Besides the fact that it is a requirement for CDL truck drivers to have their eyes checked, it is a good practice anyway. Your safety, the safety of everybody else on the road, and for the sake of your eye health, if you drive for a living then make sure that you are getting regular vision checkups.
Years of driving can do a number on your eyesight. Your vision will surely get worse the longer a truck driver works. If you have been doing it for years then surely you should be at a point where you may need to start wearing glasses.
This doesn’t mean that there is nothing you can do to keep your eyesight from getting worse. There are some ways that you can be sure to keep it from deteriorating too badly over the years. In this article, I will give you some ideas on how to keep your eyesight in top condition when you drive a truck.
Get regular checkups
This goes without saying, but you need to have your eyes checked every two years to drive a truck professionally. Yet, you don’t need to go just when your license says you should. It’s not a bad idea to go more regularly once a year to make sure that your eyesight is not going bad.
You may be surprised to find that you need glasses to be able to read or just in general as your eyes are not quite as sharp as they used to be. If you already wear glasses then this is essential to see if your prescription is still relevant or if it needs to be adjusted.
The wrong prescription is a big cause of your vision getting worse when you rely on sharp eyesight to do your job.
Day and night driving
One of the biggest problems when driving is either bright sunlight directly in your eyes or the glare from night driving with oncoming traffic. You need to be wearing the right eyewear for this even if you don’t usually need glasses.
A UV-blocking type of sunglasses should be worn during the day. This will protect your eyes from overexposure to the sun which will create a deterioration of your vision if you aren’t careful. Macular degeneration is a common vision problem for truck drivers who don’t wear sunglasses.
At night, wearing night driving glasses is important to reduce the glare and filter out blue rays that can be distracting and cause your eyes to become fatigued from having to strain for hours on end.
Take breaks
When you start to feel a strain on your eyes or one of those intense headaches that start behind your eyes, then it is time to pull off the road and give your eyes a rest. Even when wearing the right eyewear, your eyes will get tired at some point.
Eye fatigue can end up causing vision problems later on if you don’t take frequent breaks to allow your eyes to reset or rest.
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