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.

A lot of these cars have automatic dipping but it doesn't react fast enough. It's a nightmare driving at night these days.

Same. Feels like walking blind at night a lot of the time if you have to be on the side of the road facing the traffic because of this. Same with bikes on the pavement where it's directly in your line of vision.

I used to enjoy and prefer night driving, now I avoid it wherever possible.

All of a sudden? Been getting worse over the years. If it is sudden for you, have an eye test as you may have astigmatism.

FOR ANY DRIVERS OF NEW BMWS -

I didn't know you could do this, but all new BMWs (I think 2020 and up) you have the option to turn down the brightness on your LED lights. I was always getting flashed for mine and the guy in the dealership showed me how to do it but there's a little toggle under the steering wheel. I think it'll depend on the model but it works on my 2022 M3 40i.

Yeah there's loads of these.

Tossers.

And chuck middle lane hoggers in that name bracket too while we're here.

That works if you're driving along a dark country lane or something but not so well if you're in a built up area with lots of street corners and parked cars etc.

They're fucking awful and I complain about it a lot. Particularly the new ones that run across the car It just in the corners. I don't wear glasses but they are blinding.

My husband's w van lights are very bright, a elderly couple would not stop beeping at him and then shouted at him through their window thinking he had his fog lights on.

I’m a driving instructor. Firstly your eyes are being attracted to the light, try to drag them back to the left - a previous poster said the left verge, it should work to stop you naturally fixating on the light.

I read a discussion amongst instructors about this, someone suggested yellow glasses, I’ve never tried them as I don’t have the problem, but may be worth a try.

Age doesn’t help either, my 17/18 yo’s never seem to have an issue.

Yes,new street lamps are also white and I find less effective and just crap tbh. Bring back the mild yellow ones which actually lit up the roads!

Now we have dark roads and getting blinded by bright car lights.
I avoid driving at night now.
It also sets off migraines for me.

I’ve been flashing people for years thinking they had fog lights on accidentally..and I’m not even elderly!

It’s because we’re all in a brightness war. A few people get brighter headlights, because it’s nice to be able to see better, then the people they’ve dazzled decide to up the brightness when they change their headlights, and so on and so on.

Then idiots start buying super-bright LEDs off eBay which raises the stakes again.

It isn't helped by the prevalence of SUVs on the road because if you're in a smaller car and have an SUV oncoming with the LEDs it seems like it's right at eye level so there's no escaping it

It isn’t you, new-style LED headlights are dazzling when not dipped to the correct level. I’ve noticed recently that a lot of car owners where I live haven’t lowered their beams to an acceptable level.

However it may not be their fault - I’ve noticed that whenever my car goes in for a service or MOT the mechanics set the beam to the the highest (ie straight on) setting and I have to reset it to the lowest level. I should imagine that some people don’t realise they need to do this, or that they even can. Ages ago when I learned to drive car headlights didn’t need to be adjusted like this so many people may not know.

I have found that my full beam isn't as effective on my 2020 Fiesta as my previous 2013 one which had yellowish lights.
Rain seems to make it worse too. Luckily I live in a big city and most driving is in lit areas.

Always flash anyone with dickhead lights, if I'm being blinded then so are they.

Such selfish people buying these

Yes, they drive me mental as do 'auto adjust' lights that don't adjust until they have blinded oncoming drivers sufficiently. I believe it was looked at in Parliament.

And lorries now have Christmas tree light arrangements and vans and even buses have the bright lights. My little C1 is literally a rabbit in their headlamps.

The new Led lights are horrendous. There is a petition to ban them and personally I think they should be banned. They blind oncoming traffic

Yes, added with the people thinking they're being polite by flashing you to go through, which worsens vision from the already dazzling lights. I generally don't flash unless essential and will just pull and wait until they see I'm waiting, as I'd rather wait a second longer than be blinding people driving at me.

Agreed! And flashing again to say thank you!! I turn mine off and on again to say thank you when it's dark!!!

Urgh to the thank you flashing. Don’t thank me by blinding me! It’s like they want to cause an accident. I HATE it.

it is a nightmare driving at night
plenty of time i assume they are on full beam they are so bright

and some of them have a line of headlights, not just two, so irritating and tiring