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Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

bbc.com

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Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#501

Post by LeifCarrotson »

potato3732842 wrote: post #432
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.

[flagged]

A minivan with tinted front windows is not OK, because pedestrians and other drivers at intersections can't see where the driver is looking. You don't need to be able to see the rear seats, which is why those can be opaque on a panel van.

I have no issues with rear windows being tinted or not. Sure, express yourself however you see fit. It's the front windows that should not be (but often are) tinted, and yet police will watch them drive by and not lift a finger.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#502

Post by giobox »

lukeschlather wrote: post #465
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…

My parents' new Chevy Bolt automatically turns off the brights when appropriate. At first I was doing it manually but then I started trusting it, it just works, it does it at exactly the moment I would do it (actually it's better at it than me.) I'm surprised Teslas don't do it.

All Teslas can do this too, as can a huge range of modern cars with so called "auto dipping headlights". Virtually all cars with this option allow you to turn it off though...

The quality of the auto-dip implementation varies enormously as well.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#503

Post by tetris11 »

bArray wrote: post #295

I think most vehicles are operating with their headlamps adjusted too high. I think the majority are now completely out of spec [1]. My normal lights are very respectably adjusted and are the older dimmer type, but my full beams are blinding - I rarely ever use them. A few times a driver comes towards me with full beams on, I flash mine and light up the entire night. The quality of driver is also decreasing. One of o…

I'd wager it has more to do with ageing population than car accidents caused by non-native driver licenses.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#504

Post by alt227 »

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.

And piss all other drivers off around you. This is the whole point of the thread you are posting in, but then if people cant realise or even care when they are blinding people I dont expect them to have fully read or understood the thread article.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#505

Post by alt227 »

taeric wrote: post #131
barbazoo wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Also notably, so bright they burn the retinas of said wildlife and any drivers or pedesttrians approaching you.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#507

Post by marcellus23 »

jlarocco wrote: post #367

As a cyclist and pedestrian, these new headlights and the cars with the "auto brights" are just terrible. When you're in another car their car's sensors might detect your headlights and dim a little bit. But as a pedestrian? You basically just get blinded - from low light right to 10000 lumens straight in your eyes. It's overpowering. Can't make them illegal fast enough, IMO.

Even if we're considering only other cars and not pedestrians, it's still pretty annoying. The brights will only turn off _after_ another car is already in their field of illumination, and only after a short delay. If you're manually managing your brights, you can almost always switch them off before another car even comes into view (by e.g. seeing their headlights approaching)

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#508

Post by alt227 »

danw1979 wrote: post #162
jpfromlondon wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do, and old school yellow high-beams were plenty on a 205 to do 80+mph down b-roads back in the 00's, I would happily go back to that if it meant I could avoid being blinded every ten minutes.

I’d be happy with other drivers just turning their main beam off slightly faster than 5 seconds after they have seen me.

Id be happy if most drivers just realised they have a dial which adjusts the angle of their headlights and used it accordingly.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#509

Post by alt227 »

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.

Why does nobody think that if these lights are dazzling oncoming drivers, they are also dazzling these precious deer and pedestrians people keep saying they need to see so well.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#510

Post by alt227 »

Aachen wrote: post #88
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…

Despite the "I need this in the sticks" responses here, I think the most common answer is the silent group that didn't ask for it but it just comes with the car. This group is silent anyway, they didn't have the issue/need but also won't complain about the extra light, whereas a few other people did and so you can just make 1 size fits all with no repercussions (besides perhaps selling more replacement lamps)

I have always lived in the sticks and I hate these new headlights, you could always see fine with the old ones on a dark country lane.
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