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Headlights, full beams and LEDs

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  • gringo
    gringo Posts: 670
    Apparently the Police are taking steps to deal with the problem......

  • I have a Nissan Juke. I just don't get the lights. The top ones aren't bright enough to light the road  while the bottom two are fine so i have all four on. Trouble is I get flashed all the time as it must look like I have my fog lights on! Yes I know, having a juke the first place....
  • KBslittlesis
    KBslittlesis Posts: 8,718
    While Eric, our Jeep Avenger EV, was having a gear sensor replaced we were given a Toyota Corolla hybrid.
    It had auto high beam which both himself & I thought was awful. It went off far too late & on far too early (could still see the tail lights of the car infront).
    Manual only for me. Just don't trust it.
  • fenaddick
    fenaddick Posts: 12,472
    I’m convinced ride height plays into it. I drive a 15 year old banger and a lot of modern cars are so much higher that their headlights are basically at my eye height, that makes them very hard not to look at!
  • valleynick66
    valleynick66 Posts: 4,966
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
  • ME14addick
    ME14addick Posts: 9,799
    edited November 16
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
    It's often the case that you don't need fog lights on, but you do need front and rear lights. It's definitely not an innocent mistake to fail to drive without lights in fog. So many don't realise that their rear lights don't come on automatically when front lights are on. There is no excuse for driving in fog with no lights.
  • stevexreeve
    stevexreeve Posts: 1,401
    Last year a professor on LBC whose expertise on eyes stated that it takes about 2.5 seconds for anyone over 60 for their eyes to "reset" after vehicles with their lights too bright. Younger people its less than half a second. 

    As one of the older generation i suffer some of the same consequences as posters have already stated. I try not to drive at night particularly at rush hour times as the constant stream of lights now makes it difficult to see clearly, hence i slow down which annoys others who think they own the road.
    As a seventy one year old reading  this thread I've decided that nobody over 60 should be allowed to drive after dark! Leave the roads to the athletic young to play with. 

    Because our railway line is shut we drove to see Ricky Gervais last night. Three of us in the car swapping driving and nobody could see a fucking thing!

    Thought I did well with my beams but once coming over the brow of hill I was suddenly  blinded and so confused by headlights that I completely lost track and  stopped before I dipped my lights.

    Ricky was great by the way. An hour of someone being directly offensive to me! Felt great!


  • AddicksAddict
    AddicksAddict Posts: 15,914
    cafcfan said:
    We've done this before. STOP LOOKING AT BRIGHT LIGHTS YOU ARE NOT RABBITS!
    There is nothing wrong with LED lights, it's just that they are white rather than yellow. 
    The concept of banning them is laughable, they are a great safety feature.
    BTW, I have a SUV type vehicle. It has LED lights. They are full matrix and are on main beam all the time. Except they automatically turn to low beam if there are street lights and automatically blank out portions of their beam configuration if they sense on-coming traffic. The advantage of this is that the nearside kerb stays brightly lit while the on-coming lane is dimmed out.  
    Just don't stare at them and you will be fine. 
    That’s all very well, but whilst you may have a sports utility vehicle, you have an SUV. 
  • AddicksAddict
    AddicksAddict Posts: 15,914
    gringo said:
    While I absolutely agree about the dazzling lights these days coming from vehicles, hopefully the government look into the brightness of the west stand advertising boards too.
    bring back the good old oil lamp.
    Don’t forget the man walking in front of you, waving a red flag. 
  • valleynick66
    valleynick66 Posts: 4,966
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
    It's often the case that you don't need fog lights on, but you do need front and rear lights. It's definitely not an innocent mistake to fail to drive without lights in fog. So many don't realise that their rear light don't come on automatically when front lights are on. There is no excuse for driving in fog with no lights.
    Wasn’t suggesting no lights. Just not engaging the fog lights correctly. 

    A good thing about many modern cars is headlights / side lights being an automatic setting. 

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  • fenaddick
    fenaddick Posts: 12,472
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
    It's often the case that you don't need fog lights on, but you do need front and rear lights. It's definitely not an innocent mistake to fail to drive without lights in fog. So many don't realise that their rear light don't come on automatically when front lights are on. There is no excuse for driving in fog with no lights.
    Wasn’t suggesting no lights. Just not engaging the fog lights correctly. 

    A good thing about many modern cars is headlights / side lights being an automatic setting. 
    Except they’re often broken/over sensitive. Take a walk during the middle of the day and you’ll notice a huge amount of cars have either headlights or fog lights on, it’s madness
  • ME14addick
    ME14addick Posts: 9,799
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
    It's often the case that you don't need fog lights on, but you do need front and rear lights. It's definitely not an innocent mistake to fail to drive without lights in fog. So many don't realise that their rear light don't come on automatically when front lights are on. There is no excuse for driving in fog with no lights.
    Wasn’t suggesting no lights. Just not engaging the fog lights correctly. 

    A good thing about many modern cars is headlights / side lights being an automatic setting. 
    But many drivers forget that their rear lights don't come on automatically, that is a problem.

    My aging car 's lights don't come on automatically and I always know if they are on or off.
  • IdleHans
    IdleHans Posts: 11,047
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Vauxhalls used to be particularly bad for this, and I think the reason was that the fog light switch was obscured by the steering wheel so you couldn't see whether the lights were on or not. 
  • lordromford
    lordromford Posts: 7,945
    Probably due to those headlights.

    😂
  • valleynick66
    valleynick66 Posts: 4,966
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
    It's often the case that you don't need fog lights on, but you do need front and rear lights. It's definitely not an innocent mistake to fail to drive without lights in fog. So many don't realise that their rear light don't come on automatically when front lights are on. There is no excuse for driving in fog with no lights.
    Wasn’t suggesting no lights. Just not engaging the fog lights correctly. 

    A good thing about many modern cars is headlights / side lights being an automatic setting. 
    But many drivers forget that their rear lights don't come on automatically, that is a problem.

    My aging car 's lights don't come on automatically and I always know if they are on or off.
    Different point to mine. 

    But in every car I’ve had my rear lights come on with my headlights. 

  • valleynick66
    valleynick66 Posts: 4,966
    fenaddick said:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
    It's often the case that you don't need fog lights on, but you do need front and rear lights. It's definitely not an innocent mistake to fail to drive without lights in fog. So many don't realise that their rear light don't come on automatically when front lights are on. There is no excuse for driving in fog with no lights.
    Wasn’t suggesting no lights. Just not engaging the fog lights correctly. 

    A good thing about many modern cars is headlights / side lights being an automatic setting. 
    Except they’re often broken/over sensitive. Take a walk during the middle of the day and you’ll notice a huge amount of cars have either headlights or fog lights on, it’s madness
    Can’t say I see this often ie headlights on when not needed AND an issue by being so. 

    I accept the general point on how modern lights can be too dazzling. 
  • Stig
    Stig Posts: 29,237
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
    It's often the case that you don't need fog lights on, but you do need front and rear lights. It's definitely not an innocent mistake to fail to drive without lights in fog. So many don't realise that their rear light don't come on automatically when front lights are on. There is no excuse for driving in fog with no lights.
    Wasn’t suggesting no lights. Just not engaging the fog lights correctly. 

    A good thing about many modern cars is headlights / side lights being an automatic setting. 
    But many drivers forget that their rear lights don't come on automatically, that is a problem.

    My aging car 's lights don't come on automatically and I always know if they are on or off.
    Different point to mine. 

    But in every car I’ve had my rear lights come on with my headlights. 

    Do they not come on with your sidelights?
  • valleynick66
    valleynick66 Posts: 4,966
    edited November 16
    Stig said:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
    It's often the case that you don't need fog lights on, but you do need front and rear lights. It's definitely not an innocent mistake to fail to drive without lights in fog. So many don't realise that their rear light don't come on automatically when front lights are on. There is no excuse for driving in fog with no lights.
    Wasn’t suggesting no lights. Just not engaging the fog lights correctly. 

    A good thing about many modern cars is headlights / side lights being an automatic setting. 
    But many drivers forget that their rear lights don't come on automatically, that is a problem.

    My aging car 's lights don't come on automatically and I always know if they are on or off.
    Different point to mine. 

    But in every car I’ve had my rear lights come on with my headlights. 

    Do they not come on with your sidelights?
    Yes. Wasn’t being that precise with my description. 

    The point was no separate control / switch for rear lights. 
  • Stig said:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Also those who don't use lights at all in fog, there were many of those around yesterday. 
    Whilst you are right I do think sometimes it can be innocent error. 

    It’s relatively only occasionally you need to put fog lights on and the control to put them can can be forgotten / confusing. 

    My car (but also others) sees lights controlled by a ‘swivel’ of the stalk but the control returns to the same point. So you can sometimes be unsure if you have engaged the correct position. 

    When you are concentrating on the road due to the fog you don’t want to be looking down / grappling with controls. 

    Probably not explained well but hopefully you get the gist. 
    It's often the case that you don't need fog lights on, but you do need front and rear lights. It's definitely not an innocent mistake to fail to drive without lights in fog. So many don't realise that their rear light don't come on automatically when front lights are on. There is no excuse for driving in fog with no lights.
    Wasn’t suggesting no lights. Just not engaging the fog lights correctly. 

    A good thing about many modern cars is headlights / side lights being an automatic setting. 
    But many drivers forget that their rear lights don't come on automatically, that is a problem.

    My aging car 's lights don't come on automatically and I always know if they are on or off.
    Different point to mine. 

    But in every car I’ve had my rear lights come on with my headlights. 

    Do they not come on with your sidelights?
    Yes. Wasn’t being that precise with my description. 

    The point was no separate control / switch for rear lights. 
    I think the missing word might be "fog" lights, not the rear driving lights...🤔
  • I think there are far too many flashers on this forum? Starting to get worried

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  • Rizzo
    Rizzo Posts: 6,447
    Another issue is that at night, with lights on then brakes go on, you can barely see indicators, so you don't know where the car is going. I have raised the issue with Minister of Transport who assured me that all is fine, but I imagine that tests are done on cars with lights individually, not all at once.
    Some cars are designed where the indicators are in the rims of the headlights. How the fcuk are we supposed to see those when the headlights are on? 

    I know age is a factor with dazzle/glare so it's not entirely the cars that are at fault but the angle of headlights and the increasing heights of vehicles makes this a real issue. 
  • valleynick66
    valleynick66 Posts: 4,966
    Rizzo said:
    Another issue is that at night, with lights on then brakes go on, you can barely see indicators, so you don't know where the car is going. I have raised the issue with Minister of Transport who assured me that all is fine, but I imagine that tests are done on cars with lights individually, not all at once.
    Some cars are designed where the indicators are in the rims of the headlights. How the fcuk are we supposed to see those when the headlights are on? 

    I know age is a factor with dazzle/glare so it's not entirely the cars that are at fault but the angle of headlights and the increasing heights of vehicles makes this a real issue. 
    Because on many the headlight goes out and only the indicator shows - when on. 

    Don’t like it myself but it is the design trend. 
  • cafcfan
    cafcfan Posts: 11,224
    IdleHans said:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn971jlpvvro

    A recent article above.
    An additional irritant for me is drivers who have their fog lights on permanently. 
    Vauxhalls used to be particularly bad for this, and I think the reason was that the fog light switch was obscured by the steering wheel so you couldn't see whether the lights were on or not. 
    Yes, a Ford model, the Fiesta I think had the same issue. The warning light for the fog lights was built into the switch, which you couldn't see because it was hidden by the steering wheel.
  • Rizzo
    Rizzo Posts: 6,447
    Rizzo said:
    Another issue is that at night, with lights on then brakes go on, you can barely see indicators, so you don't know where the car is going. I have raised the issue with Minister of Transport who assured me that all is fine, but I imagine that tests are done on cars with lights individually, not all at once.
    Some cars are designed where the indicators are in the rims of the headlights. How the fcuk are we supposed to see those when the headlights are on? 

    I know age is a factor with dazzle/glare so it's not entirely the cars that are at fault but the angle of headlights and the increasing heights of vehicles makes this a real issue. 
    Because on many the headlight goes out and only the indicator shows - when on. 

    Don’t like it myself but it is the design trend. 
    Certainly wasn't the case on any of the ones I've seen. Think they were Minis? Hard to tell as I was partially blinded at the time. 
  • JohnBoyUK
    JohnBoyUK Posts: 9,089
    I've noticed this a lot more since I've moved out to Westerham, especially on unlit stretches of the A25 between Sevenoaks and Oxted.

    I have only started wearing glasses in the last 4-5 years (I use varifocals mainly for reading as at a distance my eyes are still ok) but the new LED headlamps are so glary.

    I know from test driving a few different cars recently some have this new automatic dipping tech on them but I'm not convinced at all.  It really does need looking into.
  • Chippycafc
    Chippycafc Posts: 14,209
    edited November 17
    JohnBoyUK said:
    I've noticed this a lot more since I've moved out to Westerham, especially on unlit stretches of the A25 between Sevenoaks and Oxted.

    I have only started wearing glasses in the last 4-5 years (I use varifocals mainly for reading as at a distance my eyes are still ok) but the new LED headlamps are so glary.

    I know from test driving a few different cars recently some have this new automatic dipping tech on them but I'm not convinced at all.  It really does need looking into.
    I wear varifocals and find if I tip my head up it often helps out. No good though if there's a pile of cars coming towards you. . 
  • CL_Phantom
    CL_Phantom Posts: 5,671
    edited November 17
    JohnBoyUK said:
    I've noticed this a lot more since I've moved out to Westerham, especially on unlit stretches of the A25 between Sevenoaks and Oxted.

    I have only started wearing glasses in the last 4-5 years (I use varifocals mainly for reading as at a distance my eyes are still ok) but the new LED headlamps are so glary.

    I know from test driving a few different cars recently some have this new automatic dipping tech on them but I'm not convinced at all.  It really does need looking into.

    I've started having to wear the specs to help diffuse the LED glare a bit when night driving, I guess it makes sense when I need them when sat in front of dual monitors all day at work but I've had to wear them for 10 plus years and never in the car.

    Was doing a semi long distance drive a few weeks back, probably the equivalent to B roads over here in Spain so semi lit and had a few oncoming drivers flash us up for what I assumed were full beam lights - they weren't of course, was on the Auto light setting of the Peugeot 2008 so, yeah I'm not that sure about it either!
    Going through the modes and it seems the settings are Auto, Bright and Fcking Blinding.
  • IdleHans
    IdleHans Posts: 11,047
    edited November 17
    Rizzo said:
    Another issue is that at night, with lights on then brakes go on, you can barely see indicators, so you don't know where the car is going. I have raised the issue with Minister of Transport who assured me that all is fine, but I imagine that tests are done on cars with lights individually, not all at once.
    Some cars are designed where the indicators are in the rims of the headlights. How the fcuk are we supposed to see those when the headlights are on? 

    I know age is a factor with dazzle/glare so it's not entirely the cars that are at fault but the angle of headlights and the increasing heights of vehicles makes this a real issue. 
    People have got old since before cars were invented, and the design should accommodate that. So it IS the cars (and their designers) at fault, in my opinion.

  • gringo
    gringo Posts: 670
    edited November 17
    I have got it sorted, oncoming car lights are far too bright so I have fitted really dark tints to my windscreen which now makes the glare tolerable. However this meant I could hardly see my own lights on the road, so I then upgraded and fitted the brightest most powerful dazzling headlights to my own car so now I can see where Im going, without suffering from bothersome glare - everyones a winner, and a lot of people flash their lights at me, probably to signify approval!