Date:         Thu, 29 Apr 2004 15:43:56 -0700
Reply-To:     Jeffrey Earl <jefferrata@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeffrey Earl <jefferrata@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Night vision trick (was "E-codes w/ 9004 bulbs?")
Comments: cc: andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

>I recall reading in Car & Driver a few years back
>(even before the whiz-bang retina-searing HID
>headlights) that when you found yourself hit by some
>clown with his brights on or just plain outta-whack
>lights, close one eye until you're past him. That way
>only one eye gets temporarily blinded, and you still
>have the other one to drive with while the first one
>recovers.
>
>Let's hear it for redundant-systems bio-optics!

Hmmm... when one pupil is stopped-down (the one
exposed to blinding
light) and the other is wide open, it feels as though
they aren't
focusing... it's uncomfortable and potentially
distracting.

Try it some time at home at night and see for
yourself.
--
Andrew Grebneff


Andrew, I didn't mean to suggest that one drive around
with one eye pinched shut for any length of time; just
long enough to get past the offending driver. Five
seconds or so.

I'm no ophthalmologist, but a quick test with a
flashlight in the mens-room mirror confirms my
suspicion that regardless of how much light one eye
gets, both pupils will dilate together in response to
a bright light. But closing one eye prevents that
eye's retina from being seared by the oncoming driver.
(The same experiment also assures my co-workers that I
should not be allowed in the rest room unsupervised.)

Sure, driving with the other eye temporarily blinded
is briefly disconcerting, but certainly less so than
driving with TWO frazzled eyeballs. Besides, most
Vanagon drivers are quite accustomed to driving with
one eye on the road and the other on the gauges ...


"OK, I'll leave it at that since I've already gone on
for far too long about something I don't know a whole
lot about ..."

Jeffrey Earl
1983 diesel Westfalia "Vanasazi"








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