What is it about?
Night driving is more demanding because low light and glare can make it harder to see clearly. In this study we validated a short, user-friendly tool—the Night Drive Questionnaire (NDQ)—to capture drivers’ self-reported distance vision quality and night-driving visual difficulties (central vision, peripheral vision, and their interaction). We tested 115 regular night drivers who also completed eye exams under normal (photopic) and low-light (mesopic) conditions. The NDQ showed solid reliability and a clear four-factor structure, supporting its use to quantify perceived night-driving visual problems. However, NDQ scores were not associated with objectively measured night myopia (refraction shift) or visual acuity shift from photopic to mesopic conditions. Overall, the NDQ is a valid, reliable questionnaire to assess perceived night-driving visual difficulties, but it should not be used to detect or characterize night myopia on its own.
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Why is it important?
Night driving is a common daily activity, yet it is also one of the situations where many people notice visual problems the most—especially under low light and glare. Clinicians and researchers often rely on objective eye tests, but these do not always capture how difficult night driving feels in real life. This work is important because it provides and validates a short, reliable questionnaire (NDQ) that can quantify self-reported night-driving visual difficulties in a structured way (e.g., distance vision quality, central and peripheral difficulties). Having a validated tool makes it easier to compare groups, track changes over time, and evaluate whether an intervention (optical correction, glare management strategies, cataract care pathways, etc.) truly improves the driver’s experience. Importantly, our findings also highlight that perceived night-driving difficulties may not align with “night myopia” or simple low-light visual acuity shifts, reinforcing the need to combine patient-reported outcomes with clinical measures. Overall, the NDQ can support better screening, research, and communication around night-driving vision and road safety.
Perspectives
Night driving is where many people first notice that their vision is not as reliable as they thought. From our perspective, this study matters because it turns subjective experience into something we can measure consistently. Validating the NDQ provides a practical tool for clinics and research to quantify night-driving difficulties and to evaluate whether an intervention genuinely improves the driver’s experience. We also found it revealing that self-reported difficulty was not tightly linked to night myopia or simple low-light acuity shifts—highlighting the need to assess both patient perception and objective vision measures.
Javier Gene-Morales
Universitat de Valencia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Self-perceived far vision quality and night driving difficulties are not related to night myopia or visual acuity, PLOS One, February 2026, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0339372.
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