Why there is so much debate.

[Automan21]

Proper alignment and aiming would solve this issue.
LEDs, incandescent bulbs, reflectors or projectors all blind drivers momentarily at night unless they are aimed correctly.
I have astigmatism as well but know to not look directly into oncoming traffic’s headlights. If I notice they are too blinding I focus my gaze a little to the right and down as to still see the lines on the road and the car in front of me. I have tinted window so the light from the rear won’t bother me either through the mirrors.
My gripe is more with people having their high beams on when the road is lit or there’s a bunch traffic on the road. Back in the day the police would give you a ticket for having your brights on in a well lit area or road.
if my eyesight gets bad enough that I have to drive with brights on all the time after a certain hour then I just won’t drive.

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[Kenv24]

You should reread mine as well. I am not talking 2020, talking Sept 24 for both vehicles. I am comparing what I perceived I was seeing thru the windshield of my Escape in Sept 2024 and what I perceived I was seeing thru the windshield on my new Mav in Sept 2024. Being a week or so apart, there should be no appreciable difference in the % of vehicles in either category. I googled to see if there was a difference in the tint on the 2 vehicles. Per Google, both came back at 70% VLT minimum... I even went out an checked the Mav. Yup, windshield says 70 min. So... No clue as to why I feel that the headlights appear brighter with the new MAV. I find the increased brightness very noticable.

Gotcha....I see what you are saying now. There is definitely and increased brightness coming at us with these new lights.

 

[Kenv24]

Proper alignment and aiming would solve this issue.
LEDs, incandescent bulbs, reflectors or projectors all blind drivers momentarily at night unless they are aimed correctly.
I have astigmatism as well but know to not look directly into oncoming traffic’s headlights. If I notice they are too blinding I focus my gaze a little to the right and down as to still see the lines on the road and the car in front of me. I have tinted window so the light from the rear won’t bother me either through the mirrors.
My gripe is more with people having their high beams on when the road is lit or there’s a bunch traffic on the road. Back in the day the police would give you a ticket for having your brights on in a well lit area or road.
if my eyesight gets bad enough that I have to drive with brights on all the time after a certain hour then I just won’t drive.

True....but you have to remember..."Low beams are the new High beams"......LOL

 

[Ozarkbeard]

Buy night driving glasses.

Any yellow Polarized lenses will work. And they do reduce glare and night blindness from the gd daylight color lamps so common now. Amazon, or b&m Walmart in the sporting goods section.

One regulation that should be added is requiring slightly warmer color temperature for headlights. Blue light is bad about impairing night vision.

 

[Automan21]

Any yellow Polarized lenses will work. And they do reduce glare and night blindness from the gd daylight color lamps so common now.

wonder if my range glasses would work lol

 

[Bad Samaritan]

We're not talking about dimming from brights to regular - which the Maverick can do, depending on model and configuration. I think everyone can agree that leaving your brights on when oncoming traffic is near is inconsiderate at best, and can be dangerous.

We're talking about how even the "dim" headlights today can be far brighter than they used to be and cause problems for oncoming drivers. Some of that is because they ARE brighter, and some of it is because the color temperature many LEDs use can be more blinding than traditional headlights. Those problems are exacerbated when the headlights aren't aimed properly.

Alternately, some European headlights can have a lot more real-time adaptability - including turning off the light closest to oncoming traffic or dimming the center of the lane to focus the lights on the edges of the lane, among other possible features (and gimmicks). Unlike what one person said, that we just need to deal with "improved lighting," there are even better improvements possible which could make it safer for EVERYONE on the road.

Got it.

 

[slashsnake]

Should I wear night driving glasses? Companies selling glasses say we all should. Experts disagree. Any tinted glasses cut down glare, but also cut down your ability to see. These are the same as shooting glasses, which increase contrast during the day to make aiming guns easier.

Not talking the tinted glasses with the yellow, but actual night driving glasses with the anti-reflective coating.

That said I did like your idea of lights that "aim" as a future solution to get the best of both worlds, more light to avoid accidents, but less in a drivers face, especially those with poor night vision.

 

[slashsnake]

Any yellow Polarized lenses will work. And they do reduce glare and night blindness from the gd daylight color lamps so common now. Amazon, or b&m Walmart in the sporting goods section.

One regulation that should be added is requiring slightly warmer color temperature for headlights. Blue light is bad about impairing night vision.

What you really want is any pair with the anti-glare or anti-reflective coating.

The yellow tint works by filtering out blue light (the one most likely to cause glare when it enters the eye). It's literally blocking that light out, aka potentially hurting your actual night vision and what you can see. Also, you usually can't get them in prescription if you need those. Anti-reflective coatings really reduce the glare, but still let you see the full light spectrum.

 

[jb_cb900]

I did get prescription, yellow lenses with anti-glare coating. Had a choice of three levels of tint. I went with the mid level. It makes night driving tolerable, now. Any loss due to the tint is negligible, especially since I'm no longer severely blinded by oncoming traffic anymore, and my lights do a good job illuminating road. To me, it was definitely worth the money.

 

[William Buckman]

Very few if any states have any significant enforcement over headlights - and it doesn't matter what the law or regulation is if there's no enforcement for it. Buy the brightest LED bulbs you can find with the worst color temperature for blinding other drivers, mount them high on a jacked-up truck, and aim them directly at drivers eye level - and you won't get cited and might not even be aware you're a hazard.

Badly aimed fog lights are a huge contributor here. Aftermarket lights self-installed by fools who don't know what they're doing but want to look cool in their oversized truck to compensate for their undersized...life don't seem to care about what the lights do to oncoming drivers (or the person they're tailgating).

I'm not a big-government guy, but here's an idea - require every company that does oil changes to do mandatory headlight alignments at the time of the oil change. That might help a little, if they do it right.

Is it as big a deal as drunk drivers? No. Is it a problem that seems to be getting worse?

This about sums it up.

 

[Ozarkbeard]

What you really want is any pair with the anti-glare or anti-reflective coating.

The yellow tint works by filtering out blue light (the one most likely to cause glare when it enters the eye). It's literally blocking that light out, aka potentially hurting your actual night vision and what you can see. Also, you usually can't get them in prescription if you need those. Anti-reflective coatings really reduce the glare, but still let you see the full light spectrum.

Reducing glare improves my night vision much more than reducing brightness impairs it. These modern headlights are way too bright to begin with. Throw in glare, and one is blinded by the light.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

I remember that one
Blinded by the Light
Manfred Mann's Earth Band

I guarantee, there isn't going to be any reduction the brightness of headlights. I suggest drivers learn how to adapt.

 

[The Real Maverick]

Agree, that brighter lights only make it safer for the 2/3 on the road as you point out. And that brings up an issue for sure here on what we should do if we can make roads safer for people and pedestrians by increasing lighting, what happens to those with poorer night vision who become even more dangerous behind a wheel.

Again, I don't want my kid hit by a car because someone has poor crappy dated lighting. I also don't want someone behind the wheel if a bright light makes them blind and they are unable or unwilling to get nighttime driving glasses to cut down on the glare.

Headlight inspections might be a large help here to make sure lights are properly fit and not shining in someone's eyes when driving. But yes, as roads become safer at night, maybe that should be something, if you are getting behind the wheel of a vehicle your night vision should be tested and corrected if not up to par.

I don't know what the answer is, but I know there's a LOT of deer around me, we don't have bike lanes on our country roads and up north here it gets dark pretty early and these things are a godsend for safety in my situation.

The problem is there is not one universal STANDARD for headlamps. They are all over the map.

You can't "correct" for dozens of conditions.

And one-third of the population CAN'T correct their vision ailments.

We can develop a universal standard for headlamps and we, er... the industry SHOULD.

 

[The Real Maverick]

We can all talk about adjusting our headlights and even do it, but most people will never do it. With state inspections ending, or having ended, and most of those never adjusting them either, headlights will remain aimed high and to the left, blinding other drivers. Oncoming lights bother me, and I have astigmatism, but I am only blinded while the lights are in my eyes. Don't get me wrong, I love the bright lights that allow me to see better, but there needs to be some type of automatic aiming when meeting others on the road. It has to be automatic, or other drivers will not do it.

Should I wear night driving glasses? Companies selling glasses say we all should. Experts disagree. Any tinted glasses cut down glare, but also cut down your ability to see. These are the same as shooting glasses, which increase contrast during the day to make aiming guns easier. For night, not so much. You want to see as much as you can. Bothered by headlights? I was taught when learning to drive, back in the horse drawn carriage days, that you should look down and to the right when meeting cars on the highway. Good advice. The bad part is that there are so many drivers now that you will continually be looking down and to the right and miss what is right in front of you. There is no good answer here without adjusting the aim of everyone's headlights.

So are you going out to check and re-aim you headlights? 50% chance they are sub-optimal.

 

[RobN]

The problem is there is not one universal STANDARD for headlamps. They are all over the map.

There are primarily two standards - the one used in the US, and the one used in the rest of the world. The one used in the US is known to permit "much more glare" than the one used everywhere else.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlamp#Construction,_performance,_and_aim

I don't trust wikipedia without cross-reference, but it's a decent starting point.

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