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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

#841

Post by jandrese »

crazygringo wrote: post #822
jandrese wrote: post #716

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You definitely don't ride around here if you have not been blinded by a bike headlight. They can blow away your vision from half a mile away easily. I can't even see the trail in front of me without putting my hand up to block the light. I call it the nighttime salute. They are much worse if they flash. That blinds and disorients. Even after they pass you won't be able to see anything for some time.

True, I'm referring to places where there are already car headlights. The bike lamps are so dim by comparison, there's nothing to complain about. If you're somewhere without any other lighting and your eyes have adjusted to the darkness, then I can understand how they might seem bright. But I'm not really sure what you think the solution is. They're already vastly dimmer than cars, but make them any dimmer and the cy…

That is still very much not my experiance. I ride on the roads a bit and usually cars are fine, although there are people with aftermarket lights and people who just leave high beams on all the time in heavy traffic. But I've experienced riding down the road with oncoming traffic in the other direction and doing just fine until a bicycle comes and blinds me just like the high intensity high beam guys. They are generally much brigter in terms of light delivered directly to the eyeballs of oncoming traffic. Are you sure people aren't seeing you because your lights are too dim, or because you're making it impossible to see anything around them?

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#842

Post by leipie »

My car only comes with the very bright LED headlights. There are no other options. These are way to bright and have a very sharp cut off. Street signs now blind me with high beams on. Though you can barely ever turn on high beams here in NL. The contrast of the low beams is so large I can barely see beyond the lit part right in front of the car. Sometimes I just turn off the lights down to parking lights, because I have a better view of the road ahead where I'm actually looking. Nowadays I have special glasses that filter the blue light to be able to drive at night for longer periods. I previously had them for oncoming traffic and street lights. Since I got my new car I also need them to be able to drive my own car...

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#844

Post by rcstank »

adolph wrote: post #361
robertlagrant wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but then looking ahead it didn't look like they had their high beams on, I was just in a short car. You were in a normal car, and the SUV manufacturer has mounted the lights higher just for aesthetic reasons.

Seems like it would make sense to mandate a specific height for headlamps. I wonder why this hasn’t been done.

It's not necessarily height. Angle of the lamp impacts things as well.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#845

Post by hurricanepootis »

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.

I love this era of BMW interiors. The warm glow of the red lights from the dash cluster is really cool and nostalgic.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#846

Post by janaagaard »

Wistar wrote: post #324
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…

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.

I suspect this is because more and more people don’t know how to turn it off and/or don’t know what the blue indicator on the dashboard means.

As you mention, Tesla model 3 seems to be the worst offender. Could this be caused by a bad interface in that car? How does the brights indicator look in a model 3 and you turn off the brights?

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#848

Post by _will_ »

haspok wrote: post #299
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…

> huge amount of white light you get with modern cars Maybe this is missing from your Tesla, but in my poor VW the "screen" has a dark mode which is automatically turned on when the lights are turned on - including Android Auto and Google Maps, which is pretty much the only thing I ever use it for. Previously I had a rusty Toyota with a very pale orange display, it was always either too dim or too bright, terrible co…

It's worse than that ... It has an "auto dark mode", but in my opinion, doesn't get dark enough by default. I like my screens very dark at night. Admittedly darker than most. When using the "self driving" mode, my former model 3 thought the screen was too dark and any time it was engaged, actually INCREASED the screen brightness from my setting to a level I felt was uncomfortable and inhibiting night vision. I'd manually crank it back down again (via several distracting menus and steps) and it would stay at that level until the next time self driving was activated.

I made a complaint about it to the service department and was told that it was intentional so that the internal camera could see me better to ensure compliance with my eyes looking at the road. That might be true, but since I could still manually turn the brightness down after starting self drive and self drive would continue, it's obviously not required and there should be some way to disable it.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#849

Post by soneil »

pipes wrote: post #536
0xfeba wrote: post #380

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. 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…

I might just be getting old, but more and more I see people not using indicators and not understanding the rules of junctions. Tail gating also really annoying. I was in a mates car recently and it scared the hell out of me, he was tail gating for most of a 3 hour journey. Eventually we got to a bit with chevrons and he wasn't obeying the rule staying N chevrons away from the car in front. I told him and he replied "…

Isn't it great being able to rely on tech that isn't doing what we think it's doing.

I don't even need to keep an eye on my cooking anymore, the smoke alarm beeps when I get too close.

Re: Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

#850

Post by tonymet »

bArray wrote: post #812
tonymet wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

that's good to hear. I don't think it's as common in USA. I've even asked shops to do the work and a few aren't familiar.
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