To think night driving is getting more dangerous

You've summed it up so well. I really feel like saying no more night driving as it is so unpleasant.

Thanks I might do

I got these today and I’ve just driven for about 30 minutes wearing them. Fairly busy roads, in urban area with street lighting, not raining. I would say they’ve cut the dazzle by about 30 percent and it’s making me feel so much safer and confident about night driving. Didn’t cost a lot - they’re just a plastic thingy that clips onto your specs - so folk who wear glasses might wanna try them. Otherwise folks might want to try a pair of the yellow tinted specs.

ETA got them on Amazon

I did a lot of night driving this w/e.

Compared to when I started driving (late 80s) there are fewer street lights, grottier white lines, way fewer cats eyes, many roads are essentially narrower due to the sides falling apart (and cars are bigger in general). And the LED lights!
Cats eyes really make a difference.
Luckily it was dry.

I posted up thread a while back.

Since then ...

I got a new car at the weekend. The headlights adjust automatically when the lights are switched on. There is no switch/slider to manually adjust them. I know that they are not too high because they cannot be seen in the rear view mirror of the car in front of me. I can see that they do not reach the back window of the car in front. It is purely because they are LED that they are so bright.

The only time I am dazzled by the vehicle behind is when their headlights are set high and their light reflects from my rear view mirror into my eyes. This can be avoided by adjusting the rear view mirror for night driving.

But - this car has headlights which make the road in front look as bright as daylight. They are factory adjusted and they shine slightly to the left of the road and not to the right, towards oncoming traffic.

I have only been out in the dark for short runs twice since I got the car delivered. Lots of cars are flashing me or turning their main beam on in full. I can either try to ignore being blinded or respond by flashing my main beam.

I have rung the dealer today and they have said that the car has been checked prior to delivery and the headlights are correctly positioned.

I can't drive around in the dark with my headlights off.

I'm dreading setting off at 6.15 am in the dark tomorrow. It's unlit country road for at least three quarters of the hour's journey.

I want my old car back.

Yes sounds like your new car has led headlights. There doesn’t seem to be choice anymore. As I said previously the dazzle effect is less if the car behind stays at a distance.

I actually went for a check-up at the opticians the other day because I was so worried about my night driving vision, particularly when facing the glare of oncoming headlights. Now I see from this thread that there are so many people with the same concerns that it is clearly a change in driving conditions, not my own vision (the check up didn't reveal any problems either).
I've recently got a newer car, and I've noticed that its headlights are way better than my old car's. This makes the dazzle effect less bad for me. But I guess that although making me much safer, this is adding to the overall problem.

The dazzling wing mirror is so unnerving @Topofthemountain. I like in a busy urban area, with lots of commuter cyclists, but also a lot of delivery cyclists (who mostly seem happy to cycle dressed in lack without lights while weaving in and out of traffic) and I'm terrified that despite being a careful driver I'm going to fail to spot one some day because of this. I increasingly ask DH to drive us home in the dark, which really annoys me!

It’s good to be aware of that. Do you then give enough space between cars so it dies t dazzle the car in front?

Modern headlights are far more dazzling than 10 years ago. Only problem is my car's headlights are likely producing the same effect...

I put the petition in its own thread, here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/5000936-review-the-brightness-of-car-headlights-for-safety

I do this too. Or ive started tilting the wing mirror out

If they are far enough behind and central to me then my rear view mirror auto dimming thing does its thing. It is when they are slightly off centre (or are just bigger than my little car) that I get absolutely dazzled in my wing mirror, I have no idea how to avoid it. I have taken to shielding the reflection with my hand at times.

They light up the road ahead of when they’re behind me 🙄

If they pull back then it’s not so blinding.

Had one sat on my bumper part of the way home from work tonight, rendering my mirrors useless. Don't think I needed my headlights on at all as theirs lit up the inside of my car.

Such fun trying to see anything when you've got another one coming towards you as well!

Signed the petition!

I've been finding it hard to drive at night and was putting it down to my new glasses - I changed to varifocals last year so I'm getting more peripheral distortion which seems worse at night. But the glare from headlights has become quite extreme, and that isn't anything to do with my glasses. Driving in well lit areas is fine, but on the open road where oncoming headlights are the only source of light, it's completely dazzling. Before making any long journeys I now check what time sunset will be, so I can make sure I'm off the trunk roads before dark.

Petition signed

Bumping

Signed
it does require more traction or even light!

I think a Mumsnet campaign would be a really good idea. Here is the link to the petition again, BTW. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/653793

I’ve heard his before about these lights being auto levelling. But levelling to what? The road? In which case aren’t other drivers still dazzled if you’re in a suv and they’re not?

My car has LED lights and there is a knob so they can be adjust from inside the car.

So can you adjust your lights so the beam is lower, see if you stop getting flashed. If you do then problem solved, if you don't then there must be a reason it is happening, maybe you could work out what it is.

It is really easy to adjust on my car, I assume most modern cars are the same. I adjusted mine when I got the car by sitting on my drive when it was dark, putting the lights on so they were shining on the garage door. They were high and I just adjusted a knob until they looked right.

I know how my car works thanks. It's one of the things I ask to be explained to me when I pick my cars up from the showroom.