Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright • Hacker News Board

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#131

Post by taeric » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:07 PM UTC

barbazoo wrote: post #110

delaminator wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Out in the country, you still don't really need brighter headlights. I guess you don't actually drive at night in the countryside then. You need lights to see where the road is, not where pedestrians might be - on none existent footpaths

I just realized I bet it’s sometimes a speed issue. I don’t need bright lights, maybe because I’m a slow driver. Drive faster and you have to have brighter lights shining farther into the distance to be able to see at least a couple seconds ahead.

And, notably, those couple of seconds can be key to seeing far off wildlife that may decide to cross the road.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#132

Post by afavour » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:07 PM UTC

lan321 wrote: post #111

everdrive wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the woods in the northeast US, and also grew up in the 80s-90s in a very rural area and I've owned a number of cars when I was young, some with comically dim lights. You really don't need the bright lights. You never have. Slow down, look for movement, and use your brights intelligently.

Slow down is kind of the general tip, but I find it kinda BS. I can drive slowly focusing on the bushes on the way to/from work in bumfuck nowhere, or I can get some beacon of god aux LEDs for cheap and turn night into day.

"I can get some beacon of god aux LEDs for cheap and turn night into day" they said, in a topic entitled "Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright"

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#133

Post by DannyBee » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:08 PM UTC

barbazoo wrote: post #113

tw04 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must not live where there’s wildlife… I can tell you it’s basically impossible to see deer at night without your brights on until you’re basically hitting it.

This can also be adjusted to by reducing speed.

Sure but you should be able to safely drive the speed limit under normal (Ie not pouring rain, snow, etc) conditions. Night is a normal condition.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#134

Post by robot-wrangler » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:08 PM UTC

eertami wrote: post #77

Maxion wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving in the countryside, good headlights are *so* much safer.

This is exactly what high beams are for, and even 20 year old cars have very bright high beams that are plenty safe. The problem referred to in the article is dipped beam headlights being too bright and often too high, which are making things less safe by dazzling other drivers and road users.

> This is exactly what high beams are for,

Judging from comments in this thread, large numbers of people are suggesting that they are actually entitled to blind others because toggling back and forth is an inconvenience for them, and/or the "smart" cars that are auto-toggling high beams have left many drivers completely ignorant that toggling is actually possible.

Related question, are cars that have completely removed manually controlling high beams actually street legal?

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#135

Post by Aachen » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:08 PM UTC

WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #67

jansper39 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We could have warmer headlights which would be more comfortable for road users, but most car manufacturers have decided it's 5000K white because it's fashionable.

I'm always curious, who are all those people who tell manufacturers it's fashionable? Other than voices in their heads? Who are those people that unironically like those searing lights?

I imagine it's the same people that cut holes in new pants. There appear to be some true marketing gods in this world who evidently find buyers for newly broken items at prices higher than the original nonbroken items. Selling bright white lamps frankly 'pales' next to that

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#136

Post by Sunspark » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:08 PM UTC

WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #65

Same in Poland, I often drive after dark thinking, "those oncoming idiots and their high beams", but then they flash their high beams at someone and I realize that those are not their high beams. Granted, my Yaris with full LED lights and their atrocious cool white light is a part of the problem, so I'm in no position to complain, but at least my lights are aimed correctly, so there's that.

In North America, the problem is other than the fact they didn't allow dimming lights for whatever reason, they made a separate regulation for LED lights compared to the old incandescent lights.

The old light regulation actually had a limit on how bright the running lights could be.

The new LED light regulation says you can have it as bright as the manufacturer wants it to be.

So now there is the problem of misaligned headlights that don't point at the road but instead point at cars, and are as bright or brighter than the old incandescent high beams.

I have to have my rear-view mirror permanently flipped at night now. I never needed to do that in the past except when some idiot actually was using their high beams.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#137

Post by xzjis » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:08 PM UTC

There are two situations where I have problems with being dazzled by headlights: - low beams on roads that aren't flat, because they shine right into my eyes - the high beams of cars behind me (sometimes close), which reflect in my mirrors but also off my ceiling, my dashboard, etc.

But I don't necessarily have a problem with the headlights just because they're too powerful.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#138

Post by everdrive » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:09 PM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #109

everdrive wrote: post #10

I understand that currently this is sort of a collective action problem, but I'm a bit baffled why people ever thought they needed brighter headlights in the first place. In the city, it's so bright that you don't even need headlights to see whatsoever. When cars started automatically dimming the dash via a light sensor, there was actually a period of time where I totally forgot to turn on my headlights because thing…

You must not live where there’s wildlife… I can tell you it’s basically impossible to see deer at night without your brights on until you’re basically hitting it.

We have quite a lot of wildlife around us; deer, moose, coyotes, hedgehogs, pheasants, nearly non-stop turkeys. It really hasn't been an issue.

It's not as if you cannot see with normal, old-fashioned headlights. That's what I'm confused about; the problem with headlights at night is that they have a distance. So rather than being unable to see, what you actually get is less reaction time. ie, rather than seeing 'til the next hill or turn, you can really only see to the end of your headlight beam. Ultrabright headlights actually make this worse; you have no night vision whatsoever due to their brightness, and and anything outside of the beam is completely invisible. This isn't as much of a problem with old fashioned headlights as they don't trash your night vision quite as badly. In any case, the problem is that you have less time to react due to only being able to see within the beam of the light -- and brightness really does not affect this.

This is totally aside from that fact that the moose threat is NOT that they're in the road 1000 feet ahead of you and it's too dark to see -- it's that they come right out of the woods before you have time to react -- and brightness, again, does not actually affect this.

Moose aren't invisible to a normal headlight.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#139

Post by zimpenfish » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:09 PM UTC

1970-01-01 wrote: post #68

comrade1234 wrote: post #25

Are they just not aimed properly? I don't think replacing headlights is something you should do unless you're a professional. I don't drive much here in Switzerland but I haven't noticed a problem when I do drive, but in the USA when I drive, especially in rural areas it's a pain.

It's this. They aren't inspected for alignment. It's fairly obvious that you can't be blinded by a light unless it's being sent directly into your face or reflecting off a mirror and directly into your face.

I thought they changed the MOT to better assess alignment[0]?

[0] https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk/the-mot-headlamp-aim-te...

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#140

Post by ghusto » Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 3:09 PM UTC

lan321 wrote: post #89

oldjim798 wrote: post #35

Desperately we need to reign in car "style" choices like this. Beyond headlights being too bright, lift kits should be banned and tint regulations should be enforced. Same with sound regulations. Public roads are not race tracks; they are for people.

What bothers you about tints? I've never bothered to get one since it's illegal where I'm at but the new ones seem pretty cool for cave dwellers who fear the light. They tint well during the day but you can still see at night from what I've seen on friends cars.

It's like driving behind a truck or van, you can't see past the (tinted) car in front.

The solution would be to overtake people with tinted windows. Unfortunately, the type of people with tinted windows are exactly the type you shouldn't overtake.