To be happy about this...re headlight glare..link attached

[Ihateboris]

Finally something is (hopefully) going to be done about these bloody awful and dangerous headlights. I hate driving at night as these lights literally blind me for a few seconds.

BBC link here:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

Even today, in sunshine, I was blinded by the LED lights of an oncoming HGV.

Yes, I know blinded is hyperbole.

People need to learn how to adjust the dip angle. Too many idiots on the road who dont know how their own cars work.

I mean, having looked at some comments on Facebook, I'm fairly sure some of them don't want to. They seem to find it funny in that macho way. But there will also be many who are just oblivious to what their own lights look like.

But the trend of vans and, indeed, lorries using very bright LED lights is ridiculously dangerous. Some of the lorries are lit up like Blackpool Illuminations.

I am also sure the Mini that seared my eyeballs way back just has it built into the design. They have a bright white circle like a halo around the main lights.

If you drive a small car like me you can be affected form behind too - and I don't see how dipping adjustment helps there.

DH's old Insignia was awful. He could barely see on dark roads. His new Octavia lights the road up well - but he could be dazzling people. There has to be a medium.

That’s only a solution in a minority of cases. The main problem is exactly what it seems to be, lights have simply got brighter and brighter rather than thought being given to the best balance between visibility and dazzle for everyone.

Most newer cars self level now so that’s not the issue. It’s genuine brightness

I really hope the Jenni Murray thing makes some change happen. We know that too bright lights are bad; that's why they invented main beam and fog lights. So I don't know why LED have been made so bright.

And is there really nothing we can do to diffuse the light? It's so crisp and shadowy and just generally unpleasant to be around. It's a safety need on the road, but it's also an issue just walking under streetlights and lots of shops seem to be fitting LED spotlights that at the wrong angle really hit you in the eye, along with strips of uncovered LEDs. Just not nice.

Absolutely this.

Someone on the FB thread I was reading (one of the people not being a Twat) mentioned how indicators, ironically, are becoming more stylised and harder and harder to see.

God, yes! They are in different places or they are little strips. Or they are outcompeted by headlights. Of course this does rely on drivers actually using them...

I actually quite like the LED streetlights , although I know some street safety campaigners don't. . They throw the light downwards in quite a small pool. That bit is very bright . But they are miles better to live opposite/next to than the old ones that threw light into homes as well as on to the ground.

Agree about shop lights. Lights on warehouse and security lights are an issue to. Our chip shop has tiny LED light on its side which glares into vehicles coming over a bridge.

Indeed. I love Knight Rider but I do not want to see twatty pulsing indicators cars. Or not see as the case may be as they're harder to spot.

The move to cap them and reduce light pollution upwards is good. But otherwise I find them so harsh. My old house we had one outside and it got right in your eyes from the dining table. Whereas I grew up sleeping opposite a sodium light with no issues. Plus the weird puddles of darkness aren't helpful. They are simultaneously too bright and too dark - just in different places. Ambient light should be all around.

Yes, I had to complain about the shop across the road when they first put streetlights in because they shone in our front room and it gave me headaches,. To be fair, they dimmed them and no issues since.

Same, and my lights are basically like having a couple of candles on the front!

I drive in yellow glasses as that seems to help a bit, but as someone with an eye condition that makes my pupils slow to contract, LED lights are an absolute pain in my arse. And all the more so when you’re sitting so much lower than these huge SUVs or people are too fucking ignorant to lower their full beam until they’re right in front of you.

They are simultaneously too bright and too dark - just in different places. Ambient light should be all around.

Agree with this - I have some solar lights on my front path and they are so dazzling that you can’t actually see the step outside my house! They light certain bits of the path, but then your eyes can’t adjust to the darker bits well. My DP tripped down the step the first night I installed the lights! Have since angled them and added some visual markers on the step, but it’s ridiculous that lights can make it harder to see!