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In Europe, this is hardly a problem. I’ve recently been on the road more in the US, and it sucks. But I think it’s more so due to cars being ridiculously big and their lamps being way off the ground.
it is a problem in europe too. all new german SUVs, and many others, have front beams around the height of others drivers eyes so they blare right into internal rearview mirror, car is lit like ufo is here to take us, and when meeting those cars coming from opposite direction, it’s again at the height of eyes to burn the retinas. the regulation of headlights is obviously fucked.
Headlights definitely need more regulation but this issue is very amplified in SUVs which are much underregulated. They have mismatched bumper heights to other cars causing more damage, they drag pedestrians underneath causing more injuries. I personally see no point for modern SUVs existing at all, but let’s at least make sure they are safe on roads.
Adjust the mirror to send it right back to them.
From what I hear, people who modify their vehicle by lifting it higher with bigger wheels are suppose to recalibrate their headlights (point the headlights toward the ground).
And they do not.
This exactly. They are definitely getting brighter year over year as well. It is noticeable, I just feel like a cop is shining their light in my car every time a truck gets behind me now. I feel like there are just no regulations in the US on the brightness nowadays.
Lamps off the ground aren’t a problem when they’re aimed correctly. The big issue is everyone putting LEDs inside of halogen housings. The light scatters everywhere and blinds everyone.
You are making it sound like its a user modification problem. There are a number of large vehicles that come stock with headlights that blind people in smaller cars.
We need regulations. It is dangerous to operate a vehicle if oncoming traffic makes it that difficult to see anything in your own lane.
If it wasn’t him it just would’ve been someone else
The new trucks in America are all blinding because of how high off the ground they are and the ridiculous number of lumens. It’s like manufacturers just want bigger number, bigger number = better, lol.
I can’t prove it, but I suspect that a lot of people are suffering from having backlit phone, console, and cluster LCD panels in their face while driving. The dim incandescent glow of the speedometer as the only thing illuminating the cabin is a thing of the past. This makes me think that folks actually need more lumens on the road in front of you because your pupils are not at all dilated for the dark.
Meanwhile the color temperature and spectra of LEDs vs halogen lights could not be more different. I honestly think our eyeballs respond to to these things differently and it just so happened that halogen is/was easier on our eyes in a lot of cases.
BTW, I’m not excusing anyone for blinding other drivers where it can be helped, especially manufacturers. That shit drives me up the wall.
Congress could easily pass a lazy maximum brightness law but we’re too busy stalling a mostly approved daylight savings law because some asshat party leader(s) is waiting to slap 200 riders onto it like another morbillion dollars of tax money to Israel.
It’s so bad people put here are getting illegal windshield tint just to reduce the insane glare.
Of course a real solution would be a proper regulation with tickets for anyone running incorrectly adjusted headlights or anything that is basically acting as a high beam.
Of course a real solution would be a proper regulation with tickets
That would require a municipal government with any real legislative authority, a state government that wasn’t the wholly owned subsidiary of big business, and a police force that considers “driving with overly bright headlights” more worthy of their time than “driving in the wrong neighborhood while black”.
I’d say this ‘chat’ should go to GM and their stupid ideas to point fucking headlights straight into the mirrors of cars ahead of them. Only one of the few hazards they cause on the road today.
It’s mostly the color of the light that’s the problem right? Our brains register the cooler light in the contrasting darkness as blindingly bright as opposed to warmer incandescent light, despite both lights having the same measured brightness (lumens).
That’s easy enough to fix with a filter over the bulb. But, again, it would require some degree of regulatory action for the benefit of all drivers rather than a captive agency that only works to maximize corporate profits.
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I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the horribly distracting flicker that they make.
I’ve never noticed a flicker.
It depends on the make and what PWM frequencies they use. Essentially everything LED flickers.
Did CRTs bother you? Most people weren’t perceptive enough to notice CRT flickering either.
I always had to adjust the refresh rate.
CRTs were horrible, the flicker was unbearable at times.
And, I’m also really bothered by LED brake lights / tail lights.
I had an interlaced monitor once. That was horrible.
Man I want to put LED bulbs in my 1999 model year car, but I don’t want to start blinding people. The last thing I want is for someone to hit me because they were blinded. It seems many LEDs do intend to have similar beam patterns to halogen bulbs, but I’m not sure how well they actually do.
Our 2020 Mazda has LED headlights, and I gotta admit, they are much better for seeing. We live off the beaten path, not a ton of traffic, but plenty of deer and other animals.
On the other hand, my headlights in the 1999 had gotten really hazy, and I recently did one of those headlight restoration kits to it, and it worked stunningly well. Since then, I haven’t driven at night very much to get a feel for how much it helped. So maybe I won’t need LEDs. (The halogens in there are relatively new.)
Respect
Related, but are most people unbothered by LED tail lights / brake lights? The flicker drives me nuts.
That, and the fact that a lot of them are too small.
Too small to see? Or too bright because they’re really small? Or what?
Too small to see. You can be paying attention to the road, and those small led blinkers will go unnoticed most of the time.
I’ve never had that problem. They’re normally clustered into a cluster of other LEDs.
You can’t go and kill the guy at a point where you know he has events in his yet. (A person’s “yet” is what is known of their personal future). You have to attack him at a point where you he doesn’t have any events in his yet that you know about. This also means no killing Hitler before April 30th 1945.
Lucky for us my super power is that I’m completely incompetent at remembering dates and events. Even after reading your comment I couldn’t tell you what date you said or have any idea what it is referring to.
You know who I’d go after? Gary fucking Gygax. I’ve lost too many friends to D&d.
