Are car headlights getting brighter?

[Dancergirl]

They seem so bright and glary these days. Or maybe I'm just getting more sensitive to light. I have to look away sometimes and see flashing lights afterwards. I am prone to headaches and migraines too.

I also feel like headlights are too bright. I'm also prone to headaches and migraines, so I'm not sure if that's the issue...

I watched a programme about this a while ago. It's something to do with headlights now being LED lights & even though they're the same wattage (car headlights can only be a certain wattage) as before they're a lot brighter.

Oh yes the LED thing. Thinking about it, some of our local street lights are also now LED, I don't like those either!

I'm with you. Definitely lots that are too bright. It's so dangerous because it makes it that much harder to spot cyclists and pedestrians...and pretty much anything else!

Not higher wattage, but it is the LED or halogen headlights. A lot of them ‘see’ round corners too, so that could make them seem brighter.

Yes, absolutely.

Those halogen headlights are blindingly bright. I am surprised that they are even legal.

They also jump about when the car goes over a bump, feel like I'm being flashed constantly!!

I have said this for ages! They are definitely brighter on the eye and leave my eyes hurting

I struggle with them too, and the "flashing" from bumpy roads. The extra height of 4x4s doesn't help either so they blast into your face right on eye level.

I frequently have to tilt the rear view mirror these days, much more than 10 years ago. Worse are the tailgaters who catch you on the wing mirrors so you have to keep one hand up to block the dazzle.

Yes. There's been a couple of newspaper articles about it.

Car headlights are a definite and recognized problem. I've had eye surgery which has affected my perception of them, but the new smaller bulb V formations are much better and don't give the concentric circles of glare, so they are much easier for me to cope with when driving, regardless of the brightness of the actual lighting iyswim.

I read somewhere that the RAC have launched an investigation to find out if these modern headlights are causing accidents.

Back in the early 00’s I was lucky enough to own an Audi TT. I recall it had xenon headlights. I used to get flashed regularly to turn them down. I would put high beam on briefly to indicate they were down.

Glad it’s not just me.

Be interesting to see what RAC find out.