57 replies to this topic

[Spider]

 

[Steam]

"They're lights Jim, but not as we know it"

[Designer]

                                                                 

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

- drivers who park on the wrong side of the road with their headlights on and/or the engine running. When did that become fashionable?

People have done it for a long time but it's got worse with the introduction of the auto setting for lighting.  Now people start their vehicles and the headlamps come on right in your face as your're passing them.  

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

I have even been blinded by those cyclists who wear a very bright white LED light (sometimes flashing) mounted on their bike helmet, with the beam bouncing around in all directions!

Even the normal bike mounted front lights are too dazzling.  It's like they're made like main beams.  I bought a front lamp for my bike and specifically bought one that had more of a dip beam pattern.  It was hard to find - I only found one company selling them.  It was made for sale in Germany where they legislate about such things.

[Ethel]

It's not difficult to mount them so they don't dazzle, but the round beam pattern means you can't see or be seen as well anywhere off straight ahead.

[PoolGuy]

The thing that a lot of people don’t realise about cycling lights is that there are two types, those that you see with and those that get you seen. The ones that get you seen are generally inappropriate for nighttime use as they’re incredibly bright and scatter light all over the place.

[mab01uk]

Government-commissioned project looking at dazzling headlights to kick off.
"From October 2024 through Spring 2025, TRL will equip a car with instruments to measure light levels encountered by drivers on UK roads.
The Transport Research Foundation’s subsidiary, the TRL has begun its research into headlight glare, following contributions from the RAC.
The TRL has started practical trials to assess the conditions that drivers complain of as glare from the headlights of oncoming vehicles – particularly at night. TRL has announced that they will be working with the Department for Transport (DfT) to understand the factors that can cause headlight glare.
Results of the research will be used to address the problem."
https://www.rac.co.u...ts-to-kick-off/

 

[mab01uk]

The Sunday Times (Jan 11th 2025) - Why have car headlights got so bright — and what are the dangers?
Dazzling headlights are responsible for at least 280 collisions a year, and a trade in illegal super-bright LED upgrades is thriving.

What has been described as an “arms race” in LED headlights has resulted in them getting steadily brighter.
There’s a moment that sticks in Tim Riley’s mind. “It was pitch dark, on a narrow two-way road. A vehicle came around the corner towards us, from a slight rise in the hill … and the lights just came at us. They were blinding. You couldn’t see for several seconds.
“My partner was panicking, and I just had to try and remember what the road looked like and slow down. It was frightening.”
It’s a situation most drivers will recognise.

For Riley, 50, such encounters on the dark and winding roads around his home in the Lake District have become so common that he tries not to drive in darkness at all — but the problem is nationwide. A survey of 2,000 drivers by the RAC found nine in ten think at least some lights are too bright: of those, three quarters say they are regularly dazzled and 85 per cent say the problem is getting worse.
Many people think they know the reason, too: the increasing prevalence and power of LED (light-emitting diode) headlights. “There’s almost an arms race in car headlights,” said John Lincoln of the campaign group LightAware, of which Riley is also a member. “The car manufacturers have increased the intensity of the light.”

Traditional halogen lights typically emit about 1,000 lumens, a measure of their perceived brightness. “The LEDs on new cars are much more powerful — they often don’t publish that information, but we think for many it’s around 6,000 lumens. And now people in older cars are upgrading their halogen lights with ridiculously bright LEDs.”
Such installations are often illegal. LED lights are not certified for use in headlight units built for halogens, and The Highway Code says that headlights must not dazzle other road users.
But the “aftermarket” in LED bulbs is thriving, and many are promoted specifically for fitting in older cars not designed for them. Traders on Amazon offer bulbs with outputs of up to 35,000 lumens, boasting they “illuminate the road like never before”. What isn’t made quite so clear is that, in the process, they may temporarily blind other road users.

The sheer power of LEDs isn’t the only factor in play. “They give off a higher colour temperature compared to the old-style bulbs,” said Paramdeep Bilkhu, clinical adviser at the College of Optometrists. “They’re whiter, closer to daylight. If you’re in the car using them, that improves visibility; but they’re more likely to dazzle oncoming drivers. Added to that, there’s the position on the car. With more SUVs on the road, the lights tend to be higher up than smaller vehicles — so they can shine directly into the eyes of the oncoming driver.
“It’s much worse at night, because your retinal cells have undergone dark adaptation: they’ve become more sensitive to enable you to see in darker conditions. If you shine a bright light source on someone who is dark-adapted, it’s going to dazzle them.”
Bilkhu said there is currently insufficient evidence to categorically show that brighter lights can harm the eye — but in surveys, drivers say the headlights can leave them blinded for as much as six seconds, enough to travel about 180 yards at 60mph.
Part of the problem may lie in the design of modern LED headlights. While traditional incandescent bulbs emit light in all directions, which is then reflected forwards, many new headlights use a combination of reflectors and lenses to produce a narrower, more focused beam. If this beam shines directly in the eyes of other road users — whether through faulty alignment, or when an oncoming car crests a hill or mounts a speed bump — the intensity of light can be shocking.
The motor industry points out that headlights must meet international standards, and it is an offence to fit an unapproved light source. That doesn’t seem to be stopping some owners.

The effect is most acute for older drivers — as the lens of the eye clouds with age, increasing the perception of glare — and for those in rural areas with no street lighting, which makes the contrast with bright headlights more dazzling. The result can be, effectively, a night-time curfew.
“I have good vision but I just can’t drive at night any more, because these lights completely blind me,” said Gill Crane, 70. “We live in the middle of nowhere in Somerset, and if you want to go out after dark you have to drive. So after four o’clock in the afternoon, that’s it, I’m stuck.
“I question why they make them so bright — is there any real benefit? You need to be able to stop in a distance you can see, don’t you, not in three miles? They’re more likely to cause an accident than prevent one. They’re crazy.”
Dazzling headlights are recorded as a factor in about 280 collisions a year, according to the Department for Transport’s figures, though campaigners say that the true figure may be much higher.

The public disquiet is certainly growing. “Few issues we deal with have triggered quite as much of a reaction among drivers as the brightness of headlights,” said Rod Dennis of the RAC. “It’s clear that, for a proportion of the driving public, glare affects them profoundly on the roads at night.”
That reaction has forced the government into action: a study from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), commissioned by the Conservative administration and continued by Labour, is gathering data on the measurable effects of brighter headlights.
“We’ll rig up an ordinary car and equip it with instrumentation in the driver’s seat to capture the experience of light from the driver’s perspective,” said Shaun Helman, the project’s chief scientist. “It will be driven on different routes, in all weathers and all times of day.”
Initial results are expected in April, but they are “unlikely to provide all the answers”, said TRL, and more research may be needed. A change in regulation seems to be far off — too far, perhaps, for even the most powerful headlight to see.

For now, that leaves drivers such as Crane and Riley stranded. “People say anti-glare screens and glasses help a bit, and there’s advice to look at the kerb so you know where you are in the road — but that hardly tallies with having full awareness of the road around you, does it?” said Riley. “And we shouldn’t have to find workarounds anyway. The levels of brightness are just way above what the human eye should be exposed to. I honestly believe these headlights aren’t safe on the roads.”
https://www.thetimes...ngers-ft7twjgxg

Edited by mab01uk, 12 January 2025 - 09:57 AM.

[Bobbins]

Every time this is reported on, ‘aftermarket upgrades’ gets included in the conversation and the core issue is lost.

Upgraded headlights account for a tiny percentage because every new car sold is now part of the problem, and those aren’t the ones being upgraded. It’s as though the vehicle manufacturers are pushing the upgraded / illegal discussion to dodge the issue.

I’m now using special yellow tint glasses for my commute home and even then, on damp roads driving is simply not safe. I know my own car is part of the problem which is frustrating.

[Rubbershorts]

A bit of education on how to use the button that toggles the main lights up and down wouldn't go amiss. I'd like to see the survey results of the question that asks drivers if they even have one. Pretty sure most people don't know it exists. In a 30 zone, street lights and other traffic, get it in lowest setting, you don't need it. Too much hassle for people to factor into their night time journey. To be fair though, manufactures should stick it on the steering wheel and not hide it away under the dash. Even Numpties could find it then.

[PoolGuy]

A bit of education on how to use the button that toggles the main lights up and down wouldn't go amiss. To be fair though, manufactures should stick it on the steering wheel and not hide it away under the dash.

How many cars have that anymore? I haven't driven a modern car with that function for probably 10 years. I may be wrong but I thought that xenon and presumably led lights were required to have automatic levelling fitted?

[Rubbershorts]

[quote name="PoolGuy" post="3779315" timestamp="1736679205"][quote name="Rubbershorts" post="3779314" timestamp="1736678367"]
A bit of education on how to use the button that toggles the main lights up and down wouldn't go amiss. To be fair though, manufactures should stick it on the steering wheel and not hide it away under the dash.
[/quote]
How many cars have that anymore? I haven't driven a modern car with that function for probably 10 years. I may be wrong but I thought that xenon and presumably led lights were required to have automatic levelling fitted?

Ah, interesting. Only going from my personal experience and the only vehicles I've purchased new in the last 10 years have all been vans. These haven't had LEDs in the main cluster. Maybe that's something to add to the upgrading to LEDs legislation, that if you don't have self leveling you shouldn't have them? My original post still stands, but in reference to older non LED equipped cars, as that is still a problem. Daz.

Edited by Rubbershorts, 12 January 2025 - 11:06 AM.

[PoolGuy]

[quote name="Rubbershorts" post="3779314" timestamp="1736678367"]
 Maybe that's something to add to the upgrading to LEDs legislation, that if you don't have self leveling you shouldn't have them? Daz.

The 'upgrading to led legislation' (unless we're dealing with (?) pre '71 stuff) is that you're not allowed to fit an led bulb into a housing designed for a halogen bulb.

[Rubbershorts]

[quote name="PoolGuy" post="3779319" timestamp="1736680225"][quote name="Rubbershorts" post="3779318" timestamp="1736679892"][quote name="Rubbershorts" post="3779314" timestamp="1736678367"]
Maybe that's something to add to the upgrading to LEDs legislation, that if you don't have self leveling you shouldn't have them? Daz.[/quote]The 'upgrading to led legislation' (unless we're dealing with (?) pre '71 stuff) is that you're not allowed to fit an led bulb into a housing designed for a halogen bulb.[/quot

As we know, that means chuff all to some people. At least using the leveller function, if you have one, would take some of the sting out of the extra brightness.