Want To Get My Cdl This Summer But Im Worried About Night Blindness.

So Today I just had to quit my job as a seasonal driver for UPS because my routes started getting late into the night. I can see fine on Interstates and Freeways for the most part but the constant looking for addresses made it seem unsafe. My question is that I want to be a long haul dry van trucker and i think you can only drive for 11 hours a day. Would I be able to pick when i drive and just start driving really early until it got dark out. Or is there no way around driving at night? Also do the Night glare sunglasses help or is there anything anyone is aware of that helps with night blindness?

Welcome to the Trucking Truth site, Josh.

I can't recall ever having any type of night vision test, or reduced visibility testing during a periodic DOT physical. Is your problem diagnosed by a medical professional, or only something you have noticed?

Regarding times, we are driving all different hours when performing OTR duties. Sometimes schedules for getting loaded or unloaded will necessitate driving at any hour, daylight or darkness. Having an "only daytime schedule" is not realistic.

As for any specialty glasses, I have no experience. Due to my eyesight, I've been wearing glasses for decades.

Have you talked to a medical professional to see if there is a medical reason behind it? I typically start rolling about midnight. That leaves me driving quite a bit through the dark and what I've found is keeping my windshield clean and clear, combined with keeping the cab as dark as possible (dim the dash, turn off ELD screen) typically solves my problems. Also with the newer trucks having LED lights it makes it far easier to see even in inclement weather. You should check out a pair of night driving glasses. I found multiple threads on this forum over 4 years old that someone was having issues and that solved their problem. One person even had this to say :

Night Time Driving Glasses are scientifically engineered to enhance your vision in low-intensity light situations. Their non-polarized, anti-glare lenses go to work instantly to filter out high-glare light from oncoming headlights, street lights and illuminated billboards.

I've personally found if I mess with my phone (while stopped of course!) And then start driving for more than an hour i find myself getting more tired. I've never understood how some drivers can keep their cab lit up and see outside the cab. Whether it's the dome light or even the red/blue light I have trouble seeing as well as I otherwise could.

Hello, not to be a party pooper but if you had to quit driving a UPS truck, I'm assuming a small delivery truck, what makes you go straight to an 80,000 pound semi as a better alternative? As an OTR driver night driving is unavoidable. What is daylight in summer is darkness in winter. You generally drive based on you clock and pickup/delivery times. I know several people that dont drive their cars at night due to night blindness, my own mother included. I would not recommend this career path for you unless you can medically cure it. Night driving, even outside of cities and street lights, is hard with limited visibility and the constant headlights of oncoming traffic as well as vehicles coming up behind you as we have 6 mirrors reflecting light in our eyes. Not trying to rain on your parade, just being a realist.

When I worked for a FedEx ground contractor, I had the same problem. I'd get sent to an area I'd never been to before and have trouble finding addresses. I don't have any issues driving at night, but I did struggling finding houses. Walking on somebody's property at night wasn't safe anyway. One day I was in penske truck at high noon in somebody's driveway and his neighbor approached me with his pistol out because he didn't know it was FedEx, it was just some random truck in his neighbors driveway. So, I felt uneasy about trying to look at numbers on a door in the dark.

Issues with finding addresses at night and issues driving at night are not the same problem and having one doesn't mean you have the other. If you have issues driving at night you may run into issues going OTR. If your problem is finding addresses at night, you may be ok going OTR.