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America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

wsj.com

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Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#91

Post by musicale »

karolist wrote: post #81

I'm driving for 18 years now, regularly long distances over night, on the German Autobahn. LED lights are a massive problem and made night driving much more tiring in the last 12 or so years. Also, fuck your matrix smart lights, they move away after blinding me at worst case or the light source is too bright even if not directed at me anyway. I have them in my 2020 Audi and don't use them because other drives flash a…

> I have them in my 2020 Audi and don't use them because other drivers flash at me and I understand precisely why.

That's too bad, because smart lights are being touted as the solution to this blinding LED light disaster in the US.

The US also has a problem of SUVs and pickup trucks that aim their blinding LED headlights right at your head or rear-view mirror if you are unlucky enough to be in a lower vehicle.

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#92

Post by magnetowasright »

chetumal wrote: post #89

The real problem is that in america public ilumination sucks and is almost inexistent. Its really hard to see anything on the road, of course drivers are going to want more powerful lights

Decent street lighting has never stopped Australians with retina burners, stock or aftermarket. It also wasn't a problem before LEDs. People who had spotlights fitted to their cars never used them on the road (when others were around) and now that's apparently the only reason people get them (even if they already have retina burners for headlights)

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#93

Post by mint2 »

thinkingemote wrote: post #27

LED street lights have an additional problem. They are bright but outside of where they cast the light they are dark. Previous types of lights would light up the areas around the main lighted area in a diffused way. LED street lights don't. I've seen many people use their phones as flashlights to navigate while under these worse LED street lights. I never saw this before. Danger has increased and safety decreased.

The blueish white leds that has become default because of a slightly more efficient light output is also worse for glare, eye adjusting, and light pollution. Warmer tone leds are just a small bit less efficient and slightly less inexpensive so the much worse blueish tone is default.

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#94

Post by voltaireodactyl »

lmpdev wrote: post #57

I sell these all day at work. Aftermarket, the blame largely lies on the end user incorrectly selecting and fitted LED modules, but I still see this problem far too frequently with cars coming off the production line. I cannot tell if it's the business incentives around the engineers designing these boards, an actual lack of understanding of optics from them, or a failure in due-diligence from companies they supply t…

Beautifully stated. At this point, with so many sources of unavoidable artificial light, it feels like a basic education in the way light behaves is critical for everyone so they can keep themselves sane.

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#97

Post by WirelessGigabit »

karolist wrote: post #81

I'm driving for 18 years now, regularly long distances over night, on the German Autobahn. LED lights are a massive problem and made night driving much more tiring in the last 12 or so years. Also, fuck your matrix smart lights, they move away after blinding me at worst case or the light source is too bright even if not directed at me anyway. I have them in my 2020 Audi and don't use them because other drives flash a…

I'm glad you posted this. I moved to the USA 7 years ago, and my eyes have aged. All I remember is less glare in Europe because the ECE design is better than DOT, even though ECE shines further, the cut-off is better.

But from what I understand from your post is that even in Europe, with the ECE ones, there is still glare because of the sheer brightness?

Re: America's Drivers Agree: LED Headlights Are Just Too Bright

#98

Post by PrivateButts »

throwitaway222 wrote: post #3

Well, the worst drivers are those that just keep their brights on, because they have no fucking clue you're supposed to lower them when another car is approaching. Fucking idiots.

I think that auto dimming has made that aspect so much worse. It fails often, and removes that aspect of driving from the driver's mind. They just don't think about it anymore and blind the fuck out of pedestrians and cyclists since the sensor doesn't pick them up.
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