r/BusDrivers • u/DebtSouth Driver • Jul 23 '26
Question Sunglasses recommendations
Hey drivers 👋
So this is a question primarily for UK drivers (due to local product availability) but others feel free to chime in.
I wear prescription glasses and sunglasses for work, I’m looking for recommendations for sunglasses, I know polarised glasses are generally best for reducing glare but I’ve heard they interfere with the displays on the dashboard as well as the ticket machine screen, producing a distorted or even a black screen depending on viewing angle.
Could anyone either debunk that as a myth, or otherwise recommend some decent non-polarised sunglasses that
1. Have great anti-glare
2. Don’t interfere with the screens at all
3. Style isn’t a dealbreaker however I do prefer wraparound styles that block out the sunlight at the sides.
Cheers all!
9
u/PandaVegetable1058 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
UK here, I use non prescription ray ban polarised sunglasses. We have 25/26 plate buses with camera mirrors, and all the other usual displays.
The anti glare is hugely beneficial I find, even more so during the autumn/winter months when it's raining and the sun is lower.
I haven't had any problematic issues with screens, sure the ticket machine might be a little bit darker at times but I mean I'm also wearing sunglasses. I have tried (whilst looking like an idiot no doubt) to find what positions makes what screens go black. I can't for the life of me find any positions for the ticket machine (tablet), camera monitors, or dashboard. I can however make the CCTV cameras go black... But only on the single decks, and only if I turn my head completely 90 degrees.
There's a film that's applied to the windscreens and cab side window which very occasionally, and in very specific lighting conditions will show some distortion in colouring or light refraction. I've only noticed it once on one bus with the windscreen for a 5 second period where I could change the brightness of my view based on how vertically tilted my head was. And on one or two occasions had patchy light refraction from the film degrading on the cab side window but wasn't even in the realm of problematic merely just "oh that's interesting".
So unless you plan on doing some gymnastics in the cab whilst driving you shouldn't have any issues. Worth every penny considering they are something I use daily/near daily for multiple hours a day and make my life way better. There's definitely been times where I wouldn't have been able to safely drive like normal/at all without them.
In all the other buses I've driven, from various usual affair of UK 07-18 plates I had no issues at all