4 ms·
Lighting regulations haven't kept up with changes in the technology used to produce electric light. Most LED headlights are much bluer than the halogen bulbs th
by teslabox 4y ago
Lighting regulations haven't kept up with changes in the technology used to produce electric light. Most LED headlights are much bluer than the halogen bulbs the automotive companies started using in the 1960's.
I think we're all casualties of a sort of trench warfare. Luxury brands started putting High-intensity discharge (HID) lamps in their high-end cars in the 1990's. HID lights put out more blue than halogen light bulbs. This led to the association of blue-white headlights with expensive cars. I suspect the marketing departments of the automotive companies told their engineers to use blue-white LEDs when these first became available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_discharge_lamp#Applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_discharge_lamp#...
No one had the answer to my AskHN: What prevents the automotive industry from using safe LEDs? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27334405 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27334405
Another problem is people retrofitting LED bulbs into housings that were designed for halogen bulbs. The fine print on these bulbs usually say "for off road use only". The LED bulbs have a totally different light output than the halogens. The housing for the halogen bulbs are designed with the assumption that there will be a filament at a precise location. LEDs retrofit into a housing designed for a filament usually just blind everyone on the road.
I've also seen people driving around with LED light bars turned on. I don't think it's legal to add supplemental light to a vehicle.
I have a few self-defense strategies to protect my eyesight. Mainly this is wearing yellow glasses whenever I'm likely to be exposed to blue-white LEDs.
(minor edits)