To think headlights are too dazzling?

[IdiotsIdiotsEverywhere]

I hate driving at night and it seems to be worse when other cars are coming in the opposite direction. Driving on a single carriageway this evening on a 60 MPH road and once a few cars pass together I lose complete sight of the road in front of ME!

I've tried switching between contact lenses and glasses & glasses with anti glare but no difference. It's not even the windscreen as using different cars.

Veni, I don't and won't. Only if stopped for any length of time. If regularly creeping forward then certainly not.

The problem being discussed is overly bright headlights.

And the manual for my car specifically states not to do this.

@bridgetreilly, thank you so much!

What surprised me more was the number of cars with their lights fully on in broad daylight

They're made like this now - EU law I believe, and I think it came from Sweden where they have their lights on all the time.

Personally I think people put their lights on far too early, I can see perfectly well and side lights are enough in slightly dim light. But once one person puts their lights on everyone else does and then you can't see anything because of all the glare.

And yes I struggle with the glare from oncoming headlights. But on a previous MN thread about this I was told I shouldn't be driving so I am glad so many MNers struggle too. Actually I do avoid night-time driving as far as possible, but sometimes it is unavoidable and obviously more so at this time of year.

In France UK drivers by law have to buy and fit special head light adapters to their cars to stop glare.

In UK we get massive blinding glare from new types of head lights. No anti glare stuff and it's terrifying.

That’s because we have headlights that dip to the left and therefore straight into the eyes of oncoming drivers when we drive on the right. It has nothing to do with output/glare from standard headlights. The LHD headlights dip to the right.

there should be a maximum wattage/brightness and enforce it!

There is and it is. There are very specific EU regulations regarding headlights which all manufactures must meet to get a car type approved.

But Its not enforced because i can go online buy a brighter bulbs and fit it in my car and drive around and not get pulled.for it. ( as seems the case this lots of drivers in my area) as long as they are changed to pass an mot no one gives a shit. The law might me there but no one enforces it!

It is enforced, plenty of tickets get issued to people running illegal lights.

Maybe it is in your area, but the amout of cars around mine with illegal lights says differently.

There clearly aren’t the resources to deal with everyone, look at the number of idiots driving around with one light out, but people do get pulled and done. The issue generally is inappropriate bulbs fitted to inappropriate housings. An aftermarket HID kit fitted to a well adjusted projector housing doesn’t actually cause any issues but is still technically illegal.

Agreed.

Height of 4x4's is particularly problematic

I hope one day the regulation is changed to either reduce brightness limits for LEDs or to lower the angle at which dipped headlights are in higher cars (such as 4x4s)

Personally I think people put their lights on far too early, I can see perfectly well and side lights are enough in slightly dim light. It's not about seeing, it's about being seen, especially if you're in a grey car or some other colour that melts into the background colour of the road.

But once one person puts their lights on everyone else does and then you can't see anything because of all the glare. Really? I don't find any problem with glare while there's still daylight around. It's not until there's too little ambient light, and by then it's certainly not too early to have headlights. Are you being troubled by glare before dusk?

Ha. It’s bad enough at night but I have to put up with idiots with who put on their headlights on at 3pm, decide they’re not working and switch on fog lights. Because of the way the road onto the school is (lots of hills) it’s impisdibje to avoid beingeye level.

@meredintoofpemdiculation glare can be a problem before dusk if oncoming traffic is at eye level. This can happen if one car sits low and the other high or the road has lots of small hills.

I live in 4x4 land and holy god it’s hideous. I basically am a slightly nervy driver anyway but now really get the jitters about driving in the dark with the children in the car due to that temporary LED brightness.

I haven’t got astigmatism and I’ve got 20/20 or “perfect” vision. I need a pair of just plain glass anti glare spectacles

Last time I got new bulbs in Halfords they tried to upsell ‘new, improved extra bright bulbs’

They tried that with me and looked most shocked when I replied "aaah you mean those 'I am an utter twat' lamps?"

OP I'm with you - I'm struggling more with them recently. Had assumed it was just my eyes ageing but went to the opticians the other month to have it checked out and my prescription hadn't changed at all actually and eye health was all absolutely fine so it's not.

@SlinkyAndSilky my teens already duck down in the car to avoid being seen with me. And everywhere else too... :-)

I’m finding this hard at the moment and it does always seem to be big 4x4s that are the main problem. For ages I thought people had their full beams on and were being massive knobs until I realised the lights were permanent.