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Car lights are blindingly bright now. Manufacturers have even remounted them so they "float" and when you hit a bump they point up for a moment. Makes for fun
by h2odragon 3y ago
Car lights are blindingly bright now.
Manufacturers have even remounted them so they "float" and when you hit a bump they point up for a moment. Makes for fun times on rough roads.
People won't slow down at night, either.
- mannykannot 3y ago> People won't slow down at night, either. I imagine it's mostly the "fuck you" self-absorbed entitlement that leads to willfully distracted driving in general, but in addition, brighter lights may be encouraging this, even though they do not help anyone see when they are being blinded by other lights.
- idrios 3y agoI've noticed I can't see the road very well when I drive at night when there are lights from other cars on the road. I thought it was something wrong with my windshield, until my dad said he has the same problem and had thought it was something wrong with his eyes. So I think maybe you're right, it's actually gotten harder to see pedestrians
- NBJack 3y agoThis is especially dangerous on dark, hilly roads at night. Each time these 'floating' headlight vehicles crest a hill, they temporarily blind other drivers. To say this was a short-sighted (no pun intended) design is an understatement.
- diogenescynic 3y agoIt's pretty strange that there's no regulation over the brightness or height/angle of car lights. Some are right in your face with the brightness of daylight now... It's a recipe for disaster.
- h2odragon 3y agoThe reflected light from a normal view driving down the road is enough light to blind the driver, some times. We've got this one curve, with lots of nice bright signs... more people have gone off it since they put those up than used to before the signs.
- whaleofatw2022 3y agoThere is for angle and minimum brightness, however enforcement is rare. I've only seen or heard of it comeing up twice. The first time, my ex wife got a 'fix it' ticket because the body shop replaced a headlight but angled it wronger than wrong. The second time, a coworker had a busted headlight cover, got a fix-it ticket, and replaced it with a gatorade bottle creatively ziptied. He did intimate that it took a couple tries to get it right (due to the form of repair, they tried to use as much of the statue as possible to deny it was fixed.)
- red-iron-pine 3y agothere are in some states, but rules vary and there is no federal / NTSB regs
- crazygringo 3y agoIs this a uniquely American thing? Is that what could explain a big part of the US vs Europe difference? Does Europe have headlight regulations the US doesn't?
- h2odragon 3y agoding ding ding! https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/blinded-light-american-headlight-safety-lags-years-countries-rcna82666 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/blinded-light-american-... https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/AAR/files/ResearchReportEuroSpecvsUSHeadlamps.pdf https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/AAR/files/ResearchReportEuroS...
- crazygringo 3y agoOh wow that's crazy. Thank you! I'm kind of shocked the article doesn't even mention headlights as a possibility at all. Especially when the divergence starts around 2012, the exact year it says that adaptive headlights became available in Europe.
- gamblor956 3y agoMy Outback has adaptive headlights but it doesn't seem to actually stop my car from blinding oncoming drivers.
- aidenn0 3y agoDon't forget lifted pickup trucks with HID lamps. I had one of those pass me and I could see nothing but the tail lights of other cars for about 30s afterwards.