Richard Yarrow’s opinion for www.startrescue.co.uk, providing low cost Car Breakdown.
Here’s a frightening statistic. Latest research shows that 39 per cent of people have no idea car windows don’t block out UVA light from the sun. The flip-side to that is 61 per cent of people think they do. Only eight per cent of drivers regularly apply suncream when they get behind the wheel.
I have to admit that until a few months ago I was one of the uneducated. I think that I’m like most people; it’s not that I didn’t know, I’d just never really given it much thought. My wife has just been reading this over my shoulder and confesses she thought car glass blocked out the harmful rays.
The cynic in you is probably thinking, as I did, who has carried out this research. Not surprisingly, it’s from a company called Solar Gard, manufacturer of UV-blocking film which can be applied to car windows.
That apart, the message is an important one. An hour-long car journey across a sunny lunchtime is the same as sitting out in the sun for 60 minutes. And common sense says you’d probably put sunblock on if you were doing that.
A couple of interesting points come out of this. The first is that just because you ticked the ‘privacy rear glass’ box when you speccing the options on your new car, don’t think you’re protected. That’s just dark glass, it’s nothing to do with UV blocking.
Secondly, why on earth don’t car makers automatically fit protective glass to the car anyway? We’ve got to point where advanced and expensive safety kit such as anti-lock brakes and stability control are now mandatory, so it seems daft that a cheap film on the windows isn’t. Manufacturers have cut the risk of us dying in a car crash, but don’t mind if we roast to death and get skin cancer. Seems bizarre logic to me.
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