ZT: Men and Women See Things Differently

Men and Women See Things Differently, Even in the Dark

Turns out that men and women really do see things differently -- literally. Acuvue and Road and Travel conducted a survey of 515 vision-corrected Americans aged 18 and over. It showed that driving in the dark is different for the genders. Some results:

Did you see that? Seventy percent of women say they sometimes have trouble seeing when driving in the dark, compared to 49 percent of men. Women also report having more problems than men seeing signs, animals or pedestrians than men.

We\'re sensitive: Women report being more bothered than men by headlights from oncoming traffic or cars behind them (71% vs. 49%); experiencing more glare or light sensitivity (59% vs. 36%), and seeing halos or starburst patterns around lights (32% vs. 23%) while driving in the dark.

Dark distracts: A third of women say that difficulty seeing is even more distracting while driving in the dark than talking on the phone or text messaging (27%). Men said talking on the phone (31%) was the number one distraction.

Many survey respondents complained of eyestrain (38 percent), dry or tired eyes (34 percent), fatigue (25 percent), headaches (19 percent), inability to focus (18 percent) and double or blurred vision (15 percent) while driving in the dark.

This time of year, when the nights are long and bad weather is more prevalent, it\'s particularly important to make sure you can see as well as possible. (Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Safety Council say the fatality rate between 6 P.M. and 6 A.M. is three times higher than the daytime rate.) So get your eyes checked regularly, make sure your windshield wipers are high quality and replaced when necessary, and try not to drive when you\'re too tired.

The good news? Women and parents are more likely to pull over to rest their eyes or hand the wheel over to someone else when needed -- a smart move.