Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 900 posts

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#241

Post by yesb »

kubanczyk wrote: post #210
Aurornis wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Second, there's a decent sized market for cheap, unapproved HID/LED kits for older cars. They're often not aimed correctly. This is the biggest problem. Even talk SUV headlights from the factory must meet standards for masking off light and the angles at which they can illuminate. But when people buy LED retrofit kits and jam them into reflectors not designed for those bulbs, the reflectors don’t mask properly. Lig…

Aren't there any checks for that? In EU most DMV equivalents check headlights yearly to catch illegal illumination envelopes (along with other safety-related aspects, brakes and whatnot).

Only a handful of US states have any type of safety inspection

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#242

Post by darkwater »

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.

I'm pretty sure a technical solution can be found that improves normal headlight visibility compared to non-xenon lamps from 10-15-20 years ago WITHOUT blinding incoming traffic.

High beam were always blinding, and unless you are completely alone you will not use them, even in the middle of a rural area, so they are out of the equation.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#243

Post by biofox »

mingus88 wrote: post #222
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

All cars in the U.S. used the same headlights up until the early 80s. You could literally walk into the auto parts store and buy a headlight to replace yours, regardless of make and model Somehow we all did ok back then with standard high/low beams from lights which are very dim and warm compared to the harsh white LED lights of today It seems to me that this is just another example of the arms race of modern cars. Y…

The red queen effect. We'll end up all driving flood-lit bulldozers.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#244

Post by cpburns2009 »

Aurornis wrote: post #192
alistairSH wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a two things contributing to "headlights too bright" in the US... First, SUVs are really tall... If you're in a sedan (or worse, a Miata) and get close enough to an oncoming SUV, even well-aimed, legal lights are going to feel bright because they're pointed down at you. Second, there's a decent sized market for cheap, unapproved HID/LED kits for older cars. They're often not aimed correctly.

> Second, there's a decent sized market for cheap, unapproved HID/LED kits for older cars. They're often not aimed correctly. This is the biggest problem. Even talk SUV headlights from the factory must meet standards for masking off light and the angles at which they can illuminate. But when people buy LED retrofit kits and jam them into reflectors not designed for those bulbs, the reflectors don’t mask properly. Lig…

How many people are really getting after market headlights installed on their SUVs? There's too many vehicles with blindingly bright lights for that to be the cause.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#245

Post by Yizahi »

everdrive wrote: post #224
Aurornis wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The road lines are actually reflective, so it's not as if you'll struggle to see the road lines. And generally speaking out in the country, there won't be pedestrian foot traffic, so it's not as if you need the bright lights for them. Reading these comments is a reminder that a lot of people aren’t familiar with the diversity of roads and environments across the country and around the world. Painted reflective road…

>However, downplaying the challenges of country road driving is weird. This is a total non sequitur, but we live in the country, and we had a few friends who had only ever lived in the city. A few of them independently expressed anxiety about visiting us due to needing to drive on "curvy country roads." I'm not making a broader point here, but I'd never heard this concern expressed before and was really surprised tha…

I have close to two decades of driving experience and I dread driving on the rural roads. Roads where you can barely fit two cars side by side, or even narrower, unexpected cars rushing towards you from the closed dead corners, badly signed crossings etc. But mostly its narrow roads, it is extremely stressful for me, and double so in the twilight and in the darkness.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#246

Post by mingus88 »

htek wrote: post #220
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…

Most people don't change the brightness of their lights. This is driven by industry using HID and LED lights that have a higher color temperature than the old lighting. It's really a failure of governmental regulation (or lack thereof, in this case).

LED upgrades were very popular in the early 2000s. IIRC that style of light was introduced by Lexus and Audi around 2003

The tuner community naturally started retrofitting those lights into their cheaper Hondas and Toyotas, as they were signals of luxury and performance. Those times were bad, since those folk were not aiming them properly.

Mainstream brands followed shortly afterwards, and now they are standard equipment. Honestly there is no going back. People won’t want a car with dim lights when every other car has “nicer” ones.

I agree it will take regulation to fix, and I am not at all confident in that ever happening. What used to be a $30 part at the auto store is now at least $300 in special parts and labor to replace a headlight, on the low end

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#248

Post by giantg2 »

I'm half tempted to say just give everyone cheap multispecral goggles and get rid of the headlights, streetlights, etc. With volume, you could build a set with digital night vision and a Flir Lepton for under $400 (which is about the cost of an HID headlight system).

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#249

Post by folmar »

belval wrote: post #106
donatj wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I got my Honda van with stock LED headlights about a year ago, people started flashing me that my brights were on. After the first couple times I started flashing my actual brights back. They make the stock headlights too dang bright.

My parents bought a Lexus that happens to be tall-ish with very bright headlights. I don't think I have ever driven it at night without people flashing me. It's really up to regulators to put something in place though, I don't understand why it is taking so long. It's not like they want those super-bright headlights, they just come with the car...

Apparently Toyota+Lexus are ordering the most blinding lights without any reason. Talk to the dealer - if no one complains, they don't feel the need to fix.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#250

Post by mingus88 »

rickydroll wrote: post #216
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…

People who drive in rural New England. Headlights don't illuminate far enough to stop in time at 40 or 50 miles an hour, let alone at highway speeds. Snarky view is you may wreck your car, but at least you'll have a year's worth of venison.

Where I live, it doesn’t matter how far your lights throw down the roadway, you still have less than a couple seconds to notice the deer sprinting out of the woods directly in front of you
Post reply on HN