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Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

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Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#441

Post by toast0 »

thedanbob wrote: post #38
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…

> 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. Animals, specifically deer. That said, you can use brights when no other cars are nearby, and when there is a car coming its worth a few seconds of extra risk to not blind the other guy and put him at risk.

Once we figure our deer wasting disease, we need to start the breeding program for reflectorized deer. It'll solve a lot of problems.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#442

Post by LeifCarrotson »

0xfeba wrote: post #380
Wistar wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lately, I see a lot of drivers who turn on their brights and just leave them on and this includes cars with the older halogen and even incandescents. This is a change in behavior. As for LEDs, to me, the Tesla Model 3 headlights are the worst offender, but not all of them, just the majority. I can look down a column of oncoming cars and pick out the Model 3s from a few blocks distance. I suspect that the Model 3 head…

> Lately, I see a lot of drivers who turn on their brights and just leave them on and this includes cars with the older halogen and even incandescents. This is a change in behavior. This is one of my pet peeves. I've categorized it into what I believe are the main causes: 1. People just don't know as well today that the blue indicator means you're blinding people 2. People with newer cars which will automatically tur…

My other pet peeve is the opposite - they've got LED daytime running lights, and use those instead of headlights. They're driving around at 11pm with no taillights and abysmal forward lighting, but there's enough of a glow from the DRLs that they assume their lights are on.

Or worse, they're accustomed to "automatic" lights and don't even know where the switch is, so they're driving around at dusk or in fog, rain, or snow in a white, gray, or black vehicle without their lights on.

I have also been tempted to purchase digital billboard space, but not on the side of the road. I want LED signs on my roof rack (one forward, one back) with column or two of buttons on the dash to call up a slate of messages:

1. TURN YOUR BRIGHTS OFF! BLUE MEANS BLINDING.

1b. OW! YOUR HEADLIGHTS ARE MISALIGNED.

2. TURN YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON! THOSE ARE DRLs.

3. TURN LIGHTS ON TO BE SEEN EVEN IF IT'S NOT DARK.

4. MY SAFE FOLLOWING DISTANCE IS NOT A SPOT FOR YOU.

5. YOU ARE TAILGATING. I WILL NOT SPEED FOR YOU.

6. YIELD DOES NOT MEAN STOP.

7. I AM ZIPPER MERGING, NOT CUTTING THE LINE.

8. DRIVE CAREFULLY! I JUST SAW A DEER.

9. GO AHEAD, I SEE YOU.

10. YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOUR VEHICLE, PULL OVER.

11. THANK YOU!

Plus a few spare slots to be implemented as needs arise.

I've been unimpressed with the automatic high-beams on my wife's newer Toyota and on other rentals I've driven, they usually depend on a direct line-of-sight to the other car's headlights, which means they stay on just long enough to hit the windshield of another car cresting a hill and blind them. Then they courteously turn off a few camera frames and vision analyses after the low beams become visible. If a __competent__ driver is controlling the high/low beams manually, they'll see the headlights of the other car illuminating the trees and such and turn off the high beams a couple critical seconds earlier. But I admit that the automatic systems are miles better at managing it than the __incompetent__ drivers who are all too common.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#443

Post by mulmen »

sokoloff wrote: post #399
kulahan wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember, when shopping for a car, the salesman told me about an Alpina model he had with laser headlights so intense they weren't even legal for new builds anymore. It's a selling point in some vehicles. Still, the idea that you should give headlight illumination control to the idiot behind the wheel is insane to me. Is it not a regulated height? Maybe that explains why it's a nightmare to drive at night anymore.

Back when sensors, electronics, and servos were unaffordable or unavailable, it made sense to have a low beam height control as the resting pitch of your car could vary by several degrees based on passenger/cargo load, trailer tongue weight, etc. It seems vastly less necessary now to have that control in the hands of the driver.

My dad’s 1966 Oldsmobile has auto-dimming headlights. There are manual overrides of course.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#444

Post by LeifCarrotson »

shit_game wrote: post #376
Wistar wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lately, I see a lot of drivers who turn on their brights and just leave them on and this includes cars with the older halogen and even incandescents. This is a change in behavior. As for LEDs, to me, the Tesla Model 3 headlights are the worst offender, but not all of them, just the majority. I can look down a column of oncoming cars and pick out the Model 3s from a few blocks distance. I suspect that the Model 3 head…

>This is a change in behavior. >I am not sure what the solution is but the situation is getting worse and quickly. The solution is legislation and enforcement. Driving at night now makes me afraid for my safety because I'm literally blinded by oncoming traffic, and I'm sure that many other people share the same sentiment. I would happily argue that driving with lights bright enough to impair other drivers counts as w…

It's "reckless", not "wreckless". Recklessness is often correlated with wreck-fullness.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#445

Post by mr_toad »

whitehexagon wrote: post #267

The curse of modern super bright LEDs. Add to that list; super bright red brake lights, and a new trend for animated turning lights / indicators. Looks like something we'd have installed as teenagers after watching Knight Rider. Really distracting. Some of the towns here also started scattering flashing LEDs over every road sign they can find. Some areas feel like driving through Blackpool Illuminations. The worst of…

Housings on indicators that reflect so much sunlight you can’t see that they’re on.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#446

Post by moogly »

the__alchemist wrote: post #325
njarboe wrote: post #147

One of the main reasons people want/need brighter headlights is that there is much more light inside the car from screens. These don't let your eyes adjust to the dark properly. Older cars had dim green lighting for the gauges and even had a knob to adjust the brightness up and down. You could create a very dim interior instead of the huge amount of white light you get with modern cars and the multiple screens. I'm h…

The car I'm driving now (2016 BMW) is the only car I've driven or been in that has appropriate interior lighting. E.g. You can really crank the brightness down, and the display lights are all red.

Same with the brightness in my MY2025 BMW iX1. You can even turn the main screen completely off from the swipe-down menu.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#447

Post by nehal3m »

hughes wrote: post #363
Wistar wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lately, I see a lot of drivers who turn on their brights and just leave them on and this includes cars with the older halogen and even incandescents. This is a change in behavior. As for LEDs, to me, the Tesla Model 3 headlights are the worst offender, but not all of them, just the majority. I can look down a column of oncoming cars and pick out the Model 3s from a few blocks distance. I suspect that the Model 3 head…

Can confirm, my Model 3 had its lights angled too high from the factory. Only realized after a few people flashed their high beams at me during my first week driving. Thankfully it was easy to adjust.

I had the exact same issue, and Tesla sent out a service rep to my home to complete the adjustment to spec for free. You can request it through the service menu. Haven't had anyone flash me in the year since.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#448

Post by crooked-v »

mapt wrote: post #76
bayindirh wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The maximum brightness is already regulated in US and Europe. US allows a lower brightness level. Some car manufacturer (Ford?) recalled their cars to fix their cars' headlight settings to match US regulations in the last 6-8 months IIRC. Also, light temperature has limits. I believe >4000K lights are already road illegal in UK and EU. They are also recently outlawed in my country, but there are many cars with after…

Do we enforce it? At all? It isn't just retrofits that are a problem, it's brand new cars. It's not just about not wanting to be uncomfortably blinded by lasers shooting into your eyes at night. (Lasers well under 3000 lumens!). It's that this kills people. Frequently. It's a form of assault with hundreds of dead victims and thousands of injured victims a year.

Yes, but only with preset measurements that car manufacturers work around by literally putting dim spots in headlights at specific angles (https://old.reddit.com/r/fuckyourheadlights/comments/1hefn86...).

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#449

Post by ratdragon »

apparent wrote: post #397
njarboe wrote: post #147

One of the main reasons people want/need brighter headlights is that there is much more light inside the car from screens. These don't let your eyes adjust to the dark properly. Older cars had dim green lighting for the gauges and even had a knob to adjust the brightness up and down. You could create a very dim interior instead of the huge amount of white light you get with modern cars and the multiple screens. I'm h…

My car's screen switches to night mode when it's dark, but if you want to make it the darkest setting, you have to manually adjust it, every single time. I don't know why there isn't a persistent setting for [when the car is in night mode]. I frequently have to adjust this because I want my eyes to adjust to the exterior darkness for safety reasons.

they definitely were persistent before

edit spelling

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#450

Post by sokoloff »

mulmen wrote: post #443
sokoloff wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back when sensors, electronics, and servos were unaffordable or unavailable, it made sense to have a low beam height control as the resting pitch of your car could vary by several degrees based on passenger/cargo load, trailer tongue weight, etc. It seems vastly less necessary now to have that control in the hands of the driver.

My dad’s 1966 Oldsmobile has auto-dimming headlights. There are manual overrides of course.

Does that relate to driver-controlled height adjustment of the headlights?
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