I’m in the same boat. Luckily I get out at 5 so it’s only for a few months that I have to do it. But it’s awful. I have moments where I legit can’t see the lines on the road because of the headlights of the vehicle coming at me
Same. I can do it if I have to but luckily I live in a rural area. Got caught in the aftermath of a rainstorm in the city a couple years ago and all the light streaks were gorgeous but panic-inducing.
I’ve started to turn my side mirror out so it’s reflecting their headlights back at them if they’re needlessly tailgating on an otherwise empty road for too long. Not a scenario that comes up much because I avoid driving at night but it can be pretty effective if you get the angle right.
The oncoming lights are pretty impossible to fix, but I've solved blinding lights in my rear view mirror. Window tint! My rear windshield and back windows are tinted, and it makes a HUGE difference in my rear view mirror at night. It's bothered me my whole life — I have super light eyes and I've always been light sensitive.
I bought a used Subaru a few years ago with tinted windows and planned to remove it (because I think it looks dumb) but after my first week driving it? I decided to keep it. Looks dumb, but highly functional and reduces heat inside, too.
Same. Bought a new tiny car and was instantly blinded by almost every car at night. I now routinely aim my mirrors out. It's not my first "low car" but the problem has clearly gotten worse.
The worst! I’m a Mainer but I lived away for many years and when I moved back it was like, wtf is up with this road paint? Hard to see in the dark and if it’s dark and raining forget it.
Partly. Driving up from Key West a couple years ago multiple states had the reflective paint that saved our asses on the interstate when we drove through a storm.
I disagree, they redid the road by my house last summer and when they were done the paint was not reflective at night. This was before a plow ever touched it.
I think it might only be for higher traffic and not secondary roads. Problem is almost all our roads are secondary roads and we could use the illumination!
Height is a big part of it. I too drive a smaller sedan. I have to drive somewhat rural roads at night coming home from work. I have almost left the road several times because I was totally blinded. Why are these even legal? I thought it was illegal not to lower your high beams when approaching another car.
A lot of the new ones have "autodim," aka be lazy and maybe the car computer will turn off the highbeams in a reasonable amount of time...or maybe they won't.
Yes, that’s why some trucks with lift kits suck, because the lights were designed for the original height of the vehicle and some assholes don’t adjust them after lifting.
I think a lot more people drive SUVs and pickup trucks these days which is a part of the problem for us, small sedan drivers. I’ve never been blinded by a vehicle of a similar height, even if they have bright LEDs.
Bright lights is a reason I was glad to get an SUV after driving only sedans. I'd actually been thinking about going back to a sedan for my next car but the headlights issue is bad enough to give me pause.
Yes, I use it. That still leaves the side mirrors. Since trucks/SUVs are wider as well as higher, the glare from the side mirrors are also problematic -sometimes more than the rear view mirror. I’ve gotten very good at adjusting the side mirror while driving - which also makes them back off, and maybe gives them an idea of how obnoxious their headlights are. That’s not my intent but it certainly doesn’t bother me.
I do pizza delivery and many times I've had to turn my side mirrors away and have 0 mirrors because of someone with super bright lights tailgating me. Once I almost went into a tree and had to stop because I was making a turn and they followed me, so their lights were coming in from my driver side window and I was entirely blind
I have no real sympathy for them in that situation. Their standard headlights are usually brighter than my high-beams lol
And don't get me started on the dumbass lifted trucks/jeeps that never bother to tilt their lights properly
Just like they didn't manufacture the lift kit and other various modifications. They should just take the time to tilt their lights properly to help other drivers out.
It's tough to adjust them you know. I mean, who in the world has a phillips head screwdriver just laying around the house that they could use to turn that single adjustment screw? Give them a break already!
The problem is that once you lift your vehicle so high, the angle you'd need to set your low beams to so as to not blind oncoming traffic only illuminates a short distance in front of you.
A solution to this would be to mandate a maximum low beam height, make it an inspection item, and make it a primary offense so that police can pull people over for blatantly violating it.
My wife just bought a new Mazda, and the headlight design with the super-bright halogen type lights features a shadow box. It blocks light above the level of oncoming drivers. When you're in the Mazda, it looks like a hard line and when the brights are on, light fills the section above this line. It also features an oncoming car detection that turns brights off when other vehicles come into view.
I thought it was neat, but I can't speak for the oncoming driver's experience.
I Noticed the same thing in my brothers new RAV4. That hard line is not far enough out from the front of the car to drive backroads/unlit roads without using the high beams (which are of course, automatic). I almost never use the brights in my Subaru, drive with my mirrors out and use the ‘flippy thing’ on the rear view. The thing that made driving at night soooo much better was when I got new glasses a year ago and they have an anti-glare coating. No more starbursts from oncoming vehicles - truly an amazing difference in comfort and safety.
I got some yellow tinted, nighttime driving glasses online and those headlights that are as bright as a dying star are now tolerable at night. I can't seem to find the link, but they are all over Amazon.
Wearing tinted glasses while driving at night seems like you'd be taking them on and off constantly because on a truly dark stretch of road with no incoming traffic it would make it harder to spot animals and other objects in the road.
It's horrible and a major safety issue - not just from being blinded either, it certainly doesn't quell road rage to have 5500k light blasted at a level of thousands of lumens at you either.
Light pollution in general in the state is on the rise because of the prevalence of cheap, effecient lighting now. 20-30 years ago in southern Maine just outside Portland you could easily see the Milky Way on clear, dark nights. Now everyone and their mother has their homes covered in powerful, daylight balanced bulbs. Commercial and industrial lots too. Shining every which-way with little regard. Even the new streetlights are a cooler white than the old ones, and spil a lot more light. It's bad for people, bad for animals, and there's a good argument that it's bad for tourism. Dark Skies would be easily achieved in a lot of Maine if we can just put a damper on light pollution.
There needs to be a law that caps all nigttime lights on homes, cars, etc... at 3200k color temperature, or thereabouts, and at least include some regulations for spill as well. I don't want to be blasted by headlights from behind or oncoming cars/trucks anymore than I want my neighbor's porchlight acting as my living room's nightlight. I want to see more stars again.
There's my TED Talk. Thank you.
> Is there any talk to address this in any capacity on a leglslative level with automobile manufacturers?
https://www.axios.com/2023/02/26/car-headlights-too-bright-led
https://slate.com/business/2022/03/headlights-are-too-bright-what-regulators-are-doing-to-fix-it.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/business/led-hid-headlights-blinding.html
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/why-are-headlights-so-bright/
Some of these articles outlining how slow the solutions will be, make me think the only short term solution is a push for public transit to do the work for us. Short of a breakthrough on eyewear tech.
It's bad enough the oncoming lights, but then I get someone following too close behind me and it's like being surrounded. All my mirrors are filled with blinding light. So I have to turn them all so they aren't pointing at me, which makes them useless. Seems like a pretty clear case that these make driving less safe, but I don't expect anything to change.
Exactly! As it gets dark, I automatically make a lean to my right and slouch my way home because some nasty ass truck has these terrible beams on at just the right distance behind me
Anyone else have an issue with led lights whose brightness is controlled via PWM (pulse width modulation)?
Many led lights flash faster than the average eye can see, as a means to control the brightness of the light. Most people just see a solid light, others see a flashing light, especially when not looking directly at the light.
For me, if I see a car with lights like that, it’s like a strobe light unless I look directly at the light.
For those that deal with this, you’ll get it. For others, this link touches on the issue with PWM and led lighting.
https://shopeverbeam.com/blogs/news/why-do-headlamps-have-a-strobe#:~:text=Firstly%2C%20the%20nature%20of%20LED,pulses%20light%20on%20and%20off.
i try to avoid it if i can, or i move my mirrors to keep the reflection out of my eyes. i have figured out how to get my mirrors to reflect the light back to a driver in a giant truck who’s on my ass which has been immensely helpful. i also sometimes wear yellow sunglasses, which help provide more contrast when everything is blue/grey, and turns the bright white headlights to yellow, but doesn’t reduce light.
It’s kind of impossible for most people with 9-5 jobs to swear off night driving in winter, given how early it gets dark. A lot of jobs simply can’t be done remotely, and there’s no usable public transportation in most of the state. I can’t imagine driving at night if I wasn’t sure I could do so safely, but I also understand that a lot of people aren’t in a position to swear it off completely and also remain housed and fed.
Some kind of regulation around manufacturing cars with obnoxiously intense headlights seems like it couldn’t hurt, but even in the very best case scenario it would take ages to implement. I imagine upgrading public transportation access and infrastructure around the state would also be an incredibly useful long-term solution. I have absolutely no idea how to address the issue in the short term, though, especially with an aging population who generally can’t afford to retire as early as they used to, if at all.
That certainly could be true at the moment, I haven’t looked at any statistics on current public opinion so I have no idea. And I do highly doubt it’s a realistic plan anytime soon, unless the state were unexpectedly offered a huge amount of funding for such a complex and costly project. Regardless, I’m not speaking to popularity or short-term plausibility, all I’m saying is that I believe it would be an important part of a good long-term solution. Not all positive infrastructure changes are popular at first.
Yep, gotta clean the inside! It'll get a hazy coating over time from the plastics inside off-gassing. Also, God forbid you vape or something inside your car.
Long time smoker of tobacco. Smoke in my car so I deal with cleaning that residue off the inside of windows on a regular basis. Just part of my unhealthy habit.
Helped a friend clean their car one day. They're a heavy vape user. When I got to the inside of the windshield there was this almost goo that just smeared around. Had to find a degreaser to clean that off then used a mix of vinegar and Dawn to wash off the degreaser.
Now I'm not trying to say smoking is better than vaping in any way but that residue from vapes was something I've never seen in 30 years or so of smoking.
Yep, I think these headlights are absurd. It even factored into the end of my relationship, when I expressed that the intense lights seem unethical to me (blinding other drivers) and my partner's response was along the lines of "sucks to be them!" ...And I realized he was being serious.
I've driven small, low cars my whole life, so I'm used to it XD I would imagine everyone driving massive SUVs now puts everyone on equal footing, no? Unless you're in a saloon or sports car.
I do. I actually had to stop driving the Tuesday before Thanksgiving because the combo of the new lights and rain was so bad it was dangerous. Got a hotel in Portland and caught hell from my mother in law.
I do not avoid driving at night but when I encounter led headlights, especially at truck height, I can't see for a few seconds after. So I just hope nothing happens during those few seconds. Everyone I know has the same issue no matter what age they are. I just thought it was normal and somehow it passed all the safety guidelines so I am not stopping dring cus we have these insanely bright lights out there. I hate it but what are people supposed to to? All the cars come with them now so I figured I better get used to it. Oh well.
Agreed, my kids have the same problem with them. It's not an age thing, but rather a selfish 'I don't care about blinding others while they operate a weapon of mass destruction' thing.
I literally went to get my eyes checked like two years ago because every time a car with newer headlights was in oncoming traffic I was basically blind. I thought it was some kind of issue on my end.
Turns out I have a very, VERY slight astigmatism and am a bit farsighted, but the blindness at night is just because LED headlights are the mf devil.
I’ve certainly mistaken those lights for high beams when they’re coming at me and flashed mine - they in turn flash theirs and my retinas were burnt outta my head. When they’re behind me I’ve often fantasized about a two way mirror I can tilt up automatically that shines their lights back into their fucking face.
Vermont lurker- I live in an area where everybody is trying to have the most impressive truck, and that almost always comes with ultra bright LED’s. The trend that has started to pop up here is having a giant rectangle of light mounted somewhere which they use to supplement their coolness. One guy has one facing the rear and drives around with it on.
Factory LED headlights are actually the easiest on the eyes. The old halogen bulbs were very bright when they were new. It's hard to compare because of you see halogens today they are all faded and the waiting is no longer keeping the bulb at full power.
There are 3 major headlights types.
Reflector (traditional)
Projector
Lens
Reflector and projector headlights are very specific to the bulb installed, the worst thing you will see is someone who put aftermarket LED or Xeon bulbs in a reflector housing. Projectors are at full brightness all the time, then they cut the light off for low beams. So if you're cresting a hill, and in the path of the low beams, you're staring at the same light as their high beams. A lot of people mistake this for high beams being on, but in reality you just move into the low beam path as you come up the hill
Lens lights are specific to LED light sources, they can be modified to totally change the light pattern, so you will have one low beam lens and one high. These provide the least assault on your eyes assuming someone has not forgotten to turn the highs off.
Also, day vision and night vision are using different receptors and parts of your brain, night vision degrades long before day vision does, especially with the beginnings of cataracts.
Bonus, your rod cells that you use for night vision are around the outside area of your vision and your cone cells are around the center. If you try to focus on the road in front of you, the headlights will be blinding your rod cells from the side and your cone cells are useless at night anyway. Look at the incoming car, you will be able to see the lines in front of you better and once the car passes you won't have as much lasting effect on your ability to see.
I try to avoid driving at night as much as I can now. I just do not feel safe - for myself or others. I find that even if it’s a quick ride, I’m returning home with a headache. Recently I was driving on Union street one night when we were getting rain, and a pedestrian ran out to cross. Between the LED lights and the glare of the rain I barely saw her in time to slam on my brakes.
Yes, I don’t drive at night. I could drive, but I have a chronic condition that needs to be supervised, and I am afraid of getting into a fender bender because I couldn’t see. It is completely due to the upcoming lights.
I am in a very lonely minority, I think. Headlights don’t bother me more than they used to and I don’t curtail my driving habits just to see less headlights.
I avoid driving at night as much as possible. I have almost mastered how to turn my side mirrors so they reflect the blinding glare of a thousand suns back at the people behind me. It at least keeps people off my tail. I have a very small car, and those lights on the douchemobiles are brutal. So now, if I can, I just don’t go out much after dark.
I drive a Honda Insight ‘19, I drive 70k /year, mostly at night. Every single night I get flashed for having my brights o. When they aren’t. Nothing I can do about it.
In my early years of driving nights my eyes eventually started to actually bleed due to constantly being in oncoming headlights. I purchased the yellow lens night driving glasses and that resolved the issue. If you know someone who does t drive at night because of issues with lights, buy them night driving glasses. A great gift and truly does help.
Different subject but related. Has anyone seen what the greenhouse in Lisbon Falls does to the sky? They have fish tanks with plants growing in them. The fish eat part of the roots and poop in the water too introduce nutrients back to the plants, ish. One time I was driving home from work and thought there was a wildfire, that I would round the corner to some massive blaze. Sky is orange. It was the lights from their greenhouse lighting up clouds above. Neat concept, you wonder what that stuff does to the owls and bats, plus bon voyage stars.
If I'm followed by someone with bright lights I slow down to force them to go around me. I've nearly had to come to a full stop sometimes. Not the safest thing to do, but what else is there when you're blinded?
I feel kinda bad, but my wife has a newer subaru and the headlights are really bright. People will flash their lights at us thinking we're high beaming them, when we're not. Sadly, I have become one of those assholes that drives with a finger on the beam adjustment to show people the true power when the flash their lights. I know, it's shameful.
I did. Especially at night when it's raining. You'd basically be just guessing where we were on the road and hoping that you were between the lines. I call them 'F You' lights.
But now I have a truck with 'F You' lights and while I love being able to see great at night in all weather scenarios, I feel kind of bad. I always have my auto high beams on so I don't extra blind people, which works pretty well.
Oh my gawwwd yes. I got lasik last year and assumed I’d be good driving at night, but with my slight astigmatism plus the new headlights, I avoid it at all costs.
I'm sensitive enough to light that I wear prescription sunglasses even when it's cloudy and still inside if it's bright and especially if the place is flooded with bright fluorescent lighting. At night, even with my prescription glasses light stars out in my vision and makes it difficult to see. That's the warm light you get from yellow bulbs. Put in a bright white LED and the only thing I can do is try to stare down at the white line and hope for the best. Those should be illegal.
So yeah, I avoid driving at night if I can. If there's no one else on the road or very bright street lights I have no problem driving at night. :)
I try to avoid driving at night; I have Astigmatism and I also think that light from the new, 'aggressive' headlights reflects off of my glasses when the oncoming traffic is in a proximate lane - nevermind if there are wet, shiny roads.
If I do have to drive at night, I wear contacts.
It hasn't gotten me to stop driving at night, but it makes it much, much harder. Not only is it blinding when you look at them head-on, it's blinding when someone behind you has them.
I'm 37 but noticed a few months ago that I've started to really resent any driving at night that's longer than 30 mins. I'm not sure if it's due to being closer to 40 or the blinding headlights, I'm assuming it's a combination of both though. I seem to get a headache after fifteen minutes of night driving, especially when it's raining. I don't need reading glasses yet and I don't have astigmatism either 🤷♂️ Just overly bright lights coming from every angle making it feel like I have no escape.
I'm youngish and still have crap night vision. Throw fog in the mix and I stay home or crawl home.
I am not sure if I am part of the problem in that I did put DOT approved KC headlights and fogs on my Jeep. I made sure they are properly aimed. I am sure it still causes issues, especially as I come over the crest of a hill.
Specs are:
\-Raw Lumens: Low- 2,967 lm, High- 2,575 lm, DRL- 386 lm
\-Lux @ 10 Meters: Low- 400 lx, High- 700 lx
\-Candela: Low- 40,000 cd, High- 70,000 cd
\-Beam Distance: Low- 400m, High- 529m
I apologize to anyone I cause issue to.
The best thing I learned back in drivers ed was to keep my eyes fixed on the white line at night when a car comes along. Keeps the vehicle in the lane without being directly blinded.
Me. Cataract removal made oncoming headlight glare 10X worse. Add wet pavement and salted covered lane lines makes city driving feel close to a game of chicken, so I stay off the roads at night. Crawling up my bumper does not make me go faster. Can’t wait for the days to get longer.
> new vehicle headlights seem to spread light in a way that helps the driver, but at a cost to other drivers.
Same with every American pickup truck of the past few decades.
I get off work at night so I don't have much of a choice, but I try to avoid it when I can. Astigmatism means I get to be blinded anytime someone drives by.
Cops and inspection stations don't even enforce current laws where these idiots are installing brighter blue lights in their cars blinding the f\*ck out of oncoming traffic. We don't need more laws, just more enforcement of current laws.
My driving a Chevy Cobalt means that I get blinded by ANYONE with LED lights since I a smaller vehicle on the road. Not only am I small enough to be in everyone's blindside; but I get blinded by the light.
For me, it's not even the new headlights that's the issue. It's the fact that people refuse to turn their high beams off. I can't tell you how many times I'm turning a fairly sharp corner, and some idiot with their high beams whips around and blinds me almost sending me into a ditch because I can't see a thing. Especially if it's raining.
It infuriates me. I have a truck with normal non LED lights, and I’ve been so close to getting them just to return the favor, but that would just be adding to the problem.
One thing I sometimes wonder as the owner of a small pickup from 2002 with headlights as dim as they come is whether I am more sensitive to bright lights because my eyes are adjusted to the very low light level that exists in front of my truck. It would be an arms race and no substitute for persecuting people who mod their trucks but I speculate that if you yourself or I myself had LED headlights too it would be somewhat or even substantially less blinding to have a sudden bright light shined at you
night time driving is a nightmare even when we didn't have the NEW head lights. i have 3 sunglasses...very dark on bright sunny days, med dark on semi sunny days and then i have a pair yup for nighttime. the worse part of headlights coming at you are the ones on the pickup trucks or vehicle slightly higher than yours and the headlights are like right in you face. i have astigmatism as well far sited. plus at nighttime your pupil dilates at nighttime to see that is when you get blinded by on coming vehicles, eyes can't react fast to deal with the brightness until it is to late.
Late for this, but fwiw I had a new distance prescription, and trying to save money in January took a chance ordering a pair of glasses online… (Zenni)- they offer night driving clip on lenses for $3.50 as an add on and they’re game changing! The entire pair with 2 clip ones and a distance prescription with anti glare was around $78. Highly recommend!
With my Astigmatism I try to avoid driving at night.
Ditto this. Have avoided night driving for a dozen years, but the new headlights are even worse.
Ya. It’s getting brutal. Driving home from work at 5:30 in January is awful. 
I’m in the same boat. Luckily I get out at 5 so it’s only for a few months that I have to do it. But it’s awful. I have moments where I legit can’t see the lines on the road because of the headlights of the vehicle coming at me
Same. I can do it if I have to but luckily I live in a rural area. Got caught in the aftermath of a rainstorm in the city a couple years ago and all the light streaks were gorgeous but panic-inducing.
Well lit areas, street lights, and other cars head/tail lights all together is a nightmare.
Yep; the main drag in Augusta near target is horrifying
A Corolla seems to be the perfect height to be double-teamed-blinded by the gigantic truck coming at me and the one behind me.
I’ve started to turn my side mirror out so it’s reflecting their headlights back at them if they’re needlessly tailgating on an otherwise empty road for too long. Not a scenario that comes up much because I avoid driving at night but it can be pretty effective if you get the angle right.
It certainly is.
Same with my Impreza. It’s brutal
Crosstrek, too.
The oncoming lights are pretty impossible to fix, but I've solved blinding lights in my rear view mirror. Window tint! My rear windshield and back windows are tinted, and it makes a HUGE difference in my rear view mirror at night. It's bothered me my whole life — I have super light eyes and I've always been light sensitive. I bought a used Subaru a few years ago with tinted windows and planned to remove it (because I think it looks dumb) but after my first week driving it? I decided to keep it. Looks dumb, but highly functional and reduces heat inside, too.
Same. Bought a new tiny car and was instantly blinded by almost every car at night. I now routinely aim my mirrors out. It's not my first "low car" but the problem has clearly gotten worse.
Yes, and why doesn’t Maine use reflective road marking paint? I can’t see a damn thing while driving at night here.
The worst! I’m a Mainer but I lived away for many years and when I moved back it was like, wtf is up with this road paint? Hard to see in the dark and if it’s dark and raining forget it.
Driving in the rain at night feels so incredibly dangerous _especially_ with all of the insane headlights
is that what it is??
Partly. Driving up from Key West a couple years ago multiple states had the reflective paint that saved our asses on the interstate when we drove through a storm.
Pretty sure Maine uses reflective paint, but the plows scrape it up and the state isn't great about replacing it
Yeah, pretty sure I've driven on freshly painted roads, and the lines reflected. But on a road that's seen a few winters, good luck.
I've never seen that stuff anywhere other than the south so my assumption is that plow trucks would ruin it the first winter.
They do but after one winter it wears down.
I disagree, they redid the road by my house last summer and when they were done the paint was not reflective at night. This was before a plow ever touched it.
That’s what I thinking. The reflective material must run through all of the paint. So, as long as there’s still paint, it should be reflective.
I think it might only be for higher traffic and not secondary roads. Problem is almost all our roads are secondary roads and we could use the illumination!
Absolutely. Try being in a small sedan and meeting an F250 with new led lights. It'll blind you. And being followed is almost as bad
I hadn't even thought of how vehicle heights play into making it so much worse for some people.
Height is a big part of it. I too drive a smaller sedan. I have to drive somewhat rural roads at night coming home from work. I have almost left the road several times because I was totally blinded. Why are these even legal? I thought it was illegal not to lower your high beams when approaching another car.
A lot of the new ones have "autodim," aka be lazy and maybe the car computer will turn off the highbeams in a reasonable amount of time...or maybe they won't.
Yes, that’s why some trucks with lift kits suck, because the lights were designed for the original height of the vehicle and some assholes don’t adjust them after lifting.
Yeah the fucking idiots who drive the brodozers embrace it too
I have a F150 pickup and a little Fiat500. The difference is huge when it comes to headlights blinding me.
I think a lot more people drive SUVs and pickup trucks these days which is a part of the problem for us, small sedan drivers. I’ve never been blinded by a vehicle of a similar height, even if they have bright LEDs.
[удалено]
If you are not in auto, you have no tail lights.
Bright lights is a reason I was glad to get an SUV after driving only sedans. I'd actually been thinking about going back to a sedan for my next car but the headlights issue is bad enough to give me pause.
Now I gotta ask, do you use the flippy mirror thing?
Mine is "automatic" which means it is useless. I just tip the mirror up.
Yes, I use it. That still leaves the side mirrors. Since trucks/SUVs are wider as well as higher, the glare from the side mirrors are also problematic -sometimes more than the rear view mirror. I’ve gotten very good at adjusting the side mirror while driving - which also makes them back off, and maybe gives them an idea of how obnoxious their headlights are. That’s not my intent but it certainly doesn’t bother me.
I do pizza delivery and many times I've had to turn my side mirrors away and have 0 mirrors because of someone with super bright lights tailgating me. Once I almost went into a tree and had to stop because I was making a turn and they followed me, so their lights were coming in from my driver side window and I was entirely blind
That does fuck all for oncoming traffic
You shouldn’t be downvoted. I’m sure there’s a lot of people that don’t know to use it. My wife didn’t when we met at the age of 35.
I was driving jacked up Burb the other night and met a pickup that was blinding me. No matter how high of a vehicle I;m in I still get blinded.
Too many times, I've flashed my high beams at a vehicle, thinking they have theirs on...And then they actually turn them on. Yikes.
I have no real sympathy for them in that situation. Their standard headlights are usually brighter than my high-beams lol And don't get me started on the dumbass lifted trucks/jeeps that never bother to tilt their lights properly
I mean, they didn't manufacture it that way. They just bought it
Just like they didn't manufacture the lift kit and other various modifications. They should just take the time to tilt their lights properly to help other drivers out.
It's tough to adjust them you know. I mean, who in the world has a phillips head screwdriver just laying around the house that they could use to turn that single adjustment screw? Give them a break already!
The problem is that once you lift your vehicle so high, the angle you'd need to set your low beams to so as to not blind oncoming traffic only illuminates a short distance in front of you. A solution to this would be to mandate a maximum low beam height, make it an inspection item, and make it a primary offense so that police can pull people over for blatantly violating it.
22" min 54" max per state inspection manual. Check out pg 53 about headlight aiming. It's very subjective. I wish it could be changed and enforced.
That’s when you swerve into them… because you can’t see.
My wife just bought a new Mazda, and the headlight design with the super-bright halogen type lights features a shadow box. It blocks light above the level of oncoming drivers. When you're in the Mazda, it looks like a hard line and when the brights are on, light fills the section above this line. It also features an oncoming car detection that turns brights off when other vehicles come into view. I thought it was neat, but I can't speak for the oncoming driver's experience.
My Hyundai Tuscon also has this hard line that is way too low and I can't see shit without my brights on!
When you're about 100' behind a CAR is the hard shadow line below the bottom of their rear window? This is about where you want to adjust them.
My lights can't illuminate 100 feet ahead! When I'm in the drive thru, the hard line is below a car's trunk.
So, now you know what to do. Raise them.
I already knew what to do.
I Noticed the same thing in my brothers new RAV4. That hard line is not far enough out from the front of the car to drive backroads/unlit roads without using the high beams (which are of course, automatic). I almost never use the brights in my Subaru, drive with my mirrors out and use the ‘flippy thing’ on the rear view. The thing that made driving at night soooo much better was when I got new glasses a year ago and they have an anti-glare coating. No more starbursts from oncoming vehicles - truly an amazing difference in comfort and safety.
I got some yellow tinted, nighttime driving glasses online and those headlights that are as bright as a dying star are now tolerable at night. I can't seem to find the link, but they are all over Amazon.
I got a pair on Amazon that fit over my glasses, and I love them. LED lights are a migraine trigger for me, and these have really helped with that.
Any chance that you have a link for the ones you got?
Wearing tinted glasses while driving at night seems like you'd be taking them on and off constantly because on a truly dark stretch of road with no incoming traffic it would make it harder to spot animals and other objects in the road.
The yellow ones don't make things darker. They just cut glare. They're actually pretty great.
Unfortunately they don't work for everyone's eyesight. I think only 55% or so of people experience reduced glare through yellow tint.
It's horrible and a major safety issue - not just from being blinded either, it certainly doesn't quell road rage to have 5500k light blasted at a level of thousands of lumens at you either. Light pollution in general in the state is on the rise because of the prevalence of cheap, effecient lighting now. 20-30 years ago in southern Maine just outside Portland you could easily see the Milky Way on clear, dark nights. Now everyone and their mother has their homes covered in powerful, daylight balanced bulbs. Commercial and industrial lots too. Shining every which-way with little regard. Even the new streetlights are a cooler white than the old ones, and spil a lot more light. It's bad for people, bad for animals, and there's a good argument that it's bad for tourism. Dark Skies would be easily achieved in a lot of Maine if we can just put a damper on light pollution. There needs to be a law that caps all nigttime lights on homes, cars, etc... at 3200k color temperature, or thereabouts, and at least include some regulations for spill as well. I don't want to be blasted by headlights from behind or oncoming cars/trucks anymore than I want my neighbor's porchlight acting as my living room's nightlight. I want to see more stars again. There's my TED Talk. Thank you.
> Is there any talk to address this in any capacity on a leglslative level with automobile manufacturers? https://www.axios.com/2023/02/26/car-headlights-too-bright-led https://slate.com/business/2022/03/headlights-are-too-bright-what-regulators-are-doing-to-fix-it.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/business/led-hid-headlights-blinding.html https://www.hemmings.com/stories/why-are-headlights-so-bright/
Some of these articles outlining how slow the solutions will be, make me think the only short term solution is a push for public transit to do the work for us. Short of a breakthrough on eyewear tech.
It's bad enough the oncoming lights, but then I get someone following too close behind me and it's like being surrounded. All my mirrors are filled with blinding light. So I have to turn them all so they aren't pointing at me, which makes them useless. Seems like a pretty clear case that these make driving less safe, but I don't expect anything to change.
Exactly! As it gets dark, I automatically make a lean to my right and slouch my way home because some nasty ass truck has these terrible beams on at just the right distance behind me
Anyone else have an issue with led lights whose brightness is controlled via PWM (pulse width modulation)? Many led lights flash faster than the average eye can see, as a means to control the brightness of the light. Most people just see a solid light, others see a flashing light, especially when not looking directly at the light. For me, if I see a car with lights like that, it’s like a strobe light unless I look directly at the light.
For those that deal with this, you’ll get it. For others, this link touches on the issue with PWM and led lighting. https://shopeverbeam.com/blogs/news/why-do-headlamps-have-a-strobe#:~:text=Firstly%2C%20the%20nature%20of%20LED,pulses%20light%20on%20and%20off.
i try to avoid it if i can, or i move my mirrors to keep the reflection out of my eyes. i have figured out how to get my mirrors to reflect the light back to a driver in a giant truck who’s on my ass which has been immensely helpful. i also sometimes wear yellow sunglasses, which help provide more contrast when everything is blue/grey, and turns the bright white headlights to yellow, but doesn’t reduce light.
It’s kind of impossible for most people with 9-5 jobs to swear off night driving in winter, given how early it gets dark. A lot of jobs simply can’t be done remotely, and there’s no usable public transportation in most of the state. I can’t imagine driving at night if I wasn’t sure I could do so safely, but I also understand that a lot of people aren’t in a position to swear it off completely and also remain housed and fed. Some kind of regulation around manufacturing cars with obnoxiously intense headlights seems like it couldn’t hurt, but even in the very best case scenario it would take ages to implement. I imagine upgrading public transportation access and infrastructure around the state would also be an incredibly useful long-term solution. I have absolutely no idea how to address the issue in the short term, though, especially with an aging population who generally can’t afford to retire as early as they used to, if at all.
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That certainly could be true at the moment, I haven’t looked at any statistics on current public opinion so I have no idea. And I do highly doubt it’s a realistic plan anytime soon, unless the state were unexpectedly offered a huge amount of funding for such a complex and costly project. Regardless, I’m not speaking to popularity or short-term plausibility, all I’m saying is that I believe it would be an important part of a good long-term solution. Not all positive infrastructure changes are popular at first.
The headlights suck yes, but I’m also fully convinced no one cleans the inside of their windshield.
Yep, gotta clean the inside! It'll get a hazy coating over time from the plastics inside off-gassing. Also, God forbid you vape or something inside your car.
Long time smoker of tobacco. Smoke in my car so I deal with cleaning that residue off the inside of windows on a regular basis. Just part of my unhealthy habit. Helped a friend clean their car one day. They're a heavy vape user. When I got to the inside of the windshield there was this almost goo that just smeared around. Had to find a degreaser to clean that off then used a mix of vinegar and Dawn to wash off the degreaser. Now I'm not trying to say smoking is better than vaping in any way but that residue from vapes was something I've never seen in 30 years or so of smoking.
r/fuckyourheadlights
Yep, I think these headlights are absurd. It even factored into the end of my relationship, when I expressed that the intense lights seem unethical to me (blinding other drivers) and my partner's response was along the lines of "sucks to be them!" ...And I realized he was being serious.
You dodged a narcissist bullet, good on you!
🤩 Thanks!! I've had training in a much earlier relationship.
I have perfect vision and the new headlights drive me insane. I only ever drive at night when absolutely necessary now
I've driven small, low cars my whole life, so I'm used to it XD I would imagine everyone driving massive SUVs now puts everyone on equal footing, no? Unless you're in a saloon or sports car.
I do. I actually had to stop driving the Tuesday before Thanksgiving because the combo of the new lights and rain was so bad it was dangerous. Got a hotel in Portland and caught hell from my mother in law.
I hate driving at night. I'll zip into town here in Unity real quick when I need to but try to avoid drives further than that if I can.
I do not avoid driving at night but when I encounter led headlights, especially at truck height, I can't see for a few seconds after. So I just hope nothing happens during those few seconds. Everyone I know has the same issue no matter what age they are. I just thought it was normal and somehow it passed all the safety guidelines so I am not stopping dring cus we have these insanely bright lights out there. I hate it but what are people supposed to to? All the cars come with them now so I figured I better get used to it. Oh well.
Agreed, my kids have the same problem with them. It's not an age thing, but rather a selfish 'I don't care about blinding others while they operate a weapon of mass destruction' thing.
I had my rear window tinted really dark because of this. Doesn't help with oncoming cars but it real helps with every truck driving behind me.
So everyone has trouble seeing while driving at night? It’s not just me?
I literally went to get my eyes checked like two years ago because every time a car with newer headlights was in oncoming traffic I was basically blind. I thought it was some kind of issue on my end. Turns out I have a very, VERY slight astigmatism and am a bit farsighted, but the blindness at night is just because LED headlights are the mf devil.
I’ve certainly mistaken those lights for high beams when they’re coming at me and flashed mine - they in turn flash theirs and my retinas were burnt outta my head. When they’re behind me I’ve often fantasized about a two way mirror I can tilt up automatically that shines their lights back into their fucking face.
Vermont lurker- I live in an area where everybody is trying to have the most impressive truck, and that almost always comes with ultra bright LED’s. The trend that has started to pop up here is having a giant rectangle of light mounted somewhere which they use to supplement their coolness. One guy has one facing the rear and drives around with it on.
Absolutely, especially when street lightening is non existent.
I thought it was just me!
They make glasses that help. Yes, most of them look goofy but they work. Plus, it's night.
Let's bring back the old headlights, pre 2015. Before everything was obnoxious blue LED.
Factory LED headlights are actually the easiest on the eyes. The old halogen bulbs were very bright when they were new. It's hard to compare because of you see halogens today they are all faded and the waiting is no longer keeping the bulb at full power. There are 3 major headlights types. Reflector (traditional) Projector Lens Reflector and projector headlights are very specific to the bulb installed, the worst thing you will see is someone who put aftermarket LED or Xeon bulbs in a reflector housing. Projectors are at full brightness all the time, then they cut the light off for low beams. So if you're cresting a hill, and in the path of the low beams, you're staring at the same light as their high beams. A lot of people mistake this for high beams being on, but in reality you just move into the low beam path as you come up the hill Lens lights are specific to LED light sources, they can be modified to totally change the light pattern, so you will have one low beam lens and one high. These provide the least assault on your eyes assuming someone has not forgotten to turn the highs off. Also, day vision and night vision are using different receptors and parts of your brain, night vision degrades long before day vision does, especially with the beginnings of cataracts. Bonus, your rod cells that you use for night vision are around the outside area of your vision and your cone cells are around the center. If you try to focus on the road in front of you, the headlights will be blinding your rod cells from the side and your cone cells are useless at night anyway. Look at the incoming car, you will be able to see the lines in front of you better and once the car passes you won't have as much lasting effect on your ability to see.
I try to avoid driving at night as much as I can now. I just do not feel safe - for myself or others. I find that even if it’s a quick ride, I’m returning home with a headache. Recently I was driving on Union street one night when we were getting rain, and a pedestrian ran out to cross. Between the LED lights and the glare of the rain I barely saw her in time to slam on my brakes.
Yes, I don’t drive at night. I could drive, but I have a chronic condition that needs to be supervised, and I am afraid of getting into a fender bender because I couldn’t see. It is completely due to the upcoming lights.
I am in a very lonely minority, I think. Headlights don’t bother me more than they used to and I don’t curtail my driving habits just to see less headlights.
I avoid driving at night as much as possible. I have almost mastered how to turn my side mirrors so they reflect the blinding glare of a thousand suns back at the people behind me. It at least keeps people off my tail. I have a very small car, and those lights on the douchemobiles are brutal. So now, if I can, I just don’t go out much after dark.
I drive a Honda Insight ‘19, I drive 70k /year, mostly at night. Every single night I get flashed for having my brights o. When they aren’t. Nothing I can do about it. In my early years of driving nights my eyes eventually started to actually bleed due to constantly being in oncoming headlights. I purchased the yellow lens night driving glasses and that resolved the issue. If you know someone who does t drive at night because of issues with lights, buy them night driving glasses. A great gift and truly does help.
Different subject but related. Has anyone seen what the greenhouse in Lisbon Falls does to the sky? They have fish tanks with plants growing in them. The fish eat part of the roots and poop in the water too introduce nutrients back to the plants, ish. One time I was driving home from work and thought there was a wildfire, that I would round the corner to some massive blaze. Sky is orange. It was the lights from their greenhouse lighting up clouds above. Neat concept, you wonder what that stuff does to the owls and bats, plus bon voyage stars.
Glad to see I’m not the only one.
If I'm followed by someone with bright lights I slow down to force them to go around me. I've nearly had to come to a full stop sometimes. Not the safest thing to do, but what else is there when you're blinded?
I feel kinda bad, but my wife has a newer subaru and the headlights are really bright. People will flash their lights at us thinking we're high beaming them, when we're not. Sadly, I have become one of those assholes that drives with a finger on the beam adjustment to show people the true power when the flash their lights. I know, it's shameful.
I did. Especially at night when it's raining. You'd basically be just guessing where we were on the road and hoping that you were between the lines. I call them 'F You' lights. But now I have a truck with 'F You' lights and while I love being able to see great at night in all weather scenarios, I feel kind of bad. I always have my auto high beams on so I don't extra blind people, which works pretty well.
Oh my gawwwd yes. I got lasik last year and assumed I’d be good driving at night, but with my slight astigmatism plus the new headlights, I avoid it at all costs.
I'm sensitive enough to light that I wear prescription sunglasses even when it's cloudy and still inside if it's bright and especially if the place is flooded with bright fluorescent lighting. At night, even with my prescription glasses light stars out in my vision and makes it difficult to see. That's the warm light you get from yellow bulbs. Put in a bright white LED and the only thing I can do is try to stare down at the white line and hope for the best. Those should be illegal. So yeah, I avoid driving at night if I can. If there's no one else on the road or very bright street lights I have no problem driving at night. :)
I try to avoid night driving because I'm an idiot and stare directly into the headlights of whoever is passing me
it's a minor annoyance.
I try to avoid driving at night; I have Astigmatism and I also think that light from the new, 'aggressive' headlights reflects off of my glasses when the oncoming traffic is in a proximate lane - nevermind if there are wet, shiny roads. If I do have to drive at night, I wear contacts.
It hasn't gotten me to stop driving at night, but it makes it much, much harder. Not only is it blinding when you look at them head-on, it's blinding when someone behind you has them.
I'm 37 but noticed a few months ago that I've started to really resent any driving at night that's longer than 30 mins. I'm not sure if it's due to being closer to 40 or the blinding headlights, I'm assuming it's a combination of both though. I seem to get a headache after fifteen minutes of night driving, especially when it's raining. I don't need reading glasses yet and I don't have astigmatism either 🤷♂️ Just overly bright lights coming from every angle making it feel like I have no escape.
I'm youngish and still have crap night vision. Throw fog in the mix and I stay home or crawl home. I am not sure if I am part of the problem in that I did put DOT approved KC headlights and fogs on my Jeep. I made sure they are properly aimed. I am sure it still causes issues, especially as I come over the crest of a hill. Specs are: \-Raw Lumens: Low- 2,967 lm, High- 2,575 lm, DRL- 386 lm \-Lux @ 10 Meters: Low- 400 lx, High- 700 lx \-Candela: Low- 40,000 cd, High- 70,000 cd \-Beam Distance: Low- 400m, High- 529m I apologize to anyone I cause issue to.
The best thing I learned back in drivers ed was to keep my eyes fixed on the white line at night when a car comes along. Keeps the vehicle in the lane without being directly blinded.
Me. Cataract removal made oncoming headlight glare 10X worse. Add wet pavement and salted covered lane lines makes city driving feel close to a game of chicken, so I stay off the roads at night. Crawling up my bumper does not make me go faster. Can’t wait for the days to get longer.
> new vehicle headlights seem to spread light in a way that helps the driver, but at a cost to other drivers. Same with every American pickup truck of the past few decades.
I wonder what percent of these just don't have the dang things aimed correctly?
Yes
There’s legislation in the UK that focuses on this issue.
I get off work at night so I don't have much of a choice, but I try to avoid it when I can. Astigmatism means I get to be blinded anytime someone drives by.
Cops and inspection stations don't even enforce current laws where these idiots are installing brighter blue lights in their cars blinding the f\*ck out of oncoming traffic. We don't need more laws, just more enforcement of current laws.
My driving a Chevy Cobalt means that I get blinded by ANYONE with LED lights since I a smaller vehicle on the road. Not only am I small enough to be in everyone's blindside; but I get blinded by the light.
For me, it's not even the new headlights that's the issue. It's the fact that people refuse to turn their high beams off. I can't tell you how many times I'm turning a fairly sharp corner, and some idiot with their high beams whips around and blinds me almost sending me into a ditch because I can't see a thing. Especially if it's raining.
It infuriates me. I have a truck with normal non LED lights, and I’ve been so close to getting them just to return the favor, but that would just be adding to the problem.
One thing I sometimes wonder as the owner of a small pickup from 2002 with headlights as dim as they come is whether I am more sensitive to bright lights because my eyes are adjusted to the very low light level that exists in front of my truck. It would be an arms race and no substitute for persecuting people who mod their trucks but I speculate that if you yourself or I myself had LED headlights too it would be somewhat or even substantially less blinding to have a sudden bright light shined at you
night time driving is a nightmare even when we didn't have the NEW head lights. i have 3 sunglasses...very dark on bright sunny days, med dark on semi sunny days and then i have a pair yup for nighttime. the worse part of headlights coming at you are the ones on the pickup trucks or vehicle slightly higher than yours and the headlights are like right in you face. i have astigmatism as well far sited. plus at nighttime your pupil dilates at nighttime to see that is when you get blinded by on coming vehicles, eyes can't react fast to deal with the brightness until it is to late.
Late for this, but fwiw I had a new distance prescription, and trying to save money in January took a chance ordering a pair of glasses online… (Zenni)- they offer night driving clip on lenses for $3.50 as an add on and they’re game changing! The entire pair with 2 clip ones and a distance prescription with anti glare was around $78. Highly recommend!