progressive lenses (varifocal) and may be incorporated into almost any style of frame.
Wearing the right glasses when driving can be a critical factor in safety and it is always worth taking the time to choose the right style and material for your glasses frame and then to do the research or get advice as to which lens type is most appropriate for the conditions that you may encounter when driving. You may read about “specialized” tinted lenses for driving that often have a slight yellow tint to them-these do of course filter out some of the visible light, but are nowhere near as effective as a pair of glasses that have the correct tint for the driving conditions, polarized lenses to filter out strong glare-and perhaps a good anti-reflective coating to complete your defense.