To be happy about this...re headlight glare..link attached

You seem to think that it’s less of an issue if it’s older rather than younger drivers being affected.
Given that people are having to work longer and longer, a problem that makes it harder to get to work / do work involving driving once you’re older is going to impact the economy, it’s not just about retired people not being able to get to their social activities.

Some auto adjust lights on cheap cars are slow. On better cars they work well. I think most young people are fine as are the millions that own the cars. What are they going to do - the government sells approved lights for retro fitting? It’s nonsense.

You could say the same about getting rid of leaded petrol though? Of course those cars remined on the road - no one took them away. Everyone knows solutions take a while to work their way through.

Your interpretation of my tone doesnt make it fact.

Anyway - car OEMs adhere to legislation. They arent going to spaff money on challenging Governmental diktats that would result in their businesses and jobs being put at risk.

They simply do as they're told. Look at the big EU car makers struggling to sell EVs despite the EU wide mandate. Policy makers arent listening and EV sales just arent where policy makers believe they wouild be and OEMs are cutting production etc.

So going back to powerful headlights - the pace of change has made them more mainstream than before - I dont deny its an issue for many drivers, but as I have said before, this review will do nothing to address the millions of cars on the roads now that have them.

Thats why the review is nothing but fucking horseshit.

Tells you how old my car is, then. I didn't even know that was a thing. I'm still on the quick- draw level of beam to full beam and back.

I suspect the knobheads have 'auto adjust' lights....

I'm invested along with many others because I am migraine sufferer whose migraines are triggered by these bright lights. I am not alone. If you are not affected, you should be able to stand back and feel for others who are. I also can't help you if you can't spot aggression in your tone (an AS was interesting to say the least).
I can't abide LED lights. I don't even have them on my Christmas tree.
Car manufacturers may be responding to laws but that doesn't mean they can't be challenged. It seems a lot of these ideas about road lighting come from cars in countries like Sweden. The UK is more densely populated , has very different road conditions and so needs to adapt and respond to public concern.

The things that bother me the most is in order : motorbikes with high intensity beams, lorries lit up like they are in 2001: A Space Odyssey, vans with huge intense lights. land rovers lighting up the night sky like it's a competition to be seen from space, outsized minis with oversize lights , indicators that can't be seen anymore because of bright headlights, and then other taller vehicles. The last people who annoy me are the people who tell me it's something we all ought to just put up with because they are one of the few people unaffected.

It’s just one in a long line of my pet peeves “stupid designs (normally) created by men”!
Why would anyone think that the ability to be able to light up the road like a sports ground should trump the oncoming drivers needs? I can imagine the car design teams sitting around being so impressed by the light levels that are possible, that they don’t even think about how this might affect other road users…

Had an interesting drive home with the dc last night. Final bit was down a busy lane, which I know really well. Dc have 20/20 and no astigmatism, so I got them to tell me which ones were really bad. I would say there were 4 categories. The normal lights, the too white and bright, the supernova where you literally can't see anything but lights and are lucky you know the road... and the knobheads too slow to flick off full beam.

It was interesting to see that the young and perfectly sighted are also struggling. Dc1 will be driving this time next year.

Its a discussion forum - is it not?

Why are you so invested? 🙄

As for the US - genuinely couldnt care less what their views are. I am not there, they are not here. Meh.

I have not been aggressive toward anyone at all. Nor have I criticised any poster.

I merely posited that the issue people face is as a result of successive Governmental policy. Look through my posts on this thread. Car makers are following the rules that have been laid out.

Yes, they do. But the height of those vehicles mean they are far less problematic. People in the US also complain about the LED lights and their maximum light levels are set far lower.

Why are you so invested? You seem very determined to tell absolutely everyone , fairly aggressively, that they need to suck it up.

Didn’t there used to on be rules about lights or is it just modern cars are stupidly bright? (I’m Ireland so may be different). Nearly blinded twice in the way home last night

The poll here is meaningless and has as much relevance as the outcome of this bullshit review will have.

None.

To note, plenty of small modern cars also have LED headlights - these are on all vehicle sizes - not just SUVs etc.

Nope, DS, by the way. 14 year old Hyundai i10 so a small car.

But of course, road safety experts, optometrists, and 4 out of 5 motorists are wrong .

It's a very big problem. We have an ageing population so if it's a porblem for older people it's a big porblem. But it's a problem across the age spectrum and especially bad for those who drive smaller vehicles. Auto adjusting lights are also a problem because they don't react quickly enough.

Some people seem to have fallen for a car manufacturer claiming the lights just need adjusting downwards. Obviously you haven't been sitting in your car at a junction and felt like you have a spaceship landing behind you or rounded a bend and been blinded . Motorists' lights do to need to light the road up like it's a military landing strip. It's aggressive lighting and unnecessary.

Have you seen the AIBU vote? 97% of people agree with the OP. That is whopping.

@Piggywaspushed Well people are like sheep aren’t they? She probably drives a car with bright lights! Nearly everyone with a car 10 years old and younger will! Only old cars with yellowish lights aren’t bright because they are not white lights. If you own a recently (idh) made car, you have brighter white lights. We aren’t putting this genie back in the bottle and of course older people have more issues with lights and driving. They always did! I like being able to see the verge personally.

DS is 24 and complains about the lights.

of course it’s a bigger issue for older people. But that doesn’t mean it’s not also the fact that lights are getting brighter. I’m not sure why you seem sceptical about this when they self evidently are getting brighter, with the massive advances in lighting technology which mean you can now have bright light very cheaply and at a low power.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel I think this is a bigger issue for older people. No doubt about it and we have an aging population. I’m 70 and I’m fine but most interviewed are definitely beyond 60. Don't see the 20 somethings complaining. Many people we know have newish cars and none are having issues that we know of. Never a topic of discussion and their cars have fairly bright lights!

Anybody who has eyes is going to be dazzled by an overbright light. It’s a bit of an extreme comparison but who looks directly at the sun? It’s not physically possible because the brain knows how dangerous it is. The brain must recognise that some headlights are overly bright leading to the dazzling most of us experience.

I thought this was interesting:

‘The problem is worse for older people, whose eyes take around nine seconds to recover from glare, compared to one second for a 16-year-old, according to road safety consultant, Rob Heard.’

I wonder if the people who don’t have a problem just happen to have eyes that recover fast for their age.

@LlamaNoDrama Can you alter the position of the wing mirrors? They can be angled to show the side of your car? (Not ideal for parking and pulling out obviously). Or maybe put anti dazzle film on them?

It reflects so much from my wing mirror it affects me even when I'm not looking in them. Like when someone in the car has a phone and holds it at the wrong angle and it reflects any sun light straight in your face. I didn't have this issue in my older car so maybe newer car mirrors are also an issue!

I don’t know anyone who has a problem either except a friend who needed cataracts sorted out! Most headlights are fine. They are whiter lights these days and are better at illuminating the side of the road so you will see pedestrians. If a headlight is on full beam, it can of course dazzle. Dipped I don’t see what the big issue is and they won’t make millions of cars have new headlights that are more like glow worms.

Let me be the first person then you have found who is not dazzled by headlights of any kind and yes, I do personally think LED/HID/Laser headlights are good for driving and aiding visual range when driving in reduced light settings.

👍

Its quite scary after these drivers have gone past and I have a second or 2 of blindness. God forbid if a pedestrian steps out into the road. I guess whoever thought these lights were a good idea now never leaves their house at night.
I cant find 1 single person who isn't dazzled by them and thinks they are a good idea.