To think night driving is getting more dangerous

[DazzledbyHeadlights]

Since a few years ago - and now that cyclists/pedestrians have more right of way. I agree and think it works well during the day.

However at night? Headlights seem to be more blinding than ever. Spotting a dimly lit cyclist in front of a full dazzling tank of a car is hard.

In addition, many pedestrians seem to have a cavalier ‘my right of way, I’ll step out’ attitude. I was driving along a 40mph stretch this evening and - 3 times - a dark figure suddenly appeared, stepped out onto the road and I needed to break quite abruptly.

Yes, I got some recently, makes driving at night bearable again.

We've got ninjas on electric motor bikes, kids on electric scooters, people dressed usually in dark colours just randomly crossing the road and then on the a local dual carriage another idiot has just been sent down for 150mph driving while recording themselves doing it. Mind you at least the give the police the evidence.

I use yellow glasses from Amazon which does help with the bright headlights issue.

I'm some European countries it is a must to wear reflective elements with your clothing, has to visible with headlights from the distance. I have had near misses with teenagers all dressed in black.

I drive slowly. I am still totally dazzled by cyclists with head helmets sometimes. It is stupid to drive toward a killing machine rendering the driver blind!

Yes and adults/teens cycling in black, no helmets and no bike lights/high vis etc round my way, nightmare 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Not RTFT

Headlights are far too bright - I have astigmatism & it's a nightmare.
I also think so many cars are higher up now too.

I think there's a campaign to lower them? Radio 5 were talking about it a few days ago

This! I only have to go into to the office once a week, but when I do I absolutely dread the drive home in the dark. I've recently started taking the longer route home to avoid motorways. I do think this is mainly down to bad weather, heightened feelings of anxiety and poor eyesight (recently got some glasses) but headlights are definitely too bright! It also irritates me when cars park on the roadside and leave their damn headlights on. Happens a lot down the narrow road outside DD school when parents are picking up from a club at night. It's already very stressful (lots of traffic on an unlit narrow road) but when you have to work out if you have to give way to the car in front thats blinding you (making it look like its travelling toward you) or if its just a parked car, its makes it 10000 % more stressful. Also, has anyone noticed that street lights seem to be dimmer than ever before? Or in some cases, just completely switched off?

You're not wrong OP
Some headlights are so bright they look like full beams.

same in my town, even on a new roundabout, dark and raining heavy the lines were nowhere to be seen just a very shiny black road, talk about take your life in to your own hands on the multi lane roundabout, terrible!

We have a horse and it's an expected that horse and rider have at least 3 pieces of high viz she riding on the roads. A horse and rider is already significantly more visible than a bike. Why are standards not the same. The argument that you shouldn't have to wear it because drivers should be vigilant doesn't help when you're dead. I have dc and horse kitted up so brightly you'd see them from space!

Idiots in dark clothing are my pet peeve as a driver. Pedestrians and cyclists do not do well versus cars. Why put yourself at risk by making yourself as invisible as possible?

Totally agree, but drivers in smaller and more sensibly sized cars are also the victims in all this. Bigger, higher-up cars with blinding lights are making life harder for drivers in cars that have more sensible designs; there's the risk of an arms race. The UK needs to bring in some harsh tonnage taxes and other measures to strongly discourage the purchase of enormous vehicles. And those fucking lights need to be banned.

I thought it was just us! We talk about this a lot- hate driving in the dark now due to dazzling lights. The yellow lights on older car models are much better than the bright white LED ones.

I just got those and finally I can drive at night again. They make s huge difference. I got them from Vision Express

Cyclists either have the super bright blind you lights (which they obv can’t dip) or they have barely any light/reflectors or high vis at all. The number of pedestrians out with no high vis or torch is also terrifying- I had an incident this evening coming round a corner on a rural road where I came across a bloke dressed in dark clothing walking his black lab in the dark - luckily I was A. Going slowly and B. Saw him in time (just!). It’s just so brainless🙈

By the way, there is also statistical evidence that black and dark-colored vehicles are more likely to be involved in accidents.

It's OK to get cross with walkers wearing dark clothes IF you are also ensuring your own vehicle is not dark colored and are OK with measures being brought in requiring all vehicles to be highly visible colors (I think we should do this FWIW).

My biggest problem is boar and deer jumping out in front of me from nowhere.

Streetlights are turned off now at 11pm so it's dark even in the villages - i wouldn't want to be out late with a dog.

I agree bright lights from oncoming traffic are also a nightmare.

It’s difficult to see anything at night where I live because the street lights keep being dimmed to cut costs and then they go off entirely at midnight so we’re all plunged into darkness, I drive home at 4am - it’s safer as I don’t want to walk the unlit streets - I am extra vigilant when driving because so often someone all dressed in dark clothing will step out and so many cyclists aren’t kitted out with good quality lights .

The combination of LEDs and my ageing eyesight have meant that I'm much less confident driving at night. Too easy to miss something in peripheral vision at nighttime.

I have to drive 15 miles home from work on a rural road with loads of corners and it always seems to be absolutely chucking it down when I’m driving home, so that combined with the lights coming straight at me makes it so difficult - it’s like I can just see a blur of bright lights and rain and can barely see where the road goes, it’s horrible. Also there are hardly any chances to have the lights on full beam because it’s so busy. The lights are absolutely dazzling.

"Ive got anti glare on my glasses. Havent found that its any different to when Im just wearing my contacts"

There are different types of anti-glare, so the type used for night driving might not be the type you have on your glasses.

I completely agree 100%. However I don't think anything will change until there's a gigantic incident + loss of life. As usual. We have a reactive culture instead of proactive

Published research says they actually make it harder to see

Haha wow you don't sound bitter & jealous of those responsible enough to have a driving licence and a vehicle, not at ALL! 🤣
Just an fyi - You can be completely stationary and be blinded by other vehicle's headlights.

Reading comprehension is vital, it really is