Do you find headlights dazzling these days?

Cars? Not so much - as long as they're correctly adjusted and dipped when appropriate.

Bicycles? Frequently - when the riders have deliberately aimed them at oncoming drivers and/or have head mounted bright torches and aim them at drivers.
 
YES!!!!

Especially as most new cars seem to be SUV's so headlights are positioned much higher.

Also why do so many EV's have huge offensively bright strips across the whole width of the car?

Having super bright lights also encourages some people to drive considerably faster than they perhaps should at night, especially with animals about.
 
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Nod said:
Cars? Not so much - as long as they're correctly adjusted and dipped when appropriate.

Bicycles? Frequently - when the riders have deliberately aimed them at oncoming drivers and/or have head mounted bright torches and aim them at drivers.
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I agree about bikes, but cars very much now too, especially those with projector lights that aren't shaped so heavily. I drive on country lanes a lot, and car headlights seem aimed higher than they used to be too. This should be dealt with by the MOT, but doesn't seem to be.
 
Yes its horrible driving in the dark now especially down small b roads some cars now have very bright lights which seem to be aimed straight at you , I suspect these are different bulbs added by the driver
I don’t ride my motorbike after dark for this reason just don’t feel safe being blinded by cars coming the other way
 
I think anyone that has been driving more than thirty years will agree with this - I can't believe they need to 'be reviewed' to discover this fact.

As has been said already; brighter LED or HID lights are the worse, especially on taller vehicles. Naturally, us old farts suffer the most - c'est la vie.

One thing that isn't mentioned is the beam height level adjustment that most cars have - people just don't use them. These should be set accordingly depending on your number of passengers or load, but most people IME don't even know this control exists, let alone use it.

I think an easy answer would be to set lights to the same height off the ground regardless of whether it's a car, 4x4, lorry, bus or bicycle.
 
Yes too bright and too high especially with SUV’s.
 
What I find difficult are cars with misaligned headlights. I think that these are worse than the general brightness of lights.

And a related issue that annoys me is the placement of turn indicators. Car designers seem intent on putting the indicators very close to the headlight. The indicators are never a bright as the headlight and consequently often lost in the glare from the headlight. Couple that with the tendancy of some drivers to leave indicating until the last minute.......
 
Definately, I thought it was just me. I am getting older of course and I've had to start wearing glasses, I thought it might be an age thing.

I have noticed them to be considerably brighter nowadays. I used to use a trick if I got dazzled whilst driving, I'd look at the nearside kerb/verge so that I knew where I was going, this trick seems to be much less effective now.

I think it's the use of LEDs, they are a much whiter light than the old filament bulbs.
 
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Good to hear it's not just me and auntie then.
 
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yes for sure since LED and projector style on posher cars also people drive tonka toys now so headlights are waist height.
but they are better than old school crap i remember
 
Bring back good old Joe Lucas, Prince Of Darkness with his 6V headlamps...
 
Car lights have ceased to be purely functional and are now largely garish decoration that can be dangerously bright.
 
Harriers9 said:
Even worse for us MINI drivers when the essential 4x4 comes up behind you right on the bumper
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Have you seen the size of Minis these days.

But I do agree with the SUV drivers being attached to rear bumpers
 
I took her new car back to the dealer after being flashed at a few times, they reset the aim to the correct level, seems the PDI centre is pretty poor at checking this, and tyre pressures but not rechecked before delivery to the customer. In my car my eyeline is around 1metre above ground, some suv head/taillights are higher than that, drivers sitting stationery with a foot on the brakes is a pet hate.

Edited, I hate auto suggest/correct.
 
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mj4456 said:
drivers sitting stationery with a foot on the brakes is a pet hate.
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Me too, I always have to put the sun visor down otherwise I get a 'dead zone' in front of my eyes for ages. :headbang:

So few people use handbrakes at traffic lights any more. I've been told they're even taught that way now. :rolleyes:
 
Sky said:
Me too, I always have to put the sun visor down otherwise I get a 'dead zone' in front of my eyes for ages. :headbang:

So few people use handbrakes at traffic lights any more. I've been told they're even taught that way now. :rolleyes:
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It was a bit of a shock to discover my wife's new car had an actual handbrake instead of a switch relatively recently.
 
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I thought I was the only one as well. I find the modern French marques in particular seem to have excessively bright lights.
 
Oh, and the failure to turn lights off at level crossings so I'm cringing down in my seat so I'm not completely blinded by the moron opposite on the slope up to the crossing ...
 
Nod said:
Bring back good old Joe Lucas, Prince Of Darkness with his 6V headlamps...
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I'm not sure why but as I read that, the old EverReady cycle lamp sprung to mind, with the slidey button thing and 2 huge batteries that lasted about 4 minutes. Had one on my Raleigh Chopper, as well as the rear, red one.

Sorry, I digress. :)
 
'50s and '60s British motorbikes had notoriously poor lights, hence the reference to "lamps" rather than "lights" in my earlier post. A common modification was to upgrade the system to a 12 Volt one which allowed slightly less dim illumination of the road ahead... Much the same as the old bicycle lamps.
 
I was told a trick years ago to avoid being dazzled and it does work. When bright lights are approaching you keep your eyes on the white line on the left side of your lane, you can still see the oncoming vehicle but you will not be dazzled and the white line helps keep you in lane.
 
Steep said:
I was told a trick years ago to avoid being dazzled and it does work. When bright lights are approaching you keep your eyes on the white line on the left side of your lane, you can still see the oncoming vehicle but you will not be dazzled and the white line helps keep you in lane.
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:plus1:, works a charm.
 
Funny enough I had to replace the bulbs in the wife's R56 Mini this weekend. I picked up some 150% brighter bulbs from Halfords, the basic bulbs on her Mini One were not brilliant, so one blowing gave me the chance to improve her lighting. I still have some headlamp aligners from years ago. Stuck them on the garage door and her lights were about 10 degrees out, pointing upwards. Spent 30 minutes aligning them so although they're brighter, they don't project light up into the windows of oncoming cars.

I was amazed at the array of bulbs, including 200% brighter, blue tint, plus LED's. You only have to get then set up wrong and they're bloody dangerous...
 
Jelster said:
Funny enough I had to replace the bulbs in the wife's R56 Mini this weekend. I picked up some 150% brighter bulbs from Halfords, the basic bulbs on her Mini One were not brilliant, so one blowing gave me the chance to improve her lighting. I still have some headlamp aligners from years ago. Stuck them on the garage door and her lights were about 10 degrees out, pointing upwards. Spent 30 minutes aligning them so although they're brighter, they don't project light up into the windows of oncoming cars.

I was amazed at the array of bulbs, including 200% brighter, blue tint, plus LED's. You only have to get then set up wrong and they're bloody dangerous...
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yeah have to admit i had 100w bulbs in my old C3 for winter , legal is about 50w and yeah better
 
My pet hate is people who don't turn off their headlights when they have parked.
There is a fast food trailer just around the corner from our house. In the evening there are queues of cars there waiting - despite there being double yellow lines.
Trying to pull out into that road is a complete lottery because all the parked cars still have their headlights on so you have to assume that they are about to move - or are they?
I know several people who have been caught out and had collisions there.
Unfortunately the Artificial Ignorance that most people rely on by setting their headlights to 'Automatic' doesn't know about this.
 
David_Mug said:
My pet hate is people who don't turn off their headlights when they have parked.
There is a fast food trailer just around the corner from our house. In the evening there are queues of cars there waiting - despite there being double yellow lines.
Trying to pull out into that road is a complete lottery because all the parked cars still have their headlights on so you have to assume that they are about to move - or are they?
I know several people who have been caught out and had collisions there.
Unfortunately the Artificial Ignorance that most people rely on by setting their headlights to 'Automatic' doesn't know about this.
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my pet hate is people that don't turn there engines off when parked to be fair that is why i love EVs
up the road 200m is a chippy and if i walk that way on a evening there is usually a couple of cars just sat with engine running while in the shop getting there stuff
 
Mr Bump said:
my pet hate is people that don't turn there engines off when parked to be fair that is why i love EVs
up the road 200m is a chippy and if i walk that way on a evening there is usually a couple of cars just sat with engine running while in the shop getting there stuff
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Is it because of the pollution?
 
Nod said:
Got one yet or just preaching?
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nope but my car is going up for sale in March next year so will not be getting another of either :-)
 
Nod said:
A PROPER Mini? That's an FWD BMW!
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But they are proper cars.... I've had 5 of them, mainly JCW's, the last being a 4WD Clubman pulling 275 bhp. Now relegated to an Audi Q2 but we still have the Wife's Mini. 2011 Mini One in British Racing Green, with a genuine 35k miles.
 
Mr Bump said:
nope but my car is going up for sale in March next year so will not be getting another of either :)
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Well at least that will somewhat help negate your big carbon footprint... :p


Mr Bump said:
yeah mine has been on for most of this month , i decided last year to just spend more on the gas now in winter, main problem i have is a holiday home in Gran Canaria so we head over there as much as we can and its like 24degs during the day and 18degs at night so coming home is crap
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