Has anyone noticed how bright the lights are on cars all of a sudden?

[OverthinkingOlive]

And how bloody dangerous it is?! It can't be just me? They are like full beams... they need to do something about it. So blinding.

Me too, I wear glasses and get blinded quite often by approaching cars.

Been like this for years. Modern technology etc. Its torture for spectacle wearers.

It's partly brightness and partly height I think. Cars are getting taller, so even a dipped beam from many models now shines right into the eyes of incoming drivers.

Yes. However I have recently upgraded mine to LED which are bright as I drive a lot of b roads with no / minimal lighting. My standard bulbs wernt great

Been like this for a few years now

www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/rac-news/government-confirms-igo-ahead-with-research-into-impact-of-headlights/

It's not just you. There's about a thread a week about it.

There's been a petition about it recently. Agree, too bright and makes for difficult night driving.

As a pedestrian with astigmatism, it's like walking into a fucking nebula on the way from the bus stop at 6.55am.

I mentioned it to my optician this week and he said that every single patient he sees who drives mentions it!

Car manufacturers are making lights with the assumption that they are to help you see and forgetting that lights are also to be seen.

I struggle to drive in the dark now, I did not realise it was so common.

It isn't just you.

It really isn't helped by the street lights being turned off so there's no ambient lighting. So it's just dazzle, dazzle, dazzle.

Great for the driver behind the bright lights. Not so great, bordering on dangerous, for any oncoming traffic or even pedestrians. It creates a camera flash effect and temporary blindness.

Opticians today suggested I get an anti glare coating on my new specs to deal with this. Expensive so I am going to try yellow tinted eye thigg be

Yellow tinted driving glasses you can wear over your specs

Totally

Yesterday i was greeted by someone repeatedly flashing ridiculously bright lights at me to the point i could barely see. there was a hazard around the corner but surely that is what hazard lights are for

I knew it wasn't just me lol

I got the glare coating. Made no discernible difference to bright headlights.

There was an article about this in the Times recently. This paragraph was enlightening:

Traditional halogen lights typically emit about 1,000 lumens, a measure of their perceived brightness. “The LEDs on new cars are much more powerful — they often don’t publish that information, but we think for many it’s around 6,000 lumens. And now people in older cars are upgrading their halogen lights with ridiculously bright LEDs.”

The article also said people are illegally modding their cars with super-bright LED bulbs.

This is the article (with Sharetoken):

Why are car headlights so bright? The dangers of dazzling LED lamps

www.thetimes.com/article/86ece131-c864-4470-8526-a267b02eec3c?shareToken=87b3475b4e2231c1f4778786ffae4d3d

I can’t really drive at night anymore. I live in an area with no street lighting so people flick their lights onto full beam too and then flick them off when they see an oncoming device (if they remember). It’s so dangerous

It's not new, but completely agree. As a resident of a place with lots of bikes, there's actually a similar problem there. I was having this discussion in that context the other day - if you have lights that are bright enough to see the road and surroundings, they are going to dazzle other road users. If you're temporarily blinded by oncoming headlights in any vehicle, everything gets 100% more dangerous immediately!

The additional problem is that numpty drivers do not know the law. There is no need to have fog lights on all the time in darkness.

Only use when you can see less than 100metres!

I remember years ago being told by my driving instructor if I was blinded by oncoming lights to look to the left verge . It still works for me.

It’s the tone as well, they are bright white. Older lights seem to be more yellowy.
I have to stop completely sometimes on the way home from work - angles on hills make it hard to avoid being blinded by people not paying attention. And despite being country lanes there’s no need for full beam at 5:30pm.

It's not just cars either! I've noticed cyclists and joggers now have almost the same!

Weirdly I think LEDs don't actually shed as much light, but have a brighter glare. When it's just me on the road with dipped or even full beam, they don't seem as good as older cars I've had. So they're crap all round really!

Mine are so bright that people flash at me. I obviously can't do anything about it though. I agree they are too bright!

I hate driving at night now. There was one evening where driving was almost impossible, it really stressed me out and I was glad I made it home. I drive on lots of winding country roads where people use full beams.

The worst is when they have their full beams on and come round the bend and don't switch them off in time.