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Dazzling LED car headlights
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sevenhills wrote: »In the 70/80s the UK Government brought in dim/dip headlight. It solved the problem of too bright headlights, now even sidelights are too bright.
It was the EU that killed of dim/dip, maybe Boris is the man to solve this issue.
This is current EU legislation:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A42014X0614%2802%296. ILLUMINATION
6.1. General provisions
6.1.1. Headlamps shall be so made that they give adequate illumination without dazzle when emitting the passing beam, and good illumination when emitting a driving beam.
Unless replacement legislation is at least as robust (and it seems unlikely they'll actually bother redrafting much of it) the situation probably won't change.
In fact, it's almost like the EU legislation that exists is perfectly adequate and would have allowed the UK to have enforced national changes could it have ever been bothered to. Which it couldn't. Exactly like when the government pretended that it couldn't curtail immigration, so Theresa May could blame the EU for her failure to curtail immigration.
Anyway, unless changing it now involves getting drunk with a pole dancer in a private flat on public expenses, I'm not holding my breath that "Boris" is going to do anything about it.0 -
It does my head in. I drive an 2012 Ford Fiesta and never have I been in a position where I wished my headlights were brighter. Yes, been on country roads where it's completely dark but I just put my beams on and turn them off when going round corners or if a car is coming. Yet, every advert for new cars is about how their lights are so much brighter.
I also have a problem with day time running lights being used at night. Noticed a lot of cars don't have the rear lights on at night. When I pass them, it looks like either just their fog lights are on or parts of their headlights. Either way, it's either low enough or dim enough that I legitimately may not notice it if I had to make a quick decision like switching lanes.
Similar to no button climate controls, there are just some advances in car technology that are completely unnecessary.0 -
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There are two issues, very bright blinding lights and a lot of SUVs with them. When driving low car they blind me from behind. In worst cases I change lane and let the car go. Best solution is having tinted rear windscreen and auto dimming mirrors.
Being blinded from the front is another matter. I'm pretty sure my LED matrix light are blinding other drivers, as I get flashed on motorway by lorries coming from other direction. Especially in Europe. Can't do anything about it. Lights were standard equipment on the car.0 -
sevenhills wrote: »In my last, Renault Megane, the sidelights were rather dim, so I put LED bulbs in. Uses less volts from your battery too, that saves fuel.They seemed perfectly ok, so LEDs can work. Which is why the Government brought in Dim/dip headlights.
They were a dim idea - when sidelights are on, put dip beam on at reduced brightness. Not only was the power saving negligible due to the fact that the reduced brightness was achieved by putting a big resistor in series with the lights, but running incandescent bulbs dim in that way reduces the light of the bulb filament massively.
The simple answer, of course, was encourage people to actually turn their headlights on. And, as time went by and memories of borderline dynamo charging systems faded, people started to just do that without encouragement.0 -
Am I the only driver who finds these lights completely discomforting? I no longer feel safe driving at night because so many of them are almost blinding, especially in wet weather when light is reflected on the wet surface of a road.
Is there anything one can do to mitigate their effects, apart from getting the government to ban them?
I know an increasing number of people who are now avoiding night driving because of their impact. Surely this is becoming a national road safety issue?
Debate please !
They cause me problems and it’s not just cars.There is a trend for motor bikes to have very bright lights. They have them on during the day and sometimes they are so bright I can’t even look straight ahead. And yes some LED car lights are too bright, and as said when the road is wet it’s a nightmare. I don’t understand how they can be legal. They are much worse on SUVs and trucks, presumably because they are higher up, which adds to the reasons to dislike SUVs.
And in case anyone wonders, year I had four eye exams including three by a consultant at a hospital, with full retinal checks, and I was told I had excellent eyesight. I do wear glasses with full coatings. They are Zeiss, but my no name brand spares are as good.0 -
It seems that many of these automotive changes are implemented for marketing purposes rather than practical advantages.
Take the fact that many modern cars are built wider than previously. Do they accommodate an additional person to justify this? No! Older cars accommodate the same number of people and yet these modern wider cars are causing parking difficulties ,scratches and scrapes in car parks all over the country because authorities are keeping the space widths for parking bays the same and not making the bays wider which would cause even fewer parking spaces than those currently needed.
Seems to me the automotive industry operates in its own bubble of marketing unreality rsther than living in the practical outside world which motorists have to inhabit!
But I m just a consumer who wants a practical safe car to get me from A to B rather than regarding it as an item of demonstrable wealth with all its gizmos. ! And "safe" includes having a car whose lighting doesn,t represent an ongoing dazzling risk to other road users,0 -
BananaRepublic wrote: »There is a trend for motor bikes to have very bright lights. They have them on during the day and sometimes they are so bright I can’t even look straight ahead.
They're wrong to do so, but I can understand their reasoning.And in case anyone wonders, year I had four eye exams including three by a consultant at a hospital, with full retinal checks...and I was told I had excellent eyesight.0 -
BananaRepublic wrote: »
And in case anyone wonders, year I had four eye exams including three by a consultant at a hospital, with full retinal checks, and I was told I had excellent eyesight. I do wear glasses with full coatings.
Your eyesight is so good you are seeing an eye specialist and wear glasses. That makes perfect sense...0 -
Whenever I've driven a hire car with LEDs I actually fine them pretty horrible to drive with anyway. The harsh white light is really tiring on the eyes and doesn't show as much detail as a normal halogen bulb.
I cycle at night a lot too and I get the same effect from the high powered cycle light I have (actually brighter than the average car headlight in its off-road mode).
The benefits for a bike like are obvious (you get little heat and high running life on a battery charge) but I see little advantage for a car.0
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