Maybe I’m the only one, but imo car headlights have gotten ridiculously bright the last 5 years.
It’s at that stage now where I actively try to avoid driving at night especially if it’s raining because I genuinely cannot see anything.
I put it down to a lot more suv on the road, and this new trend to have the whole front of the car lit up like a flood light.
I also don’t think the smart headlights work for anyone but the person driving the car, it’s incredibly distracting having the person behind lights dancing all over the place.
My only solution is to look into our next car also being an suv or maybe a van so that I’m also sat at a higher level and the effect is hopefully lessened.
39 comments
I’ve raised my driver’s seat a bit, it helps.
Mate, seriously. I drive an older car right now, and like you I’m beginning to hate driving at night – it’s horrendous. I’m absolutely fine until a car comes the other way and then I can’t see a fucking thing.
It feels like some kind of escalation war, where the only way to win is to have even brighter bulbs than the oncoming car
No but more and more bozos are driving with full beams on constantly, especially motorways.
>My only solution is to look into our next car also being an suv or maybe a van so that I’m also sat at a higher level and the effect is hopefully lessened.
Makes barely any difference at all, they’re simply too bright. I drive a van for work and a low small car as my daily. Used to love driving at night, can’t stand it now due to constantly being flashbanged by oncoming cars.
[The RAC is calling on the Government to commission an independent study into the issue of headlight glare after new research found 85% of those affected believe the problem is getting worse.](https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/rac-calls-for-government-action-on-headlight-glare/)
Yes, it’s horrific. And I include my car in that.
I read the other day that this is because they are using newer & brighter LED bulbs, but still using the reflective housing needed to make the old bulbs bright enough, resulting in them being brighter than intended.
Yes and yes.
So many times I’ve flashed another driver only to realise that they’re already on a dipped beam.
I’m sure they’re already regulated but it certainly needs looking at.
It’s being looked into at government level
https://lightaware.org/news/uk-government-acknowledge-issues-with-glaring-headlights
Yes it’s like people are driving around with full beam all the time
Definitely. As you say they are dangerous how bright they’ve become.
Problem is there’s too many unregulated upgrade kits available.
I find it harder to see the more lights that are on. This means something is wrong 😂.
I found I’d rather an empty road where I can see than more headlights where I must focus on the car in front and hope nothing appears from the right side field of vision
They are definitely more dazzling than they used to be, the regulations need to be revised.
Definitely.
People used to get in trouble for using full beam but some of thse lights are brighter than full beam.
I’m reluctant to drive on the country roads I know around me at night because the beams blind me.
I have trouble seeing the indicators when they are on, the brightness of the headlights just seems to blank them out
Yes.
Also, SUVs are much more commonplace, so those of us that drive regular size cars have headlights dazzling us directly at eye level way more often.
It’s definitely getting worse.
It’s like they are being developed just to be brighter and brighter without any consideration for other road users.
I had a fairly sensible driver keeping a good distance not being aggressive behind me the other day and his headlights were giving my car a shadow on the road ahead in my own headlight beam
The brightness isn’t the factor honestly, the misaligned/Chinese aftermarket ones without shrouds replacing halogens, and the massive increase in amount of SUVs driving around which are higher than the rest of the normal cars.
I find even duller halogens to cause more glare than proper modern LEDs with perfect cutoffs.
Judging by the amount of posts I see about them, yes.
It’s getting ridiculous now. Especially when it’s wet.
Country roads on a motorbike at night can be a total death trap. The light from oncoming cars totally overwhelms my single headlight and there are times I actually need to just hit the brakes and basically stop in the road because I can’t see anything until the car has passed.
As a pedestrian I can’t cross the road at night unless there’s no cars coming either way. The oncoming headlight beams are just so bright I can’t even tell how far away they are.
Yes. I absolutely hate these new car lights. It feels like my retinas are gonna melt.
Yes. Almost mounted a curb last week when I was literally dazzled to the point I couldn’t see. I’m constantly flipping the rear view mirror into “anti-glare” mode these days, but that doesn’t help with oncoming vehicles or glare in the wing-mirrors.
Oh, thank goodness, I thought it was just me!
Its not just due SUVs.
Its also the types of the bulb being used.
Theres even a subreddit dedicated to it, and action against it r/fuckyourheadlights
Yes. Smaller A roads and B roads are essentially undriveable at night and especially in rain because of the blinding lights of oncoming traffic. Couple this with the inevitable potholes that line the edges of these roads, if you want to keep your tyres and suspension intact you’re often reduced to a ridiculously slow speeds when passing other cars. I’ve resorted to taking the motorway for my commute so at least the blinding lights are behind me and i can adjust my mirrors or my road position to compensate but it adds 10 miles to the journey and uses way more fuel.
Yes its unbearable driving at night especially in rain, blinded from both on coming and people in suvs coming up behind.
They are bad, but not as bad as some idiot on an unlit cycle path with a strobe effect front light.
Yes, it’s awful!
Do you happen to have astigmatism? It’s so much worse because of the scattering/light flare caused by this
From what I heard, some legislation has been passed to regulate it.
But that only affects cars built after the law was passed. There’s still a lot of cars built before that, that are not affected. And they’ll be on the roads until they’re fit for scrap m
My issue is with drivers that are unaware of the beam angle of their lights being too high but couldn’t be bother to lower them or do not know that they can be lowered.
Wonder how much is crappily adjusted lights. First time I took the new to us car our got flashed a few time and could see the lights were off once I got out of town and onto unlit roads, got it in for an MOT and they were way off, much better now.There’s also the idiots putting hi intensity bulbs into standard housings so the light goes everywhere. Back in the day with off roading we used to switch the standard 55/65 incandescents out for 100/80 bulbs. They were noticeable brighter, officially illegal for road use but okay as they didn’t alter the beam really.
Car headlights are becoming increasingly problematic. There needs to be a study imo. Becoming a real issue on the roads
They have… people also point them upwards which doesn’t help. However cars and SUVs, I can live with.
Cunt HGV drivers with 16 additional beams dotted around the cabin should lose their license permanently just by sitting at the wheel of one of them. With cars you get glare, but with some of these HGVs you literally stop seeing and get massive headaches by being flashed with that kind of light.
I don’t know. I like being able to see when I’m driving so willing to take the glare in exchange for seeing stuff myself.
I hate having SUVs behind me at night. I drive a 2011 hatchback so range rovers behind me means I get blasted in the face with light from the rear view mirror and one of the side mirrors.
The rear view isn’t that bad, I can change it to anti glare, but I can’t do that with the side view. I hate feeling like there’s a spotlight shining in my eyes when the car in question isn’t even facing me.
It’s the blue tinge in a lot of the LEDs that irritate my eyes more than anything else.