Blinded by the lights - night time driving

[Desperado40]

Is it me or has something happened recently - whenever I drive at night, I am literally blinded by the lights coming from the other drivers cars. I can't figure out if this is because:
A) some newer car models have brighter lights
B) drivers forget to switch the full beam when passing
C) both
Anyone else noticed this?

Agree it's the newer lights but astigmatism definitely makes it worse and tediously I have pretty severe astigmatism, so really struggle to drive at night now. I never loved it but over the last couple of years I've been struggling more and more, while my prescription hasn't changed significantly, so I can only assume external factors i.e. brighter, bluer lights.

It's a nightmare as a pedestrian too, it's also difficult to see if it's safe to cross when you're blinded. I have astigmatism and am photosensitive, it feels like I can't drive or walk after dark now.

The ones with a violet hue to them do my head in!

I, too, am finding it harder to drive at night. My eyesight is good, but confidence with night driving has definitely dropped due to oncoming headlights.

Agree newer, brighter LED headlights which are almost blue, rather than a cream shade. Also more SUVs and more daft sods failing to dip from full beam.

I noticed this in my mid 40’s; optician says that with age, your eye recovers less quickly - so pupils narrow quickly in response to oncoming light still, but pupils recovers to normal size much more slowly - during which time you are “dazzled” and can’t see.
I remember pulling over off a busy but very winding unlit road in tears, as I was so scared. I had to avoid such roads in the dark, although ok on motorways ad lit roads.
Yellow glasses from Amazon helped a fair bit, as does focussing on the road and slightly to the left, instead of far ahead.

Interestingly, I started HRT shortly afterwards, and noticed night-time driving was almost normal again. I’m a doctor who sees a lot of perimenopausal women, and lots have also noticed this. Optician did not know of any evidence, but don’t suppose it’s something there is much impetus to study!

I found that too. Started hrt and it’s more comfortable driving at night.

Still think something should be done so other road users / pedestrians can travel comfortably. It’s selfish to have these over bright lights.

It's A. It makes it a nightmare. It needs to be regulated. As others have said the height of the SUVs makes it worse too.

I’ve noticed this too, lights are ridiculously bright. What on earth are car manufacturers thinking putting those lights in.

I complain about this all the time. I drive once or twice a week on a glorified country lane with no street lighting, where people think it's compulsory to drive up to the speed limit (60 for a car) even at night. There are lots of reasons why this isn't particularly safe, but the dazzle is one. My vehicle auto-adjusts and I can see it doing it, so I know I'm not passing others with full beam but because the normal light is so bright, I'm often flashed or - worse - the approaching car puts their lights on full beam as some kind of punishment. So much safer for all of us... 🙄

It's A, but also people drive on automatic headlights, and I don't think the car dips headlights as quickly as a human would. So C as well.

Goodness knows. I really don't know why they are allowed but I suppose until it is proven that they are causing accidents and not just annoyance, nothing will change.

There’s nothing that can be done for astigmatism though right? If you don’t need glasses as your eyesight is fine?

This is me. Drive a hatchback and have astigmatism. Late 30s, optician said from 40 onwards it will start to decline 😬

I find the lights really blinding. My car is 12 years old and the lights have a yellow glow, most new cars now are bright white

I've been to the optician recently for exactly this. The found I've got very small cataracts which affect it, plus being perimenopausal doesn't help. I've now got some glasses +0.50 with an anti reflective coating to wear on top of my contact lenses. Finding it so much better, but yet to drive on really darko country lanes as I live in the middle of a city which is so bright I could drive with headlights off in theory!

I thought this was just me!

There’s one stretch of windy road in particular that I hate driving in the dark. Awful glare, seems like starbursts on my windscreen sometimes and it’s just because of the sodding new ultra bright LEDs!

When I have someone behind me, lighting me up like the Starship Enterprise, I adjust my rear view mirror so at least I don’t get the glare from that, wish I could adjust my windscreen too!

I swear some drivers get a kick out of being behind you and dazzling you! Feels like I’m on the stage!

I do now have to slow down when driving at night, otherwise it would be pretty dangerous!

https://www.onewomanowner.com/usedcars/avoid-blinded-led-headlights/

This says there are around 300 accidents a year.

Interesting to read how many seconds it takes for the eye to recover as you get older.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/653793 a petition for those still dazzled a year later :)

It's mostly A

My new car had Xenon lights as part of the package and for quite a while when I first drove the car at night id get flashed out even though I definitely had them dipped. I even got a garage to check they were adjusted correctly. Fortunately the initial brightness has decreased and I also let the headlights get dirty.
From a drivers point of view the lights are amazing. My headlights also automatically follow the bends in the road so for dark, winding country roads they are brilliant but they are too bright for other drivers.

interesting article.
1 second compared to 9 seconds for eyes to recover!

@pinkstinks @NotAnotherBathBomb regular astigmatism is completely correctable in glasses, it just means that one side of the cornea is a slightly different curvature to the opposite one. It's actually very unusual NOT to have astigmatism around 85% of people do.

If you're a contact lens wearer, not all types of lenses do correct astigmatism.

Modern LED lights are very bright, formation of cataracts and having naturally large pupils can affect glare, especially if you're wearing contact lenses.

It’s also the prevalence of SUVs. If you are in a normal size car the SUV’s lights will be higher up than yours.

I'm in a mini so notice it a lot. Husband in a big 4x4 I don't notice it driving his car at all. He says I'm a bad night time driver, I'm really not, it's just those beams.

@justasking111 has he driven your mini to see the difference?

Is it an actual mini or one of the new ones? They are bigger than my old polo and shine into the cockpit when I'm driving.

It's a few things, IMO - lights have definitely become much brighter, more and more SUVs on the road, more drivers just being asshats and leaving their beams on, and...believe it or not, there are lots of people who don't know how to properly clean their windscreen.

Just using your wipers isn't enough - if you get into the habit of cleaning it with a microfibre cloth (and then drying it properly with another) every couple of days with proper streak-free glass cleaner, you'd be surprised the difference it makes in terms of reducing the glare of modern lights.

I do it every time I leave the house now, even if it looks clean, and it's helped massively.

Thanks yeah I had laser eye surgery so don’t need glasses or lenses or anything anymore as vision is all good but struggle with the glare at night.