Are car headlights a problem for you?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
For a while, I could not drive after sunset, because I was blinded by oncoming car headlights. I had cataracts. Well, I had them out, and vision is 20/20. But sometimes I still get wiped out by car headlights, especially when I'm going down a hill, and they're coming up.
In Europe they have headlights which stop this, we, in the US, don't.

Blinded by Brighter Headlights? It’s Not Your Imagination. (Published 2021)
 

yep especially here where I live because the road from my house going North is a narrow 2 lane road ( B Road) which goes through the woods for 5 miles.. and there is no overhead lighting at all... so the oncoming traffic headlights which is literally just a foot or 2 at most away as they pass coming in the opposite direction is blinding.. and doubly worse if they've not dipped their headlights, and have them on full beam..

You may find it hard to believe but this is the road through the woods, and it's for 2 way traffic. It gets extremely busy most of the day,.. and as can be seen, there are no street lights..
Woods-road-4-HD.jpg
 
fuzzybuddy said:
For a while, I could not drive after sunset, because I was blinded by oncoming car headlights. I had cataracts. Well, I had them out, and vision is 20/20. But sometimes I still get wiped out by car headlights, especially when I'm going down a hill, and they're coming up.
In Europe they have headlights which stop this, we, in the US, don't.

Blinded by Brighter Headlights? It’s Not Your Imagination. (Published 2021)
Click to expand...
Newer model cars seem to have halogen lights, which really do a number on my eyes. Fortunately, I don't do the main driving, and wouldn't be driving alone at night.
 

5627546
I'm far more comfortable driving on the Motorway at night because each side has 5 lanes... so oncoming traffic in the opposite 4 lanes are much less of a problem.. and of course there's overhead lighting too..

This is the Motorway nearest where I live... about 30 minutes from here...
 
A US auto manufacturer tested under-lighting as an alternative to headlamps. I don't know why that didn't catch on.; it was a good idea.

The prototype vehicles had lights underneath, all around the chassis, I suppose, so you could clearly see these cars but without headlamps in your face. And the drivers of the prototypes got the same visual range at night that regular headlamps give. Or at least, that's what they claimed.

Maybe the lights got obliterated with dirt and road oils within a few miles or something. Probably.
 
In the 1940's and 50's the 6volt lights were dim and the traffic was light. In my part of the country, you could often drive for a half hour or more with your high beams because you just didn't meet many cars. Now cars have headlights that can light a stadium and you seldom need high beams yet the clowns insist on still brighter headlights.
 
A lot of the lighting is just plain dangerous, the original lights are bad but morons will also swap in even worse lighting. I don't understand why the insurance industry and other interested parties haven't banded together to demand action.

Those jacked up vehicles should be required to have their lighting low, at normal vehicle height, as well instead of directly shining into the cars ahead. They should also carry high liability for the accidents caused by their blocking of the view of other drivers.
 
I had cataracts removed about 7 years ago, but like many I know, who had that surgery years ago, we have hard time driving at night and we must wear sunglasses when the sun is out.

My neighbor had the surgery a few months ago and he said they can now prevent night glare via the surgery- I don't know how they would do that. I spent 175 bucks on anti glare clip ons ,years ago but the glare is still there. Snow makes it worse. But hthe halos I used to see before the surgery have gone away.
 
Yup, those led lights and some cars have 3 pairs of lights coming at you. The headlights, parking lights and those cars that add a pair of fog lights. Gee, most of the time I can look at a point to the right and one time I flicked my high-beams thinking they had theirs on and they weren't. Newspaper articles have mentioned this problem but nothing has happened so far. Good thing I don't go out at night much.
 
What's worse is driving at night in the dark through the woods which has no street lights.. and driving in thick fog. It happens a lot here because we're in the countryside.. so fog rises up from the fields and rivers next to my house.., and the road I posted above actually winds down into a deep bends and sharp corners every few hundred yards, .. so trying to see when it's dark and foggy , and keeping your eyes peeled for the next bend, with oncoming headlights 2 feet from you, is a nightmare..

...and especially in winter when it's dark at 3.30pm we have to be very careful not to meet things like this as we're driving in fog and pitch dark...

DSCF9784.jpg

DSCF9781.jpg
 
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Newer pickup trucks are the worst
And then the fanboys who trick out their "whip" and refuse to dim their lights

The worst part isn't the brightness, I can still maintain control and position
The worst part is I can't see very far ahead in my lane ...
What if a child is playing in the street or there is an obstacle or debris?
So I always slow down and pay particular attention when confronted with blinding a55holes
... I know, blinding a55holes sounds like a band name
 
fuzzybuddy said:
For a while, I could not drive after sunset, because I was blinded by oncoming car headlights. I had cataracts. Well, I had them out, and vision is 20/20. But sometimes I still get wiped out by car headlights, especially when I'm going down a hill, and they're coming up.
In Europe they have headlights which stop this, we, in the US, don't.

Blinded by Brighter Headlights? It’s Not Your Imagination. (Published 2021)
Click to expand...
Interesting....I have not yet driven at night since getting my cateracts out. My vision is 20/25 now. Will have to keep this in mind, as I have had issues with the really bright ones
 
It really is a shame that US laws prevent adaptive headlights that have been around for at least a decade. Cars such as BMWs are already equipped, just lack the software to make the system active. My last BMW was able to see around corners though so part of the system was enabled.
 
Interesting about the shooting glasses from stretch-
I have used my polaroid fishing glasses, driving in dusk conditions, and they helped but I will think about trying the shooting glasses....then again I really don't want to drive at night anymore. This is a rural environment, high altitude, often with poor cell phone ability, and many deers and some bears, that can appear very suddenly when driving at night.

My neighbor swerved once when a bear appeared right in the middle of the road and she hit a tree.
 

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