4 ms·

This is a major problem for me. Driving a small car at night is so difficult for me these days, especially as a person who wears glasses. Huge lifted vehicles

This is a major problem for me. Driving a small car at night is so difficult for me these days, especially as a person who wears glasses. Huge lifted vehicles essentially reduce my vision >50% without even using their high beams lights.

leggomylibro 7y ago
It's downright dangerous. Sometimes I have to hold my hand up to block my side view mirrors at night just to avoid being blinded. I keep thinking that people have their brights on. And at the same time, other drivers forget to turn their headlights on at night, and it takes time for my eyes to re-adjust enough to see them. I never thought that I would want to see some regulation around maximum headlight brightness, but I really really do.
- ntsplnkv2 7y ago
  I actually shifted my mirrors outward so the light isn't reflecting on me at all times. So now to use my side mirrors I shift to see. This is obviously not ideal.
  - leggomylibro 7y ago
    Oh, that's a good idea. I actually have a friend who tilts their mirrors really far out so they can barely see their own car, and they did say that it helps them see more once they got used to it. Thanks for the reminder.
    - linsomniac 7y ago
      Many people recommend against seeing the corners of your vehicle in your side mirrors at all. The argument goes: Those are for seeing your blind spots, not for seeing behind you, and moving them way out will dramatically reduce your blind spot. Use the rear view mirror for, you know, the rear view. It's taken me a long time to get used to, but it seems to work. I had to break myself of the habit of using just the side view mirror for changing lanes, to ensure there is no fast moving traffic overtaking. The biggest problem there is if someone is close up on you, like in stop and go. But I can lean over a bit to adjust the side angle then or when backing into parking. https://www.cartalk.com/content/avoiding-blind-spot-5 https://www.cartalk.com/content/avoiding-blind-spot-5
      - yellowapple 7y ago
        The only problem is that things get a bit dicey if you don't actually have a rear view mirror (e.g. it's obstructed, or you're driving a vehicle that lacks one entirely, like a cargo van or box truck). This is a pretty rare case, though, and in those cases such vehicles typically have wide-angle mirrors that make it much easier to see both directly behind and to the side.
    - viewer5 7y ago
      Mine are this same way. My side mirrors do a better job at covering the gap between my peripheral and my rearview this way, instead of overlapping as much with my rearview.
  - u801e 7y ago
    That's actually the recommended[1] way to adjust the side mirrors. [1] https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/blindzoneglaremirrormethod.pdf https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/blindzonegla...
  - behringer 7y ago
    You shouldn't really see your car or the car behind you in your side views. Your side views are for seeing the other lanes. You should turn your mirrors just far enough that you can't see your car at all in any of your normal sitting up position, for both mirrors.
    - leggomylibro 7y ago
      Sure, but my rear view is usually blocked by a dirt bike when I'm driving long distances, so I have fisheye extensions on my side mirrors to see behind me.
    - ntsplnkv2 7y ago
      Even if my mirrors are set to "optimal", I am still blinded. So my mirrors are a bit further out.
  - praptak 7y ago
    That's actually a good practice regardless of the blinding effect. It reduces the blind areas between your side vision and what's covered by the side mirrors. Edit: a blog post about this: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/HowToAdjustYourSiderearviewMirrorsAndWhyYouNeed3Monitors.aspx https://www.hanselman.com/blog/HowToAdjustYourSiderearviewMi...
- mcguire 7y ago
  HID headlights are a bigger problem than trucks/SUVs. I've been blinded by sedans on divide highways.
  - ntsplnkv2 7y ago
    They are, but trucks/SUVs sit higher, and their headlights are higher - trucks behind me, for example, are completely blinding because their lights shine directly into my car and mirrors.
  - linsomniac 7y ago
    Are you sure they are HID and not aftermarkets as mentioned in this article? I find that most HIDs seem to shine LESS light up into my eyes as oncoming traffic, because it is so well isolated down onto the road, with less being sent up higher. My old Audi's that had HIDs would adjust the height of the headlights whey you started them, to account for load in the trunk and back seats, which tend to lift the headlights up more. ISTR that there were regulations about the amount of light headlights could put out, and HIDs were more effective largely because they eliminated light going where you didn't need it, and were able to concentrate the light more out and down than up.
  - lutorm 7y ago
    If they're properly aligned, the only time you get flashed is when cars are cresting a hill.
teslabox 7y ago
> Driving a small car at night is so difficult for me these days, especially as a person who wears glasses. Self-defense Step #1: avert your eyes from the bad headlights. One of the problems is our eyes have a natural tendency to look at things which are blue at night, on account of our eyes' hyper-sensitivity to blue light. It was sort of happy accident that early incandescent bulbs were low-blue sources of light that put out vastly more of the safe portion of the spectrum (infrared, red, orange, yellow). Self-defense Step #2: screen out excess blue light. I wear polarized yellowish fit-over glasses at night. They help a lot. I found my current preferred pair at a clearance apparel/home goods store for $8. My backup glasses are yellow safety goggles -- these turn the bad headlights greener than the polarized goggles, but I've tended to use the polarized ones since I found them. You can spend more on "swannies" [0] or whatever, but I'm happy with my $8-$11 yellow glasses. This was inspired by a HN comment, who told about wearing orange glasses to walk his dog: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14170975 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14170975 My first set of orange safety glasses cut out too much light -- great for dealing with headlights, not so great for noticing pedestrians. [0] https://www.swanwicksleep.com/ https://www.swanwicksleep.com/
- timw4mail 7y ago
  The problem with those kinds of glasses is that they still reduce the amount of light. If someone doesn't have their headlights on, you are much less likely to see them with the blue-light filter glasses.
MisterTea 7y ago
I sometimes drive a 3500 chevy van around that's as high as a pickup truck. Most of the vehicles which blind even me aren't trucks but modern cars with HID high beams on or aftermarket headlamps. And I even think its a thing to just drive around with HID high beams because fuck everyone else on the road. And most of those blinding cars seem to be owned by tuner knuckleheads and car culture wanna be's. Usually a modified BMW, VW, Merc or similar. Of course I live in NYC and work out in Suffolk county on Long Island. So the type of vehicle blinding you varies by region and its local knuckle dragging car culture.
- auiya 7y ago
  You know why they have to turn on their high beams when they're approaching you, right? :)
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    They aren't turning on high beam. Their dip beam is not aimed correctly.
    - vladvasiliu 7y ago
      In my experience this is often the case, confirmed by the fact that only one of the lights is blinding.
    - MisterTea 7y ago
      Retrofits, yes. But that newer 201x BMW with the roof rack, body kit and euro plate illuminating the damn treetops along the highway at night is running with high beams on. It's just shitty car culture attention whoring.
      - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
        Those aren't permitted in the US... yet.
bradstewart 7y ago
Indeed. I had completely forgotten my daily driver has auto-dimming mirrors until I jumped in a rental car a few weeks ago for a several hour drive at night. It was extremely difficult.
bootlooped 7y ago
For me, getting dark rear tint alleviated this problem to a high degree.
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  Dark rear tint won't help against being blinded by oncoming traffic on the other side of the street. I'm usually driving a minivan. It's high enough that getting blinded from the rear isn't a huge issue. But I get blinded from the front -- much worse! -- all the time.
kube-system 7y ago
I specifically bought a car with electrochromic mirrors for this reason. I highly recommend it.

leggomylibro 7y ago

It's downright dangerous. Sometimes I have to hold my hand up to block my side view mirrors at night just to avoid being blinded. I keep thinking that people have their brights on. And at the same time, other drivers forget to turn their headlights on at night, and it takes time for my eyes to re-adjust enough to see them. I never thought that I would want to see some regulation around maximum headlight brightness, but I really really do.

ntsplnkv2 7y ago
I actually shifted my mirrors outward so the light isn't reflecting on me at all times. So now to use my side mirrors I shift to see. This is obviously not ideal.
- leggomylibro 7y ago
  Oh, that's a good idea. I actually have a friend who tilts their mirrors really far out so they can barely see their own car, and they did say that it helps them see more once they got used to it. Thanks for the reminder.
  - linsomniac 7y ago
    Many people recommend against seeing the corners of your vehicle in your side mirrors at all. The argument goes: Those are for seeing your blind spots, not for seeing behind you, and moving them way out will dramatically reduce your blind spot. Use the rear view mirror for, you know, the rear view. It's taken me a long time to get used to, but it seems to work. I had to break myself of the habit of using just the side view mirror for changing lanes, to ensure there is no fast moving traffic overtaking. The biggest problem there is if someone is close up on you, like in stop and go. But I can lean over a bit to adjust the side angle then or when backing into parking. https://www.cartalk.com/content/avoiding-blind-spot-5 https://www.cartalk.com/content/avoiding-blind-spot-5
    - yellowapple 7y ago
      The only problem is that things get a bit dicey if you don't actually have a rear view mirror (e.g. it's obstructed, or you're driving a vehicle that lacks one entirely, like a cargo van or box truck). This is a pretty rare case, though, and in those cases such vehicles typically have wide-angle mirrors that make it much easier to see both directly behind and to the side.
  - viewer5 7y ago
    Mine are this same way. My side mirrors do a better job at covering the gap between my peripheral and my rearview this way, instead of overlapping as much with my rearview.
- u801e 7y ago
  That's actually the recommended[1] way to adjust the side mirrors. [1] https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/blindzoneglaremirrormethod.pdf https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/blindzonegla...
- behringer 7y ago
  You shouldn't really see your car or the car behind you in your side views. Your side views are for seeing the other lanes. You should turn your mirrors just far enough that you can't see your car at all in any of your normal sitting up position, for both mirrors.
  - leggomylibro 7y ago
    Sure, but my rear view is usually blocked by a dirt bike when I'm driving long distances, so I have fisheye extensions on my side mirrors to see behind me.
  - ntsplnkv2 7y ago
    Even if my mirrors are set to "optimal", I am still blinded. So my mirrors are a bit further out.
- praptak 7y ago
  That's actually a good practice regardless of the blinding effect. It reduces the blind areas between your side vision and what's covered by the side mirrors. Edit: a blog post about this: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/HowToAdjustYourSiderearviewMirrorsAndWhyYouNeed3Monitors.aspx https://www.hanselman.com/blog/HowToAdjustYourSiderearviewMi...
mcguire 7y ago
HID headlights are a bigger problem than trucks/SUVs. I've been blinded by sedans on divide highways.
- ntsplnkv2 7y ago
  They are, but trucks/SUVs sit higher, and their headlights are higher - trucks behind me, for example, are completely blinding because their lights shine directly into my car and mirrors.
- linsomniac 7y ago
  Are you sure they are HID and not aftermarkets as mentioned in this article? I find that most HIDs seem to shine LESS light up into my eyes as oncoming traffic, because it is so well isolated down onto the road, with less being sent up higher. My old Audi's that had HIDs would adjust the height of the headlights whey you started them, to account for load in the trunk and back seats, which tend to lift the headlights up more. ISTR that there were regulations about the amount of light headlights could put out, and HIDs were more effective largely because they eliminated light going where you didn't need it, and were able to concentrate the light more out and down than up.
- lutorm 7y ago
  If they're properly aligned, the only time you get flashed is when cars are cresting a hill.

teslabox 7y ago

> Driving a small car at night is so difficult for me these days, especially as a person who wears glasses. Self-defense Step #1: avert your eyes from the bad headlights. One of the problems is our eyes have a natural tendency to look at things which are blue at night, on account of our eyes' hyper-sensitivity to blue light. It was sort of happy accident that early incandescent bulbs were low-blue sources of light that put out vastly more of the safe portion of the spectrum (infrared, red, orange, yellow). Self-defense Step #2: screen out excess blue light. I wear polarized yellowish fit-over glasses at night. They help a lot. I found my current preferred pair at a clearance apparel/home goods store for $8. My backup glasses are yellow safety goggles -- these turn the bad headlights greener than the polarized goggles, but I've tended to use the polarized ones since I found them. You can spend more on "swannies" [0] or whatever, but I'm happy with my $8-$11 yellow glasses. This was inspired by a HN comment, who told about wearing orange glasses to walk his dog: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14170975 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14170975 My first set of orange safety glasses cut out too much light -- great for dealing with headlights, not so great for noticing pedestrians. [0] https://www.swanwicksleep.com/ https://www.swanwicksleep.com/

timw4mail 7y ago
The problem with those kinds of glasses is that they still reduce the amount of light. If someone doesn't have their headlights on, you are much less likely to see them with the blue-light filter glasses.

MisterTea 7y ago

I sometimes drive a 3500 chevy van around that's as high as a pickup truck. Most of the vehicles which blind even me aren't trucks but modern cars with HID high beams on or aftermarket headlamps. And I even think its a thing to just drive around with HID high beams because fuck everyone else on the road. And most of those blinding cars seem to be owned by tuner knuckleheads and car culture wanna be's. Usually a modified BMW, VW, Merc or similar. Of course I live in NYC and work out in Suffolk county on Long Island. So the type of vehicle blinding you varies by region and its local knuckle dragging car culture.

auiya 7y ago
You know why they have to turn on their high beams when they're approaching you, right? :)
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  They aren't turning on high beam. Their dip beam is not aimed correctly.
  - vladvasiliu 7y ago
    In my experience this is often the case, confirmed by the fact that only one of the lights is blinding.
  - MisterTea 7y ago
    Retrofits, yes. But that newer 201x BMW with the roof rack, body kit and euro plate illuminating the damn treetops along the highway at night is running with high beams on. It's just shitty car culture attention whoring.
    - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
      Those aren't permitted in the US... yet.

bradstewart 7y ago

Indeed. I had completely forgotten my daily driver has auto-dimming mirrors until I jumped in a rental car a few weeks ago for a several hour drive at night. It was extremely difficult.

bootlooped 7y ago

For me, getting dark rear tint alleviated this problem to a high degree.

thaumasiotes 7y ago
Dark rear tint won't help against being blinded by oncoming traffic on the other side of the street. I'm usually driving a minivan. It's high enough that getting blinded from the rear isn't a huge issue. But I get blinded from the front -- much worse! -- all the time.

kube-system 7y ago

I specifically bought a car with electrochromic mirrors for this reason. I highly recommend it.