Car Windows Potentially Unsafe

Car Windows Potentially Unsafe Photo Via: http://kenrobertsautoglass.com Your car’s windshield may be doing an okay job at blocking the son, but it’s probably not protecting you against any of the sun’s harmful rays. In fact, a recent study suggests that it’s important for drivers to protect against these rays, and to stop assuming that just because they are behind a windshield, they are safe. The study recommends that drivers wear sunglasses, sunscreen and utilize any other protection against the sun while driving in order to protect yourself from the sun, just as you would at the beach. According to the study, ultraviolet radiation emitted from the sun isn’t actually being blocked by your windshield, and your windows aren’t much better. In fact, some of the rays (tied to problems such as cataracts and skin aging) aren’t protected against at all. According to Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, a researcher from the Boxer Wachler Vision Institute in Beverly Hills, California, in a statement to Reuters Health, “Some cars were as low as 50 percent blockage. Even cars that came with factory tint, there was no guarantee that would protect against UV rays.” For those not as familiar with UV rays, they may not be the most abundant of the sun’s rays, but they are extremely damaging to human skin. And according to the Skin Cancer Foundation, UV-A rays “are the most common and penetrate most deeply.” And now, driving a car is linked to these harmful rays. According to Boxer Wachler, as written in JAMA Ophthalmology, “Because drivers in the U.S. have their left side exposed to sunlight, UV rays have been blamed for the increased number of cataracts and skin cancers that occur on the left side.” So evidence would suggest that these rays are having an effect on drivers. Why is this? Rays are so powerful they can easily pass through clouds, which means they can easily pass through glass as well. So how do you know if your windows are safe or not? Getty Boxer Wachler had the same question. He used a UV-A light meter to test 29 different cars at a car dealership on a cloudless day in May of 2014. These 29 cars came from 15 different manufacturers all made between the years 1990 and 2014. The results were as follows: “On average, car windshields blocked about 96 percent of UV-A rays. The protection afforded by individual cars ranged from 95 to 98 percent.” Side doors, however, had a different result. “The percentage of UV-A rays blocked varied from 44 percent to 96 percent. Only four of the 29 cars had windows that blocked more than 90 percent of UV-A rays.” So while windshields offer a decent level of protection against the sun’s rays, side door windows offer very little protection, putting the driver at risk. According to Boxer Wachler, “It had no correlation at all with the cost of the car, high-end car or low-end car.” Dr. Jayne Weiss, a commentator on the study and director at the Louisiana State University Eye Center of Excellence, clarifies this problem by explaining that windshields have to be more protective than the door windows because they’re made of a different material (laminated glass as opposed to the door windows’ tempered glass) in order to prevent shattering. She says, “Don’t assume because you are in an automobile and the window is closed that you’re protected from UV light. For the eyes, your best bet is to get sunglasses that block UV-A and UV-B light and wrap around the face.” pexels.com And on the other side of things, Dr. Paul Nghiem, a head dermatologist at the University of Washington not involved in this study, claims that car windows allow in enough rays to have an effect on the skin as well. He says, “Wearing long-sleeved clothing, or sunscreen that is broad spectrum, would be extremely effective and seems indicated on long drives on sunny days.” As an added tip, Boxer Wachler suggests drivers obtain clear UV filters, which can be added to their car filters to protect against the damaging, UV rays. So if you care about your skin and your overall health, avoiding the tanning bed is no longer enough; you need to actively protect yourself from the sun, even in situations you otherwise wouldn’t be concerned about, such as driving your car to and from school or work five days a week. Using sunscreen before driving to work? It may sound crazy, but this study shows it may also be necessary. So whether or not you take these problems seriously now, it’s about time to reconsider how you feel about the problem at hand, especially as weather changes become far more extreme all over the country. So at the very least, be aware of the problem and do what you can to avoid future health problems while you still can.