After a string of crashes recently due to sun glare, one Texas police department is hoping to alleviate this problem by offering tips to commuters, reports WFAA.
The Celina Police Department, upon noticing an increase in traffic accidents due to sun glare, offered the following tips on its Facebook page to avoid crashing due to the sun coming up in the morning or going down in the evening:
- Slow down.
- Put more distance between you and other vehicles.
- Wear or have available polarized sunglasses.
- Keep your windshield clean, both inside and out.
- Use your vehicle’s sun visor.
- Take an alternate route, if possible, that has less traffic and or more shade from trees and buildings.
The Celina Police Department said much of these crashes could be attributed to changes in the season.
“A lot of it is going east-west,” Celina Police Chief John Cullison told WFAA. “With the sun coming up in the morning and going down in the evening it just flips the script. Some people encounter that twice a day.”
Cullison said a handful of crashes were enough to put the department on alert. Some of the crashes occurred at the Collin County Outer Loop.
The Celina Police Department also suggests asking employers to leave 30 minutes to an hour earlier in order to avoid the brightest parts of a commute.
Much of Collin County and Celina is wide open in terms of buildings, meaning that there are few barriers to the glare.
“You can pretty much see horizon to horizon. You’re looking straight at the sun and it is horrible,” Bruce Morrell, an astrophotographer in nearby Weston, told WFAA. “I don’t have houses and buildings all around me, it’s wide open. That’s why I moved out here.”
Although sun glare-related blinding can certainly happen in big cities with tall buildings as well, the police department suggests that the six listed tips listed above will reduce the risk.  Â
