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America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

wsj.com

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Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#31

Post by Dalewyn »

userbinator wrote: post #15

IMHO it's not the brightness, it's the contrast --- a diffuse field of light at the same brightness wouldn't be quite as uncomfortable as the sharp contrast between light and dark they create, and this goes for the one whose car has the headlights and the one being shone at. In my experience, newer brighter lights also means a sharper cutoff so there's a very bright area immediately in front of the vehicle followed b…

>IMHO it's not the brightness, it's the contrast

Joe can tell you something is too god damn bright, Joe can't tell you something is too... much? contrast?

Yeah. As another driver: They're too god damn bright, and I don't feel their increased brightness improves my visibility either.

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#32

Post by hiddencost »

Lammy wrote: post #26

LED everything is too bright. Headlights, house lights, store lights, street lights. Walking around my neighborhood of San Francisco at midnight feels like walking around a movie set in a bad uncanny way. I can only assume the point is better night vision for machines, because they provide the opposite outcome to me as a human.

House lights are fine, you either have old ones or bought the wrong ones.

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#33

Post by dageshi »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #14

I think UK drivers also agree. It’s like lots of people are driving around with their high beams on. They aren’t because if they were you’d wouldn’t be able to look at them at all. They are 20% too bright and all too cold.

I find wet weather particularly bad, if the roads are wet and it's raining then I often find myself blinded to the road ahead as a car is passing me on the opposite side of the road.

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#34

Post by Sakos »

Ekaros wrote: post #29
thinkingemote wrote: post #27

LED street lights have an additional problem. They are bright but outside of where they cast the light they are dark. Previous types of lights would light up the areas around the main lighted area in a diffused way. LED street lights don't. I've seen many people use their phones as flashlights to navigate while under these worse LED street lights. I never saw this before. Danger has increased and safety decreased.

This feels very stupid design failure. Making wider beam should not be impossible. But I wonder how standardised the spacing is for this to work.

Light pollution though. Seems like that's more a feature than a bug that might be beneficial for insect and animal life.

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#35

Post by throwaway290 »

throwitaway222 wrote: post #3

Well, the worst drivers are those that just keep their brights on, because they have no fucking clue you're supposed to lower them when another car is approaching. Fucking idiots.

> they have no fucking clue you're supposed to lower them when another car is approaching

You know it's also true if you are approaching another car (eg. from behind). And if there are people in front of your lights in general it's a pain for them too

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#36

Post by nottorp »

Tade0 wrote: post #18
sherr wrote: post #10

In addition to cars, I'm a cyclist and have noticed that LED cycle lights, both front and back, can also be far too bright sometimes. Blinding in fact. A few years ago, I was behind a bike which had such a high powered rear (red) LED light that I had to drop back to get away from it. It reminded me of the sort of powerful red light an airport might have. For bikes, it sometimes felt like an "arms race" in brightness.

On top of that, strobing. I still don't understand the point of having strobe lights on a bicycle. What is that all about?

As a car driver, I love strobe lights on a bicycle. Much easier to notice them and avoid them.

As long as they're at a reasonable brightness...

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#38

Post by Ekaros »

Sakos wrote: post #34
Ekaros wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This feels very stupid design failure. Making wider beam should not be impossible. But I wonder how standardised the spacing is for this to work.

Light pollution though. Seems like that's more a feature than a bug that might be beneficial for insect and animal life.

With leds and proper design not actually that big issue when they are properly installed. If dark spots are the problem, that indicates there is little light pollution. Just have to extend the beam so it covers only road and slightly beyond.

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#39

Post by usrusr »

userbinator wrote: post #15

IMHO it's not the brightness, it's the contrast --- a diffuse field of light at the same brightness wouldn't be quite as uncomfortable as the sharp contrast between light and dark they create, and this goes for the one whose car has the headlights and the one being shone at. In my experience, newer brighter lights also means a sharper cutoff so there's a very bright area immediately in front of the vehicle followed b…

But it's also brightness: legal limits for brightness above the horizon were set in an age when light designers weren't able to do very detailed control of light distribution and the dimmed area was always a mix of some bright spots and on a much darker average. The legal brightness limits were selected under the assumption that the highest allowed was an exceptional peak that would only occasionally hit an observer for a short time before returning to the lower background.

Now headlight engineers have perfect control over the brightness distribution and they blanket the entire cone with what was intended as an exceptional maximum. And it's a full on arms race, because for the driver behind the wheel it's certainly awesome, one of the very few ways cars can differentiate from others (olders!) in terms of the quality of actual day to day driving.

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#40

Post by maeln »

outop wrote: post #21
Tade0 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of that, strobing. I still don't understand the point of having strobe lights on a bicycle. What is that all about?

It was found that drivers unconsciously filtered out a single small light moving like a bicycle does (weaving back and forth slowly, often towards the edge of the driveable area). Flashing lights are somewhat annoying but much safer for cyclists.

No they are not and explicitly banned in some country. The strobing light is way more blinding for any other user of the road. It also makes it hard for you eyes to adjust. This means that you struggle to understand how fast the bicycle is moving, and exactly how its moving (and therefor anticipate their movement correctly), but you also get blinded which might prevent you from seeing other user of the road (especially pedestrian and other bicycle). With strobing light, you not only putting yourself at risk, but every other user of the road.
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