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Sun Jan 20, 2019 10:55 am

Been bugging me for a while but I thought it was just me so I never brought it up until I was riding with truck full of family and someone else brought up the subject. Seems like I'm not the only one who thinks the headlights of the newer cars or cars that use very bright headlights is becoming very annoying. It's hard to tell if they are low or high beam they are so bright. A car came towards me last night with a light bar in the grill. That damn near blinds you on a rainy night with all the glare. Kids with their 4X4s are mounting the light bars on top of the roll bars in the bed. You can almost light up a ski slope with them. Rant over but I'm still gonna give the oncoming car my high beams if I feel their lights are to bright. :x

Sun Jan 20, 2019 11:08 am

How about the huge increase of people driving at night without their lights on.

with illuminated dashes and daytime running lights a large number of people never put their headlights on. The real problem is now they have no rear lights unless they hit the brakes.

Sun Jan 20, 2019 11:56 am

Dwayne1m wrote: Seems like I'm not the only one who thinks the headlights of the newer cars or cars that use very bright headlights is becoming very annoying.

NPR did a segment about it in late December.
Its not just your aging eyes, and with so many SUV's are on the road where the height of the vehicle is so different that that of a normal car, it is a real issue.

Dbags with lifted trucks that don't re-index their lights are right blinding, as are those ancient folks who drive everywhere with their highbeams on (yes, usually in the slow lane with their left turn signal blinking)

Sun Jan 20, 2019 12:39 pm

Only a few nights ago I was so blinded by oncoming headlights I hit the brakes because I could see nothing and I knew I was coming up on a very narrow bridge. I flashed my brights to get the oncoming driver to dim the lights ... and they flashed even brighter lights. :evil: Since I was blinded I couldn't tell if this was a new car, old car with "upgraded" headlights, truck, SUV. It really is getting rediculous.

Sun Jan 20, 2019 12:39 pm

Some folks don’t care that’s for sure. Some get used to running brights because their lenses have developed a haze which has diminished the effectiveness from inside the car but may in fact shine into oncoming traffic. Moisture intrusion can also cause same problem. Another separate problem may be the aftermarket blue and white lights which seem more harsh to oncoming traffic. One thing I like which shouldn’t be a problem is lights that follow the car into a turn. I’ve got these on a Lexus and yes they will cost some to replace.

Sun Jan 20, 2019 12:54 pm

Didnt studebaker do that back in the 50's?

Sun Jan 20, 2019 1:02 pm

calvinater wrote: Didnt studebaker do that back in the 50's?
Tucker's center light did, I believe

Sun Jan 20, 2019 2:08 pm

Eh, yeah overly bright lights in your face do suck, but I'd take that over being stuck behind bad drivers riding their damn brakes at night. That can strain your eyes to the point you can't focus. The oncoming will get by you in 10 seconds and you can divert your eyes for a second. the brake humper you may be behind all night long. Other night, asshole rode their brakes for 3 miles straight. How can you go 60mph with your brakes applied f o r 3 minutes? Yep, I timed them. Either that or the idiot that pumps their brakes every other second. Idiots.

Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:32 pm

90% of these overly bright headlights (lights) are not DOT approved, some others are the wrong bulb behind wrong lens and others are aimed incorrectly. The redneck light bars are simply ridiculous.
None of the issues are enforced one bit..
Now.. if it starts to cause accidents.. well.. that's up to da judge..

I agree.. the bright white is WAY too bright at night and too high on the Kelvin scale to be used on vehicles on the streets with on coming traffic. ..

Its can be worse than a flash bulbs at times.

I hate them.. and I'm not old..

Zundfolge1432 wrote: One thing I like which shouldn’t be a problem is lights that follow the car into a turn. I’ve got these on a Lexus and yes they will cost some to replace.

iowegian wrote: calvinater wrote: Didnt studebaker do that back in the 50's?
Tucker's center light did, I believe

Tucker yes Studebaker no.. That was an aftermarket kit (re)sparked by the Tucker idea. It was also available to other make cars to replace the center "bullet" in the grille with a fixed and or steering lamp. Ford and Mercury come to mind.
A few companies tried and offered their own versions on the high end models over the years before and after the 48 Tucker..

Steering lamps are a great feature IMO.. I own one car with HID adaptive lamp control... it has superb operation and while they are bright they are not glaring.

.

Sun Jan 20, 2019 7:18 pm

calvinater wrote: Didnt studebaker do that back in the 50's?

No, Packard, Cadillac, Duesenberg, Cord, Pierce Arrow and probably more did it back in the late 20's through the early 30's. The lamps were articulated and attached to the steering shaft. The main headlamps went straight, and below them were the articulated lamps.

Sun Jan 20, 2019 8:23 pm

*Darren wrote: Eh, yeah overly bright lights in your face do suck, but I'd take that over being stuck behind bad drivers riding their damn brakes at night. That can strain your eyes to the point you can't focus. The oncoming will get by you in 10 seconds and you can divert your eyes for a second. the brake humper you may be behind all night long. Other night, asshole rode their brakes for 3 miles straight. How can you go 60mph with your brakes applied f o r 3 minutes? Yep, I timed them. Either that or the idiot that pumps their brakes every other second. Idiots.
As if the super bright headlights weren’t bad enough, these new LED brake lights that run the whole height of the back of the damned cars that do not have any sort of refractor in them are brutal at a stop light.

Sun Jan 20, 2019 10:43 pm

iowegian wrote: calvinater wrote: Didnt studebaker do that back in the 50's?
Tucker's center light did, I believe holy carp!! I didnt know I had a center light. :? ...where is it at? :roll: and how do i turn it on :idea:

Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:10 am

Oh ya! This time of the year I face head lights morning and night to and from work an hour each way. There are a bunch of idiots out there that need to have their driver's licence revoked. If you can't learn to operate the simplicity of a headlight you have no business being on the road. Period!

Along with the bright light issue there is those stupid fog lights. Shut the bloody things off for crap's sake. They do absolutely NO good under any circumstance anyway. You wasted your money with that option and when they are on, we have to stare at 4 lights. That is bright! Sometimes brighter than your bright lights with the fogs off!

Then there is those new Ford trucks that have 4 lights on even on dim! Speaking of dim, the dim drivers then run the fogs too 24/7 and think they are heroes for dimming their lights so we can now face 6 headlights instead of 4 on bright! Try meeting that on a curve at night and see if you are still on the road when the spots in your vision subside!

Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:29 am

oprn wrote: ...
Then there is those new Ford trucks that have 4 lights on even on dim.
...

x2 on the new Ford trucks. There should be a recall on those to have the lights fixed (back to 2).

Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:54 am

I no longer drive at night. Adding night blinding on to texting,drugged out drivers makes the risk unacceptable for me. Just another condition that will force self driving cars.....

Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:00 am

Apparently I'm not alone.

I, too, though it was my aging eyes, but oncoming headlights are often too bright, even on low beam.

I also despise LED brake lights in front of me, especially at night. It's a squint festival.

What's probably going to happen is someone will invent something similar to those Tach or Tech visors that cut blinding daylight glare. They attach to the swing-down visor, and are supposed to eliminate glare. Who knows, maybe they work at night with oncoming headlights.

Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:41 am

Lets throw Police cars into the amazingly bright light section?

Reds, Blues, Whites all randomly flashing with no defined beam direction.
Can't see the darn police car let alone the officer standing in front of me that I'd rather NOT run over!!!

These things need a daytime/night time brightness setting!

They probably don't know they can't be seen, I appreciate them wanting me to see their car, but come on people! You have vanished in an amazing array if lights!
You're making a bad situation 10 times worse!

Dave

Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:54 am

djkeev wrote: Lets throw Police cars into the amazingly bright light section?

Reds, Blues, Whites all randomly flashing with no defined beam direction.
Can't see the darn police car let alone the officer standing in front of me that I'd rather NOT run over!!!

These things need a daytime/night time brightness setting!

They probably don't know they can't be seen, I appreciate them wanting me to see their car, but come on people! You have vanished in an amazing array if lights!
You're making a bad situation 10 times worse!

Dave
I've seen people call new police cars Christmas trees :lol: I like the old stuff myself, think CHiPs and Adam-12. Michigan has it right though for being able to be seen but not blind you-

Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:14 pm

djkeev wrote: Lets throw Police cars into the amazingly bright light section?

Reds, Blues, Whites all randomly flashing with no defined beam direction.
Can't see the darn police car let alone the officer standing in front of me that I'd rather NOT run over!!!

These things need a daytime/night time brightness setting!

They probably don't know they can't be seen, I appreciate them wanting me to see their car, but come on people! You have vanished in an amazing array if lights!
You're making a bad situation 10 times worse!

Dave
I have actually stopped & told officers that were directing traffic that they were not visible at all with all the lights on their cars going.

Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:08 pm

Glenn wrote: How about the huge increase of people driving at night without their lights on.

with illuminated dashes and daytime running lights a large number of people never put their headlights on. The real problem is now they have no rear lights unless they hit the brakes.

Is this a 'thing' now?

I've seen two cars in the last 2 evenings with their lights off at night and wondered. Still don't get the tail lights off thing.

I also don't care for the super bright headlights.

Get your lights off my lawn! ;^P