Are modern headlights too bright?

[otolith]

I don't think the absolute brightness is the problem, I think it's the variation in brightness between old and new technologies. If you have old, dim lights and an oncoming car has new, mega bright ones, your eyes will adjust to the brightness of the area lit by them and you won't be able to see the area behind them lit by your own. Think of standing in bright sunlight looking into a dimly lit room. Once it has passed, it takes time for your eyes to readjust - think of walking out of the sunlight into that dim room.

[MC Bodge]

LED lamp beams are very intense right up to the edge.

Anti-glare glasses make a big difference to eye fatigue on a long night drive.

[otolith]

grudas said:

too bright ? no.
being in a low sports car makes it worse, my s2000 is a pain! I drive with rear view mirror folded up at night because I can't see.

Combination of this and everything else having got taller over the last ten or twenty years.

[kambites]

Of course the lights we have on cars today were always intended to be illegal. The purpose of the wattage limit on headlight bulbs was to limit brightness in the days when there was only really one type of bulb and it was only about 10% efficient. ALL modern headlights, even relatively old-fashioned halogen ones, were intended to be illegal by the people who made the current rules.

They should really change the rules to limit by light output rather than input power, that way halogens could easily be made just as bright as LEDs (at far lower cost). That would allow older cars (maybe limit it to those with projector lights, I don't know how much difference that really makes) to be easily upgraded to match the brightness of modern headlights and hence end the new cars arms race.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 11th January 10:12

[kambites]

otolith said:

grudas said:

too bright ? no.
being in a low sports car makes it worse, my s2000 is a pain! I drive with rear view mirror folded up at night because I can't see.

Combination of this and everything else having got taller over the last ten or twenty years.

Yup, I think the most unpleasant thing is when you're in a low car and you have an SUV stopped behind you in traffic with its dipped beam lights shining straight onto all three of your mirrors. I have on (very rare) occasion been so unable to see in this situation that I've actually had to get out of the car and tell the drive behind me to pull around me because I simply can't see enough to pull away safely. There's one particular road turning into where I work where there's a cycle lane down the left of the road and I'm turning left across it, if there's a Range Rover behind me I basically can't turn left because I have no way to know whether there's a cyclist in the cycle lane.

[FiF]

Who else develops a mental list of which vehicles tend to be more of an issue than others in that they regularly register as a potential problem?

New Minis
New Discovery, including absolutely blinded by one sitting behind me in traffic.
Various Kia SUV, especially the Sportage, not clocked the new one yet the front lights of which which appears to be a copy of the Citroën design on C4 and the new C5X.
Just a selection so far.

[Ollerton57]

Baryonyx said:

80sboy said:

2. Maximises the use of full beams, ensuring that the road ahead is always well lit. A safety factor.

Again, I suspect this is just something that further appeals to the legions of brain-dead drivers on the roads today. Another function taken care of by the car, meaning these same feckless oafs have no discipline when using high beam.

I always switch over as soon as I'm past the driver of the oncoming car (provided the road behind them is clear). I sometimes look in my rear view mirror and watch them slowly realise I've passed and they can switch their high beam on again, several seconds later. These are the sorts who would probably love a car that took care of this aspect of driving which they clearly find so difficult.

In seriousness, it's not just a lazy way to operate full beams. The system automatically puts oncoming cars in a 'shadow box' so they aren't dazzled, but the lights continue to be on full beam across the side of the vehicle and the road. It is a good system on unlit highways as it allows you to see more of the verge.

[paralla]

I always specify auto dimming mirrors when ordering a new car, reading this thread makes me glad that I do.

[grumpyscot]

Worst I've seen are Streetdeck buses - our local outfit (Lothian Bus/ East Coast Buses) has single and double deckers. Compared with other buses, they positively bllnd you - and complaints to Lothian Bus are to no avail. Unfortunately, their buses are used on unlit rural routes, and are a positive danger due to their widespread and high levelled beam. Several times, I've actually had to stop, and resume driving after one has passed.

[DonkeyApple]

paralla said:

I always specify auto dimming mirrors when ordering a new car, reading this thread makes me glad that I do.

Yup. Driving around in a 1970s car one definitely notices the much higher frequency of punishing glare from a car behind. I keep meaning to put a bit of smoke film on my rear view mirror just to tame it a little.

Oncoming is manageable but when a modern car's lights are out of adjustment they really are blinding! At least the auto dip function now seems to work better on many cars as the number driving at you on main beam for some distance has dropped.

The real issue that I have though is the meteoric rise in the number of incoming drivers who flick back up to main beam before they've past you!! It used to be a very rare occasion and I put it down to someone being very elderly, drunk or scared but today it's almost habitual. I don't know if it's due to the rise in numbers of elderly drivers or if it's the auto function that slams their lights back to main beam as they pass the main cone of light from my car? But around here it seems to be as frequent as every third or fourth car whacking on main beam when still about 20 feet away.

[Johnnytheboy]

paralla said:

I always specify auto dimming mirrors when ordering a new car, reading this thread makes me glad that I do.

I've never found them particularly effective (sample size of two in fairness).

[wag2]

In town, pedestrians wearing dark clothes virtually disappear if there are bright headlights behind them.

[8IKERDAVE]

Bloody hate them, but I have them so I can't complain too much. I find them much worse on SUV's as they seem to just sit in my eyeline. Always fear a cyclist / walker with no lights on appearing from nowhere after I've been dazzled!

[ecs0set]

OldDuffer said:

Apologies. The poll indicates 66% at the mo'. That is a helluva' lot of road-users unable in some form or other, to drive as safely as the opposing 34% might 'see' this. Are they saying 66% of us have eye-sight problems?

Edited by OldDuffer on Tuesday 11th January 08:15

Depends, did you notice that the poll is from 2016 and you reactivated a 5 year old thread?

[Harris_I]

For some reason, I find Mercedes to be a particular problem marque with overly bright headlights.

I also find that the adaptive headlights on my BMW F31 are a problem for oncoming vehicles on right hand bends because they pivot in the direction of travel. Have occasionally had oncoming drivers flash me even though the beam is dipped. There seems to be no option to turn the pivot mechanism off.

[mcdjl]

Ollerton57 said:

In seriousness, it's not just a lazy way to operate full beams. The system should automatically puts oncoming cars in a 'shadow box' so they aren't dazzled, but the lights continue to be on full beam across the side of the vehicle and the road. It is a good system on unlit highways as it allows you to see more of the verge.

edited. The reality is that while a driver sees the on coming lights lighting up the verge/in the distance the clever lights wait until they've blinded the driver first.

[cedrichn]

OldDuffer said:

Johnnytheboy said:

Sorry you've missed the point too.

I agree with you that they are too bright. My mockery was aimed at the PH hivemind bots that pop up up and say "hand your licence in" on threads like this.

Apologies. The poll indicates 66% at the mo'. That is a helluva' lot of road-users unable in some form or other, to drive as safely as the opposing 34% might 'see' this. Are they saying 66% of us have eye-sight problems?

Edited by OldDuffer on Tuesday 11th January 08:15

34% driving SUV making 66% normal car's drivers blind. That reflects sales figures.

[rxe]

wag2 said:

In town, pedestrians wearing dark clothes virtually disappear if there are bright headlights behind them.

This is the real problem. Regardless of what you are driving, when faced with very bright oncoming lights, the area to the left of the oncoming car is a black hole. Might have a pedestrian or any other unlit obstacle in it.

[Earthdweller]

jamesbilluk said:

Mostly no, except the new MINI’s LED Headlights really do seem too bright.

The car I’ve recently purchased has some matrix leds (first time I’ve had these) very clever system, I do find the car is being flashed quite a bit though, even if the approaching car has been blanked off in the light beam.

We have a new Mini Countryman with inter galactic search lights for headlights .. in their relentless search for Klingon starship raiding parties they frequently upset mere humanoids approaching from distance

We have had them checked and aligned and they are absolutely spot on

But feck me are they bright

[Earthdweller]

rxe said:

wag2 said:

In town, pedestrians wearing dark clothes virtually disappear if there are bright headlights behind them.

This is the real problem. Regardless of what you are driving, when faced with very bright oncoming lights, the area to the left of the oncoming car is a black hole. Might have a pedestrian or any other unlit obstacle in it.

Where we are 99% of roads are unlit and have no footpaths they often have people walking on them and when a car with very bright lights is oncoming you can’t see the edges of the road it just blinds out everything and the “fading” of light disappears

You just can’t see pedestrians at all .. and a lot round here wear hi viz and carry lights add in rain and wet road surfaces and it’s deadly