Ever notice all the glare when you’re driving at night after or while it rains?
On dry road surfaces, lights from street lights, intersection lights, headlights, etc, all reflect off of the little irregularities in the road’s surface, called diffuse reflection. When it rains though, those little irregularities fill with rainwater and create a smooth reflecting surface, like a mirror, that cause light to reflect forward.
This phenomenon is called specular reflection. As we look forward, all the lights ahead of us (again from street lights, intersection lights, and headlights, etc.) are reflected off of the wet surface into our eyes, creating more glare. This glare can be uncomfortable and make it harder to see while driving. Any uncorrected refractive error often makes the glare worse. If you have glasses with a prescription for distance, even if minor, this can help with driving at night in these poor conditions.
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