The month of January often sees an increase in the number of traffic accidents resulting from motorists being temporarily blinded by the sun, mainly because of the glare from highly reflective snow and ice. 

Vision Council of America (VCA) offers the following tips for motorists to help reduce the dangers caused by winter glare:

• Drive cautiously and leave a proper distance to ensure ample reaction time. 

• Make it a habit to lower visors to help block some of the reflected light. 

• Avoid using high-gloss vinyl cleansers on dashboards. 

• Keep the car windshield clean and the windshield washer fluid reservoir full.

• When possible, take an alternate route lined with trees or tall buildings in lieu of one with extreme glare.

• Turn on headlights to reduce the possible poor visibility of oncoming drivers.

• Most importantly, wear sunglasses at all times. Even more important is to wear sunglasses with polarized lenses to reduce glare, and lenses with UV protection to shield the eyes from damage.

Using 100-percent polarized lenses is the only truly effective way of eliminating glare. Polarized and antireflective lenses are particularly good for protecting the eyes from sun glare in the winter, but are also extremely beneficial year-round. Polarized lenses utilize polarized filtering technology to deflect and diffuse concentrated light waves. The filtering process eliminates 99-percent of the reflected glare.