4 ms·

I really hate led headlights here in USA, They are too bright and need to be banned. People using these should be jailed for endangering lives. I don't know why

I really hate led headlights here in USA, They are too bright and need to be banned. People using these should be jailed for endangering lives. I don't know why but This seems to be particularly common here on big pickup trucks, which is even worse because they hit you right in your eyes if you are driving a regular car due to height difference. Also, I've had adaptive headlights on my subaru forever.

aaomidi 6y ago
what is with Americans and jumping up at just jailing people? jesus christ you don't need to jail people because they used bright lights.
- dominotw 6y ago
  shows basic lack of concern for other people's lives on the road, same as drunk driving. > because they used bright lights. Why are people doing this in the first place. I don't understand.
  - aaomidi 6y ago
    what does jailing someone achieve here? what is with this gross authoritarianism? most of these people using these bright LEDs dont realize how bright it is for the other drivers - it's probably just to make the roads brighter because driving in America is extremely different than the rest of the world (very very rural highways - with essentially no extra lighting)
    - giancarlostoro 6y ago
      When you are literally blinded by somebody's headlights making you momentarily blind, you are a danger to yourself and others and could kill yourself and / or others which is not even your fault to begin with! Jail time doesn't sound too insane then. I've literally had to close my eyes whilst driving due to someone's ridiculous headlights being super bright on the opposite side of the road.
      - aaomidi 6y ago
        Jail should be only reserved for a time when a person is refusing to change their behavior to stop being a risk to themselves or society. It is not and should not be used as a punishment. This is ridiculous.
        Dylan16807 6y ago
        So write a ticket the first time, and if they don't change then jail for endangering others, right? I don't think people are especially concerned about the exact punishment schedule here, they just want consequences that result in safe cars, much like with drunk driving laws. Someone mentioning jail doesn't mean they want it as an immediate first-line consequence. It's a simplification, so please recognize that before crying 'ridiculous'.
        jacquesm 6y ago
        No, then you confiscate the car. Walk home and you will be a lot smarter by the time you get there.
        Dylan16807 6y ago
        That sounds like a bigger punishment!
        danShumway 6y ago
        Taking away someone's transportation would be a bigger punishment than locking them inside a prison? Prisoners also can't drive cars around, so jail is a strict superset of that punishment. I'm not going to take a hard position on it, but I'm at least mildly skeptical that jail would ever be appropriate for something that can be just as easily solved by progressive fines and revoking a license. Jails in the US are really awful, so they'd need to produce great results for me to prefer putting someone into one of them. And it's not clear to me that they even reduce recidivism rates for crimes of this nature any more than other alternatives. We should be pretty hesitant to send people to prison. Particularly with the knowledge of how calls for increased "tough on crime" policing typically go in America -- well meaning people should keep in mind that advocating for the expansion of carceral laws often results in unintended consequences.
    - dominotw 6y ago
      > most of these people using these bright LEDs dont realize how bright it is for the other drivers How can you possibly not know that. You are literally making them bighter so it would obviously be brighter for the drivers too. why do you think its illegal in the first place.
      - aaomidi 6y ago
        Again because most of American roads have literally no lighting. They are not raised from the surrounding land. They have no sort of guard rails. If you want to drive safely at night on these roads you need a longer visibility distance. You're likely not thinking about if this is going to bother someone else or not. And most US law isn't even clear on whats street legal and whats not.
    - acituan 6y ago
      > what is with this gross authoritarianism? most of these people using these bright LEDs dont realize how bright it is for the other drivers There are wishes for gross authoritarianism because US has problems with lesser, appropriate regulations. The way other countries handle this is periodic vehicle inspections - just like smog checks but with more points - which also measure from the lumens and angle of your headlights to whether your wipers work properly, failure of which bars your car off the public roads. If this was suggested in the US eyes would roll, heads would turn, nanny state arguments would be invoked. In the absence of reifying such moderate measures, people let go of their pent up frustrations of failing to be a cooperating society in the form of wishing imprisonment or worse onto each other.
      - vonmoltke 6y ago
        > If this was suggested in the US eyes would roll, heads would turn, nanny state arguments would be invoked. Yet several states do this, including Texas of all places.
  - deleted 6y ago
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  - deleted 6y ago
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  - charrondev 6y ago
    IDK, I’ve seen some very incredibly lights on what look to be modern, unmodified vehicles. Since you don’t seem to have any statistics to go with your assertion that most of the bright lights are because of aftermarket installations, I have no reason to believe it over any of the alternatives such as: - Lights being too bright from the factory (because some regulations don’t specific peak lumens). - Lights being misaligned from the factory (a small amount makes a big difference). Or the most likely to me: - People carrying a significant amount of weight in the back of the vehicle. This would be most commonly seen on trucks and SUVs, but could also be a smaller car with something heavy in the trunk. Not sure on the authority of this resource, but they list the most common reason headlights would need to be adjusted as: https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-to-adjust-your-headlights https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-to-adjust-your-head... > In most cases, headlights simply slip out of adjustment over time. In fact, most headlights will need to be adjusted every few years. Here are a couple of reasons your headlights may be pointed at the sky: > > Reason 1: Too much weight. One of the most common reasons that headlights are not shining on the road or are blinding oncoming drivers is due to excess weight in the trunk or cargo area. This will push down the rear of the vehicle enough to tilt the front of it up, along with the light beams. In a case like this a ticket or warning from a traffic cop would likely be sufficient for someone to adjust their headlamps, but you instead jump to jailing someone? That’s a bit extreme.
- coding123 6y ago
  It is literally what we do. 8O
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- dx034 6y ago
  Exactly, just confiscate the car until lights have been fixed. It's much cheaper for the state than jailing people and there's a huge incentive to get the problem fixed quickly.
zenexer 6y ago
Good LED headlights aren’t blinding. It’s often aftermarket nonsense that causes problems. As someone else mentioned, the culprits aren’t often LEDs; there are some crazy bulbs out there, and the people using them just don’t care if they’re blinding other drivers. It’s ridiculous.
- boring_twenties 6y ago
  There doesn't appear to be any dearth of traffic enforcement in general in the United States. They carry special devices with them just to measure your window tint, FFS. Is there some reason they can't be incentivized to enforce actual safety laws like this one, too (or instead)?
  - ficklepickle 6y ago
    Oh, I know this one. Racism! Tint rules give plausible deniability for pulling someone over for driving while black. It's not about safety at all.
    - boring_twenties 6y ago
      You know, I think you might be onto something.
  - kitteh 6y ago
    Know one major US city where the state police ran a campaign on the various interstates entering that city (and the surrounding unincorporated roads) where they were writing tickets for lights that violated state law. Went on for a few months and there was backlash (from suburban teens families) to the right folks in the state that got them to stop the campaign.
doctorshady 6y ago
Seriously. Driving at night with a lot of oncoming traffic is starting to become a serious hazard. Maybe doubly so if you have a car that sits relatively low to the ground.
TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
Maximum permissible wattage in USA headlights used to be 55 watts each (and probably still is). I don’t think there was ever a limit defined in lumens, so now we get LED lights with crazy brightness since they still use under 55 watts.
- alkonaut 6y ago
  If the regulation isn't "55 Watts or equivalent brightness to 55W incandescent" then the regulation is pretty dumb. I mean it has to have a minimum brightness (regardless of power use), so why not a maximum brightness rather than a maximum power too?
  - Ancapistani 6y ago
    I’m not sure if it even has a minimum brightness.
    - kube-system 6y ago
      Anyone remember sealed-beam headlights?
      - other_herbert 6y ago
        My grandfathers 53 Chevy truck has them high beams or low beams, no one will be blinded by them
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]

aaomidi 6y ago

what is with Americans and jumping up at just jailing people? jesus christ you don't need to jail people because they used bright lights.

dominotw 6y ago
shows basic lack of concern for other people's lives on the road, same as drunk driving. > because they used bright lights. Why are people doing this in the first place. I don't understand.
- aaomidi 6y ago
  what does jailing someone achieve here? what is with this gross authoritarianism? most of these people using these bright LEDs dont realize how bright it is for the other drivers - it's probably just to make the roads brighter because driving in America is extremely different than the rest of the world (very very rural highways - with essentially no extra lighting)
  - giancarlostoro 6y ago
    When you are literally blinded by somebody's headlights making you momentarily blind, you are a danger to yourself and others and could kill yourself and / or others which is not even your fault to begin with! Jail time doesn't sound too insane then. I've literally had to close my eyes whilst driving due to someone's ridiculous headlights being super bright on the opposite side of the road.
    - aaomidi 6y ago
      Jail should be only reserved for a time when a person is refusing to change their behavior to stop being a risk to themselves or society. It is not and should not be used as a punishment. This is ridiculous.
      - Dylan16807 6y ago
        So write a ticket the first time, and if they don't change then jail for endangering others, right? I don't think people are especially concerned about the exact punishment schedule here, they just want consequences that result in safe cars, much like with drunk driving laws. Someone mentioning jail doesn't mean they want it as an immediate first-line consequence. It's a simplification, so please recognize that before crying 'ridiculous'.
        jacquesm 6y ago
        No, then you confiscate the car. Walk home and you will be a lot smarter by the time you get there.
        Dylan16807 6y ago
        That sounds like a bigger punishment!
        danShumway 6y ago
        Taking away someone's transportation would be a bigger punishment than locking them inside a prison? Prisoners also can't drive cars around, so jail is a strict superset of that punishment. I'm not going to take a hard position on it, but I'm at least mildly skeptical that jail would ever be appropriate for something that can be just as easily solved by progressive fines and revoking a license. Jails in the US are really awful, so they'd need to produce great results for me to prefer putting someone into one of them. And it's not clear to me that they even reduce recidivism rates for crimes of this nature any more than other alternatives. We should be pretty hesitant to send people to prison. Particularly with the knowledge of how calls for increased "tough on crime" policing typically go in America -- well meaning people should keep in mind that advocating for the expansion of carceral laws often results in unintended consequences.
  - dominotw 6y ago
    > most of these people using these bright LEDs dont realize how bright it is for the other drivers How can you possibly not know that. You are literally making them bighter so it would obviously be brighter for the drivers too. why do you think its illegal in the first place.
    - aaomidi 6y ago
      Again because most of American roads have literally no lighting. They are not raised from the surrounding land. They have no sort of guard rails. If you want to drive safely at night on these roads you need a longer visibility distance. You're likely not thinking about if this is going to bother someone else or not. And most US law isn't even clear on whats street legal and whats not.
  - acituan 6y ago
    > what is with this gross authoritarianism? most of these people using these bright LEDs dont realize how bright it is for the other drivers There are wishes for gross authoritarianism because US has problems with lesser, appropriate regulations. The way other countries handle this is periodic vehicle inspections - just like smog checks but with more points - which also measure from the lumens and angle of your headlights to whether your wipers work properly, failure of which bars your car off the public roads. If this was suggested in the US eyes would roll, heads would turn, nanny state arguments would be invoked. In the absence of reifying such moderate measures, people let go of their pent up frustrations of failing to be a cooperating society in the form of wishing imprisonment or worse onto each other.
    - vonmoltke 6y ago
      > If this was suggested in the US eyes would roll, heads would turn, nanny state arguments would be invoked. Yet several states do this, including Texas of all places.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- charrondev 6y ago
  IDK, I’ve seen some very incredibly lights on what look to be modern, unmodified vehicles. Since you don’t seem to have any statistics to go with your assertion that most of the bright lights are because of aftermarket installations, I have no reason to believe it over any of the alternatives such as: - Lights being too bright from the factory (because some regulations don’t specific peak lumens). - Lights being misaligned from the factory (a small amount makes a big difference). Or the most likely to me: - People carrying a significant amount of weight in the back of the vehicle. This would be most commonly seen on trucks and SUVs, but could also be a smaller car with something heavy in the trunk. Not sure on the authority of this resource, but they list the most common reason headlights would need to be adjusted as: https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-to-adjust-your-headlights https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-to-adjust-your-head... > In most cases, headlights simply slip out of adjustment over time. In fact, most headlights will need to be adjusted every few years. Here are a couple of reasons your headlights may be pointed at the sky: > > Reason 1: Too much weight. One of the most common reasons that headlights are not shining on the road or are blinding oncoming drivers is due to excess weight in the trunk or cargo area. This will push down the rear of the vehicle enough to tilt the front of it up, along with the light beams. In a case like this a ticket or warning from a traffic cop would likely be sufficient for someone to adjust their headlamps, but you instead jump to jailing someone? That’s a bit extreme.
coding123 6y ago
It is literally what we do. 8O
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
dx034 6y ago
Exactly, just confiscate the car until lights have been fixed. It's much cheaper for the state than jailing people and there's a huge incentive to get the problem fixed quickly.

zenexer 6y ago

Good LED headlights aren’t blinding. It’s often aftermarket nonsense that causes problems. As someone else mentioned, the culprits aren’t often LEDs; there are some crazy bulbs out there, and the people using them just don’t care if they’re blinding other drivers. It’s ridiculous.

boring_twenties 6y ago
There doesn't appear to be any dearth of traffic enforcement in general in the United States. They carry special devices with them just to measure your window tint, FFS. Is there some reason they can't be incentivized to enforce actual safety laws like this one, too (or instead)?
- ficklepickle 6y ago
  Oh, I know this one. Racism! Tint rules give plausible deniability for pulling someone over for driving while black. It's not about safety at all.
  - boring_twenties 6y ago
    You know, I think you might be onto something.
- kitteh 6y ago
  Know one major US city where the state police ran a campaign on the various interstates entering that city (and the surrounding unincorporated roads) where they were writing tickets for lights that violated state law. Went on for a few months and there was backlash (from suburban teens families) to the right folks in the state that got them to stop the campaign.

doctorshady 6y ago

Seriously. Driving at night with a lot of oncoming traffic is starting to become a serious hazard. Maybe doubly so if you have a car that sits relatively low to the ground.

TedDoesntTalk 6y ago

Maximum permissible wattage in USA headlights used to be 55 watts each (and probably still is). I don’t think there was ever a limit defined in lumens, so now we get LED lights with crazy brightness since they still use under 55 watts.

alkonaut 6y ago
If the regulation isn't "55 Watts or equivalent brightness to 55W incandescent" then the regulation is pretty dumb. I mean it has to have a minimum brightness (regardless of power use), so why not a maximum brightness rather than a maximum power too?
- Ancapistani 6y ago
  I’m not sure if it even has a minimum brightness.
  - kube-system 6y ago
    Anyone remember sealed-beam headlights?
    - other_herbert 6y ago
      My grandfathers 53 Chevy truck has them high beams or low beams, no one will be blinded by them
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]