Driving at night
Discussion
Agreed that poor car lighting, street lighting and poor weather makes a difference. I've found it really hard to drive in the dark since i was in my early 20's. Worn glasses since 40 with those antiglare things.
Rain makes night driving a lot worse. I drive a big car with good, factory fitted Leds but very hard especially unfamiliar roads.
The councils pocket the money but they and central gov would save loads of money if road marking were like newly painted makes a big, big difference and stops, reduces accidents and saves more in costs than it costs to keep the white lines up to speed.
The councils and central gov's are shortsighted inbreds and only interested in their jobs/pockets imo
They could easily put up housing rents but in fact road tax and vat on cars alone could pay 20 times all roads repairs and costs but drivers, legal drivers that pay their dues to suffer and I don't mean the inbreds that are not taxed/insured/etc.
Rain makes night driving a lot worse. I drive a big car with good, factory fitted Leds but very hard especially unfamiliar roads.
The councils pocket the money but they and central gov would save loads of money if road marking were like newly painted makes a big, big difference and stops, reduces accidents and saves more in costs than it costs to keep the white lines up to speed.
The councils and central gov's are shortsighted inbreds and only interested in their jobs/pockets imo
They could easily put up housing rents but in fact road tax and vat on cars alone could pay 20 times all roads repairs and costs but drivers, legal drivers that pay their dues to suffer and I don't mean the inbreds that are not taxed/insured/etc.
Some new car lights ard definitely very intense and can be blinding for a split second if caught out by them.
Recently, large SUV opposite side of small junction, traffic light controlled. It's very wet, he's facing uphill but the junction flattens out and is level on my side, so I'm effectively below his very bright, very white lights. Even my passenger thought he was on main beam but he wasn't.
Auto dipping headlights that are too slow to react, especially on undulating roads.
People who sit at traffic lights with foot on footbrake in cars with very bright high-mounted brake lights.
Cyclists with very bright pulsating lights aimed directly at drivers eyes.
Cyclists with the above lights on their helmets and who kere moving their head around, quite annoying.
All contribute to a very bright shaft of light often directed straight at the oncoming driver.
Still, better than those who drive around on DRLs or, even worse, no lights but with their instrument panel permanently illuminated; what sort of numpty drives along an unlit dual carriageway at night with no lights, simply following the car ahead, even in the outside lane. No amount of flashing of lights by other drivers had any effect. How can you not know that you don't have headlights on?
Other than that, all good
Recently, large SUV opposite side of small junction, traffic light controlled. It's very wet, he's facing uphill but the junction flattens out and is level on my side, so I'm effectively below his very bright, very white lights. Even my passenger thought he was on main beam but he wasn't.
Auto dipping headlights that are too slow to react, especially on undulating roads.
People who sit at traffic lights with foot on footbrake in cars with very bright high-mounted brake lights.
Cyclists with very bright pulsating lights aimed directly at drivers eyes.
Cyclists with the above lights on their helmets and who kere moving their head around, quite annoying.
All contribute to a very bright shaft of light often directed straight at the oncoming driver.
Still, better than those who drive around on DRLs or, even worse, no lights but with their instrument panel permanently illuminated; what sort of numpty drives along an unlit dual carriageway at night with no lights, simply following the car ahead, even in the outside lane. No amount of flashing of lights by other drivers had any effect. How can you not know that you don't have headlights on?
Other than that, all good
ruhall said:
large SUV
LED street lights aren't the problem, these are. As you jack cars up higher, you can't adjust the headlights to be lower and still be within safety guidelines (which exist for very good reasons). If they actually adjusted these headlights in order to not dazzle other drivers, they'd be unsafe to drive.
With modern headlights having a very high colour temperature (not simply brighter, but higher colour temps create a greater contrast with the darkness) it's very difficult to focus on anything but the headlights, especially when you're in a normal height saloon or sedan and some SUV comes along and shines the lights directly into your eyes.
LED street lights are pointing down, not into your eyes.
Read the first few posts about brighter headlights \ LED \ Laserbeam etc then realised that a lot of chat on car forums contain people complaining about the poor light from the almost 'candle like' headlights and asking for recommendations for brighter bulbs. Wonder how many of these folk upgrade then complain about others - or is the irony lost on them.
Wonder how many of the posters on this thread would be all to quick to complain if folks had dull, dim, headlights ? they probably would.
Wonder how many of the posters on this thread would be all to quick to complain if folks had dull, dim, headlights ? they probably would.
Edited by swagmeister on Wednesday 27th November 14:43
xjay1337 said:
I think it degrades over time.
Eat your carrots.
Keep your headlights and windscreen (inside and out) clean.
Look at the inside curb if you're being blinded by oncoming traffic.
People are still holding on to this myth?Eat your carrots.
Keep your headlights and windscreen (inside and out) clean.
Look at the inside curb if you're being blinded by oncoming traffic.
It stems from WW2. When explaining how RAF night fighter pilots were able to locate and target enemy aircraft in almost total darkness, RAF sources, to put the Nazis off the scent, claimed it was all down to those pilots being fed more carrots than was normal, and that it was definitely, absolutely, positively nothing whatever to do with the new RADAR sets that they'd installed in these night fighters...
yellowjack said:
xjay1337 said:
I think it degrades over time.
Eat your carrots.
Keep your headlights and windscreen (inside and out) clean.
Look at the inside curb if you're being blinded by oncoming traffic.
People are still holding on to this myth?Eat your carrots.
Keep your headlights and windscreen (inside and out) clean.
Look at the inside curb if you're being blinded by oncoming traffic.
It stems from WW2. When explaining how RAF night fighter pilots were able to locate and target enemy aircraft in almost total darkness, RAF sources, to put the Nazis off the scent, claimed it was all down to those pilots being fed more carrots than was normal, and that it was definitely, absolutely, positively nothing whatever to do with the new RADAR sets that they'd installed in these night fighters...
fromkentgent said:
Dr Interceptor said:
My yellow night time glasses just arrived... Looking forward to giving them a whirl
please let me know how you get on, tiaThese are the ones I have bought: https://amzn.to/2QVrzN2 £20 delivered next day on Prime.
Not the cheapest, but they have nice quality metal frames etc. Bought Dad a pair as well, as he's having the same issue albeit he's 30 years older than me, so I'll post feedback from both of us.
Neither of us wear glasses in normal activities.
CanAm said:
Back in the 1960s I read an article about a proposed major improvement to headlights. A polarising filter would be fitted to headlights and windscreens would also have polarised glass, but at a 90°angle to the lights. Drivers would see everything illuminated by the lights (because the reflected light is no longer polarised) but light coming directly from the headlights would be vastly reduced.
If you want to see how this works, hold another polarised lens in front of your glasses and rotate it; when it's at 90° it's virtually black.
I assume it was too expensive unfortunately.
If a car was driving along at night with no lights on, you'd probably moan at them, wouldn't you? So why would you want a car driving along with headlights that you can barely see?If you want to see how this works, hold another polarised lens in front of your glasses and rotate it; when it's at 90° it's virtually black.
I assume it was too expensive unfortunately.
Pica-Pica said:
Daston said:
Interesting topic. I have been driving since I was 18 in 2002 and never liked driving at night, I guess it is probably down to all my cars having crap headlights (either due to age or design). I don't tend to have the need to drive at night but found myself doing a 140 mile trip down the A303 in the early hours of the morning.
What struck me was how little of the road my low beams covered when I needed to dip my lights and how many cats eyes had been removed. I also got to thinking the use of high beams on dual carriage ways if both cars are in the left hand lanes. I have always dipped but noticed a lot of people just keep on high.
The dual carriageway, High-beam thing could be down to auto-dip lights. The central barrier is preventing one car from picking up the lights of the oncoming car, and so staying on main beam. Wait until you upset a truck driver high up in his cab; you will get a full squirt of the roof-mounted high-beams! That is one reason trucks have roof-mounted outline-marker lamps, then you can see there is a truck, despite its headlamps being hidden.What struck me was how little of the road my low beams covered when I needed to dip my lights and how many cats eyes had been removed. I also got to thinking the use of high beams on dual carriage ways if both cars are in the left hand lanes. I have always dipped but noticed a lot of people just keep on high.
yellowjack said:
xjay1337 said:
I think it degrades over time.
Eat your carrots.
Keep your headlights and windscreen (inside and out) clean.
Look at the inside curb if you're being blinded by oncoming traffic.
People are still holding on to this myth?Eat your carrots.
Keep your headlights and windscreen (inside and out) clean.
Look at the inside curb if you're being blinded by oncoming traffic.
It stems from WW2. When explaining how RAF night fighter pilots were able to locate and target enemy aircraft in almost total darkness, RAF sources, to put the Nazis off the scent, claimed it was all down to those pilots being fed more carrots than was normal, and that it was definitely, absolutely, positively nothing whatever to do with the new RADAR sets that they'd installed in these night fighters...
But if we are being serious, then yes carrots can help some with their nightvision.
FiF said:
May I ask these folks who are trying the night driving glasses regardless of whether they are normal frames , over frames or clip one please provide links to indicate which ones you are reporting results on.
Thanks.
These are the ones I bought:Thanks.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Night-Vision-Anti-Glare...
moorx said:
FiF said:
May I ask these folks who are trying the night driving glasses regardless of whether they are normal frames , over frames or clip one please provide links to indicate which ones you are reporting results on.
Thanks.
These are the ones I bought:Thanks.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Night-Vision-Anti-Glare...
I also bought a pair of the glasses for when I'm Wearing contacts.
Dr Interceptor said:
I will do... Actually looking forward to trying them at 5.30pm when I lock up at work...
These are the ones I have bought: https://amzn.to/2QVrzN2 £20 delivered next day on Prime.
Not the cheapest, but they have nice quality metal frames etc. Bought Dad a pair as well, as he's having the same issue albeit he's 30 years older than me, so I'll post feedback from both of us.
Neither of us wear glasses in normal activities.
cheers but i wear glasses. please let us know if you got home ok, lol. In all seriousness, I'd appreciate the feedback.These are the ones I have bought: https://amzn.to/2QVrzN2 £20 delivered next day on Prime.
Not the cheapest, but they have nice quality metal frames etc. Bought Dad a pair as well, as he's having the same issue albeit he's 30 years older than me, so I'll post feedback from both of us.
Neither of us wear glasses in normal activities.
RSTurboPaul said:
This is the exact reason why I advocate the use of sidelights rather than dipped beam in urban streetlit areas, as permitted within the highway code - although I appear to be a lone voice in this regard.
My understanding is that this used to be standard practice in London, if nowhere else, but now modern cars don't even seem to have a sidelights position on the dial.
Maybe, but as time passes that isn't going to be an option now new cars all seem to have DRLs - which may be why there isn't a sidelights position on the switch. My understanding is that this used to be standard practice in London, if nowhere else, but now modern cars don't even seem to have a sidelights position on the dial.
I just wish people in cars like that would turn the lights on so they have some lights on the back of the car!
Driving home tonight on the unlit parts of the A3 in the p*ssing rain, catching up with cars that had no rear lights showing was pretty scary once or twice.
Still I've got an eye-test booked for this afternoon - wonder if I can get night-vision specs?
fromkentgent said:
Dr Interceptor said:
I will do... Actually looking forward to trying them at 5.30pm when I lock up at work...
These are the ones I have bought: https://amzn.to/2QVrzN2 £20 delivered next day on Prime.
Not the cheapest, but they have nice quality metal frames etc. Bought Dad a pair as well, as he's having the same issue albeit he's 30 years older than me, so I'll post feedback from both of us.
Neither of us wear glasses in normal activities.
cheers but i wear glasses. please let us know if you got home ok, lol. In all seriousness, I'd appreciate the feedback.These are the ones I have bought: https://amzn.to/2QVrzN2 £20 delivered next day on Prime.
Not the cheapest, but they have nice quality metal frames etc. Bought Dad a pair as well, as he's having the same issue albeit he's 30 years older than me, so I'll post feedback from both of us.
Neither of us wear glasses in normal activities.
Well, they do work, much reduced glare from headlights, although the true acid test will be trying them in rain/drizzle as it was pretty dry last night. It feels a bit like driving in 1970s France, with lots of low output yellow headlights everywhere On the journey home only one vehicle caused me to 'wince' and that was a Transit, which was oncoming in my lane as was overtaking parked cars.
Will keep you all posted how I get on with them,
Dr Interceptor said:
It feels a bit like driving in 1970s France, with lots of low output yellow headlights everywhere
Indeed. So much so that, when I donned my lenses, I took up smoking Gitanes and raced across the city centre flat-out in a big Merc with a Ferrari engine note to meet a mysterious, willowy Mademoiselle. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff