Car lights have become far too bright and are damn dangerous.

boxosox

HillStreetBlues said:

To be it seems worst, also seems to be more of a delay in dipping the beam,
I expect it's down to the automation of some cars, the driver is now oblivious  to the delay as it doesn't affect them.

My car has auto dipping and it's really slow. 

I've noticed a new trend - people frantically flashing their headlights (as if to say "dip your lights") before they've even appeared from around a corner.  Seen this several times over the last few months.

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peter021072 said:

It's unlikely to be an eyesight issue if even more young than older people are dazzled. However, I'm surprised to see the lack of data on how headlight brightness's have changed over time.

Interestingly ITN have just broadcast a report on this. They report 280 headlight glare collisions per year and 6 deaths. Also 1.6 million vehicle fail their MOT due to wrongly aligned headlights.  However, I can't recall being dazzled by any of the old style lights, which I would expect to be more likely to be maladjusted.

Rod Dennis from the RAC explains it here

“Modern LED headlight technology may also have a part to play as the human eye reacts to the so-called ‘blue light’ from LEDs differently to the ‘yellow light’ of conventional halogen headlights. This presents a real irony: the brighter and better your vehicle’s headlights are, the clearer your night-time view of the road ahead is, often it seems at the expense of anyone coming towards you.”

I think the problem is down to having too much focus on what the individual thinks they need, and not enough thought on what is best for society as a whole. I can't see the point of having bright lights at all on roads which are well illuminated, only for the less well lit country roads. I'm sure manufacturers could deliver something which adjusts the headlight brightness depending on the illumination, but they need to be guided by legislation. 

In The Olden Days, dazzle was recognised and measures put in place to reduce it.

The French had those less glary yellow headlights (see selective yellow e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow)

We had the "dim-dip" headlights for use with streetlights when you don't need 1200 lumens of light (or 3000 off an LED headlight) to be seen.

Triumph used to fit a night dimming relay to their cars so that when the sidelights were on, the rear indicators and brake lights dimmed to avoid dazzling the driver behind.

Basically, all these measures favoured the oncoming driver over the vehicle operator i.e. You! You! You!, rather than today's Me! Me! Me! (F- You! in other words)

All that went, and now we have the most intense highest output lights possible, capable of turning a dark country lane into a day scene, and people use them on dark drizzly nights when there are streetlights with pedestrians& cyclists clad in black hoodies everywhere but all you can see is a blinding glare from oncoming cars.

It is also still against the Law to be stationary (not in traffic) with your headlights on, but modern cars have this "guide me home" light feature that puts the headlights on for 30 seconds when they are locked, which is extremely unpleasant when you are walking towards one of them that has inconsiderately (and illegally again if it isn't a one way street or a marked bay only on that side) parked mostly on the pavement facing you. I guess this particular regulation has the same status as the one about it being an offence to have missmatched wheels on an axle which actually precludes the use of space savers.

And anyone who dares question the arms race of brighter! more intense! is dismissed as being "too old- your eyes are defective, probably starting to get cataracts- why don't you stop driving?"

Which is fine except the population is ageing, and Our Masters expect us to toil away for even more years before they will allow us to take the pension we have funded, I'm sure a lot of us who find these lights a problem would like nothing better than to be able to retire and stop driving in the dark!

Barkin

boxosox said:

HillStreetBlues said:

To be it seems worst, also seems to be more of a delay in dipping the beam,
I expect it's down to the automation of some cars, the driver is now oblivious  to the delay as it doesn't affect them.

My car has auto dipping and it's really slow. 

I think this is at least part of the problem. 

My bother's Volvo has some sort of "intelligent" headlight gubbins, and he's always getting flashed by oncoming traffic. There's nothing actually wrong with the beam alignment, but it just seems to get confused and doesn't dip/adjust them as I would if I were doing it manually. 

unforeseen

It is also still against the Law to be stationary (not in traffic) with your headlights on

What law would that be? 

MattMattMattUK

I have noticed a few models of car that this seems to be an issue with, all SUVs where the lights are much higher up and they seem to project forward in a very flat angle, so they are at eye height for anyone in a normal car and shine straight at one's eyes. The bigger issue seems to be people who run with their fog lights and/or high beams on at all times because they are too thick to turn them off, the same as those who are lack the mental capacity to use indicators. 

molerat

boxosox said:

HillStreetBlues said:

To be it seems worst, also seems to be more of a delay in dipping the beam,
I expect it's down to the automation of some cars, the driver is now oblivious  to the delay as it doesn't affect them.

My car has auto dipping and it's really slow. 

I've noticed a new trend - people frantically flashing their headlights (as if to say "dip your lights") before they've even appeared from around a corner.  Seen this several times over the last few months.

My auto main beam seems pretty quick and dips before the oncoming car even comes round the corner, likely sooner than I would have dipped.

sevenhills

unforeseen said:

It is also still against the Law to be stationary (not in traffic) with your headlights on

What law would that be? 

The Highway Code, Parking rule 239

you MUST switch off the engine, headlights and fog lights

Perhaps not the law, but our courts do take the Highway Code into account when making judgments.

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unforeseen said:

It is also still against the Law to be stationary (not in traffic) with your headlights on

What law would that be? 

I knew someone would call me out!

It took me absolutely ages to find last time, but I did it much quicker today.

The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 Section 27  https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/regulation/27

27.  No person shall use, or cause or permit to be used, on a road any vehicle on which any lamp, hazard warning signal device or warning beacon of a type specified in an item in column 2 of the Table below is used in a manner specified in that item in column 3.


Item No.  Type of lamp    Manner of use prohibited

1       Headlamp    (a)Used so as to cause undue dazzle or discomfort to other persons using the road.

                         (b)Used so as to be lit when a vehicle is parked.

While I was there I found the one about sitting parked with the engine running, belching out stinky diesel fumes, which annoys me greatly as I have the misfortune to live close to a school, and SUVs sit for an hour each afternoon half on the pavement belching out fumes (I suspect they arrive early to avoid their offspring having to walk a few metres further and do their "working from home" in the car)

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986  Regulation 98 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/regulation/98/made

 98.—(1) Save as provided in paragraph (2), the driver of a vehicle shall, when the vehicle is stationary, stop the action of any machinery attached to or forming part of the vehicle so far as may be necessary for the prevention of noise.

(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply—

(a)when the vehicle is stationary owing to the necessities of traffic;

The spacesaver tyre thing was actually revised so that they are legal, provided that the vehicle is not being driven at speeds in excess of 50mph.  (The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 regulation 26)

 

(Arrrgggggjhhhhh! I give up trying to format included quotes.)