By now we know to take precautions against the sun’s harsh UV rays by applying sunscreen and staying protected. However, most of us don’t pay attention to how much sun exposure we get while picking up our kids from school or a quick trip to the grocery store.
Correlation between UV Radiation and Driving
There are two types of UV Radiation within the sun’s rays; UVA and UVB. UVB rays are short rays that are blocked by your car windows. UVA rays are long rays that only your car windshield is designed to protect against. As a car owner, this means you should add some extra protection to your car’s side and rear windows to block the harmful rays!
In an article by Susan T. Butler, studies show that people were more likely to develop skin cancers on the left side of their bodies (corresponding to the driver’s side of the car). Furthermore, in patients with Melanoma, 74% of tumors were found on the left side compared to the 26% found on the right side.
“When including all types of skin cancers and both sexes, more cancers occurred on the left (52.6%) than the right (47.4%), with a stronger trend in men. There were significantly more malignant melanoma in situ on the left (31/42, 74%) than the right (11/42, 26%).“
Butler, Susan T, and Scott W Fosko. “Increased prevalence of left-sided skin cancers.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology vol. 63,6 (2010): 1006-10. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2009.11.032.
3 Ways to Protect Against the Rays! via the Skin Care Foundation
1. Protective clothing
A quick and easy way to protect your skin while driving is to add some additional clothing layers. For example, wearing long sleeves, sunglasses, and hats are a great addition to limit your UV exposure. Wearing sun protective driving gloves can also be important as your hands typically spend the most time under direct sunlight while driving.
2. Apply sunscreen
Apply an SPF 15 or more to the face, neck, arms and hands. More importantly, look for sunscreen with some type of UVA shielding ingredients that include zinc oxide, titanium oxide and stabilized avobenzone.
3. Tint your windows
As the saying goes, it’s better to be proactive than reactive! By adding protective film to your vehicle’s windows, up to 99% of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays can be blocked. Further preventing the acceleration of skin aging and skin cancer development.
More about tinting windows…
Not only does tinting your car do more than protect yourself from skin damage, it also includes benefits to preserve the car itself!
- Window film can protect your cars interiors from fading or morphing.
- Provides a certain amount of privacy and security for you, your passengers and your valuables.
- It can keep your car 60% cooler which will result in less wear and tear of components and cut down fuel consumption.
- More importantly, there are legal restrictions in certain states and provinces for how dark you can tint your vehicle windows.
