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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

#811

Post by bArray »

illwrks wrote: post #572
ponector wrote: post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think UK drivers test is better than foreign one?

I would argue it's not about being better or worse than another country, but if 1 in 30 drivers have a different understanding then that's a risk. By doing a driving test in the country you live in you gain a greater understanding of what it's like driving in that country. As a simple example I drove around Northern France and the first day almost went flying off the motorway slip road as I didn't realise how tight t…

Exactly. The signs are different, the cultural norms are different, etc. It annoys me that people believe that all Europeans are somehow interchangeable and universal. It does take time to adapt properly.

I almost did the same in France many years ago taking a slip road onto the motorway, almost rolled the car.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#812

Post by bArray »

tonymet wrote: post #405
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…

We could get very far by mandating easier adjustment of headlights, and free adjustment at auto shops. It only takes a couple minutes to adjust the headlights , especially at a shop with a lift and a gauge.

It's supposed to already be done at the MOT stations. They are supposed to check the level and adjust it to conform.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#813

Post by sobjornstad »

egorfine wrote: post #788
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…

Dark knobs won't sell cars, while bright shiny screens will.

Do people normally test-drive cars in the dark?

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#814

Post by bArray »

tetris11 wrote: post #503
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.

In my personal experience, ageing drivers drive too slowly, but they are generally safe. They will often stop driving when they feel it is no longer safe, and almost all older drivers I know refuse to drive at night.

Whether it is ageing or non-native licenses, I think a case can be made for checking that people conform with local expectations for driving skill.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#815

Post by alt227 »

potato3732842 wrote: post #601
alt227 wrote: post #533

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All the things on your list are things that are fine if you're not stupid about them. Thats the point, people are stupid about them and so it needs regulation to stop those idiots and make it fair for everybody.

So let me get this straight, we need to regulate everybody more because some drug dealer had the front windshield of whatever Infiniti sedan those guys are driving these days tinted some stupid shade? If you actually read the existing laws in most state they're pretty damn reasonable and amount to "don't put too much tint on the three front windows all vehicles have" This is either a case of Karen doesn't know the la…

> read the existing laws in most state

I assume you mean 'US States'?

This is a thread about the UK, and the UK law about vehicle tinting is cleary defined here, so there is no need to be reasonable or try to assume a generality.

Looks like 'Karen' might need to do her research a bit more.

https://www.gov.uk/tinted-vehicle-window-rules

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#816

Post by sobjornstad »

mikkupikku wrote: post #364
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…

Those radar speed limit signs that blink at what seems like 50 times a second if you go 36 in a 35 zone are very annoying. To be fair the blink threshold must be configurable, but whoever installed them around here didn't have any common sense and set them all to the speed limit exactly.

I also hate the ones that are exactly at the spot where the speed limit changes and still flash you aggressively in the distance. Yeah, I'm going faster than 35 because the speed limit is 55 where I am and I'm still slowing down.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#817

Post by bArray »

martin_a wrote: post #316
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…

> It's getting dangerous out there. You're all driving on the wrong side of the road, what are you even talking about? /s

If only we knew!

The real reason we drive on the left is so that our driver's windows meet in the middle and we can use our right hand to do sword battles and jousting with oncoming vehicles.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#818

Post by bArray »

nutjob2 wrote: post #597
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…

Without so many foreign drivers it would be even more dangerous.

It would be more dangerous if we had less people who had not taken the UK driving test? Are you mad?

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#820

Post by afiori »

xp84 wrote: post #684
toast0 wrote: post #665

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can bet that no regulation of any kind will ever be enacted to curb the disaster that CAFE rules caused to "car" size. I'm not a big EV person, but afaik EVs don't have efficiency standards and so they don't have to conform to CAFE footprints, so we can get compact vehicles again, hopefully. Up to manufacturers to put them for sale, and people to actually buy them, of course.

Sure. But unfortunately the effect of stupid CAFE on the whole fleet nationwide has been so extreme that the 85% of cars that are still gas have grown to be enormous, so understandably no one feels safe driving a little Civic if they can afford at least a CR-V and ideally a 3-row SUV. Plus, giant EVs have more room for batteries and most Americans think 300 miles of range is necessary even if they drive 20 miles a da…

also people expect smaller cars to cost far less so they have far lower per-unit profits
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