Dry eyes for bus drivers

Bus drivers get dry eyes from the job itself: hours of fixed forward focus, heater and defroster air aimed at the windshield, cold drafts every time the doors open, and glare from wet roads and headlights. Redirect the vents, use glare protection, blink deliberately at stops, and if you use lubricating drops, put them in only when the bus is parked, at a layover or at the end of a run.

Why driving a route dries your eyes

A bus route asks for steady attention for hours. When people concentrate on a fixed point, they blink less often and less completely, which leaves more of the eye’s surface exposed to the air between blinks. A route adds a few things a car commute doesn’t:

• The defroster and front heater blow warm, dry air up the windshield and back toward the driver’s face for most of the winter.
• The front door opens dozens of times an hour, letting in a blast of cold or hot outside air at eye level.
• Shifts often run eight to ten hours with only short recovery breaks.
• Glare from low sun, wet pavement and oncoming headlights makes drivers squint, and a squint replaces full blinks with partial ones.

Dry, moving air speeds evaporation from the tear film. The combination of a vent in your face and a long stretch of focused looking is why eyes can feel gritty by the second half of a shift.

Heater and defroster airflow

You can’t turn off the defroster when the windshield is fogging, and you shouldn’t. What you can usually change is where the cab vents point. Most driver compartments have adjustable louvers for the dash and a separate fan control for the driver’s area:

• Aim any dash louver at your chest or feet rather than your face.
• If the defroster spill hits your eyes, check whether a deflector or a slight seat adjustment moves your head out of the stream.
• Keep the driver fan on the lowest speed that keeps the windshield clear.
• In summer, aim air conditioning at your torso. Cold air from a vent dries eyes just as warm air does.

If your agency has rules about the HVAC settings, follow them. These are adjustments within whatever the vehicle and your supervisor allow.

Door drafts and outside weather

Each time the front door opens, the air at the driver’s seat changes. On a January morning that means a gust of cold, dry air; on a windy day it can carry grit off the curb. Glasses help here more than people expect. Ordinary prescription lenses or clear glasses with side coverage reduce how much air moves across the eye. If you wear sunglasses on daytime routes, wraparound frames do the same job while cutting glare.

Glare and night routes

Night shifts bring a different kind of strain. Headlights, LED signs and reflections off wet pavement all pull your focus, and drivers on late routes tend to stare harder to read the road. Keep the inside of the windshield clean, because a hazy film scatters light from oncoming traffic. Keep interior lights at the level your agency allows so your eyes aren’t adjusting between a bright cab and a dark street. Use the farebox and stop announcements as cues to blink fully a few times.

Blink breaks that fit a schedule

There’s no time for a long rest on most routes, but there are natural pauses. Use them:

• At a red light or while passengers board, close your eyes for a full second and open them slowly, if you’re fully stopped with the brake set and it’s safe to do so.
• At a timepoint where you’re holding for schedule, look at something far away and blink several times.
• At a layover, step off the bus if allowed. Fresh air without a vent behind it is a break for your eyes too.
• Drink water through the shift. A dried-out driver is usually a dry-eyed driver.

Never put in drops while the bus is moving

A drop blurs your vision for a moment, and you need a hand free and your head tilted back to put one in. Neither is compatible with operating a vehicle. Only use eye drops when the bus is parked and secured: at a layover, during a break, before pull-out or after the run. Don’t do it at a red light or a passenger stop, and follow any agency rules about when you can step away from driving duties.

If you use Quell, the Uses line on the label reads: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. The directions read: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Wash or sanitize your hands first, since you’ve been handling the wheel, fare equipment and doors, and follow the handling line: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination. Give your vision a moment to clear before you drive.

Where to keep the bottle on shift

The label’s storage line reads: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A bus cab can get hotter or colder than that, especially on a layover in summer sun with the engine off, or parked in the yard through a winter night. Keep the bottle with your personal bag rather than on the dash, in a cup holder by the windshield, or in a locker in an unheated garage. An inside jacket pocket works in cold weather; a lunch bag works in heat.

Before using a bottle that’s been somewhere hot or cold, look at it. The label’s “Do not use” line reads: If this product changes color. Our guide on how to store eye drops covers storage in more detail.

What the label leaves to a doctor

Professional drivers depend on clear vision, so take changes seriously. The label’s stop-use line reads: Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours. Anything that affects how well you see the road is a reason to stop and talk to an eye doctor, and to follow your employer’s fitness-for-duty rules. If you wear contact lenses or use other eye drops, the label doesn’t address those situations; ask your eye doctor or pharmacist.

Our list of eye symptoms that need a doctor covers warning signs. For more on vent airflow on the road, see dry eyes when driving in winter. The full label is on the Drug Facts page.