Blinding headlights...

af_thefragile

Lately I've been seeing more and more cars with headlights that blind the daylights out of you. At first you think they're driving with the full beams on and then you realise its their low beams which have the same power as stadium floodlights... Cars with those blue HID/Xenon lamps are the worst at this especially when on big cars such as Range Rovers.

Shouldn't they be illegal? They're incredibly distracting when you're driving down the road and a car with such lights drives towards you and the next thing you can't see anything for your windscreen is filled with light.

dgt

I find that the true brainless idiots use hids in reflector lamps



Blind me every time

CiniO

From what I know it's forbidden to fit aftermarket HID lights to any car in most EU countries. You can only have them if they are factory fitted.
Unfortunately Ireland is an exception, and cars with really blinding HIDs pass NCT.

Chuck_Norris

I've HID's in my Octavia, with projectors. And even though the headlights are aligned perfectly, I still drive with them dipped down slightly. I personally feel that the level is slightly too high for oncoming traffic, or more so when I'm behind other cars. I'm just trying to be considerate to my fellow motorist.

barneygumble99

lots of people driving around with dipped beam bulbs put in the wrong way which blind the hell out of oncoming drivers. a lot of cars that fail nct on headlight alignment are cos the bulb is put in wrong.

analfabets

Another thing that i've noticed lately - being stuck in a traffic behind some modern car with LED brake lights. Some of them are way too bright.

CiniO

barneygumble99 wrote: »

lots of people driving around with dipped beam bulbs put in the wrong way which blind the hell out of oncoming drivers. a lot of cars that fail nct on headlight alignment are cos the bulb is put in wrong.

How can a bulb be put wrong way?

analfabets

analfabets wrote: »

Another thing that i've noticed lately - being stuck in a traffic behind some modern car with LED brake lights. Some of them are way too bright.

Ya, I have found the same. It is good to have led brake lights because of the faster response time but there is no need for them to be as bright as they are in some cases. Worst offenders i have found to be new audi's. Most manufacturers manage to implement led's into the brake lights without them being 1 billion lumens.

CiniO

CiniO wrote: »

How can a bulb be put wrong way?

Retaining bracket is poorly designed? All 90's toyota's spring to mind.

MarkR

I'd love if people were actually pulled over and fined for blinding lights, missing lights, lights that should only be used in certain weather conditions but are on the whole time, parking lights, and no lights at all in extremely poor visibility.

Give them 5 working days to get it fixed, failing that a fine.

meoklmrk91

I bloody hate Xenon lights, worst is when you are coming around a bend on a back county road and then you are hit by them and they are burned into your retinas for the next 6 bloody hours:mad:

barneygumble99

CiniO wrote: »

How can a bulb be put wrong way?

most modern cars are fitted with H7 bulbs and there is a locating lug on the bulb which sits into the bulb holder in one way only so if its not put in properly the bulb will point upwards or downwards. best way to know if a bulb is in properly is to look at it at eye level through the headlamp after fitment and the lie of the bulb in the headlamp should be dead horizontal.

pudzey101

I have Xenons and love them. They light up the whole road alot better. But hate when others have them in reflector lamps like dgt said
I think anything over 6000k should be banned aswell. (i have 6k in mine , but want to change to 4.3k)

smndly

I never understand why people like xenon lights. They might be great at showing the road ahead of you but if the oncoming driver is blind and crashes into you this kind of leaves them with a fail mark for safety!

MugMugs

smndly wrote: »

I never understand why people like xenon lights. They might be great at showing the road ahead of you but if the oncoming driver is blind and crashes into you this kind of leaves them with a fail mark for safety!

I'm sure that is what everybody was saying during the transition to halogen too....

colm_mcm

I don't get annoyed by lights usually, if you're looking at the road as opposed to oncoming traffic it's not so much of a problem

Mycroft H

I find that LED lights for lets say brake lights stand out a lot more then the OEM ones.

The same reason I use decent LEDS for my bicycle

JaneyMacker

Im guilty of not dipping my lights for someone who has their fogs on.
Might as well slow them down as well as me when im blinded.
They flash me because my lights are too bright. I flash them back because theirs are too bright too.

Mycroft H

At least the RSA are now on the radio saying to turn them off

C4Kid

BX 19 wrote: »

At least the RSA are now on the radio saying to turn them off

If we were living in a proper society it would be the guards telling them that after pulling them.

It's pointless, that message isn't going to enter the mind of the ignorant, selfish cnuts it's aimed at. It's always the same people doing it continously.

Del2005

colm_mcm wrote: »

I don't get annoyed by lights usually, if you're looking at the road as opposed to oncoming traffic it's not so much of a problem

I look far ahead of me, not just in front, so I get blinded by badly aligned lights. I do try to look to the shoulder but some times you've got to slow down.

BX 19 wrote: »

At least the RSA are now on the radio saying to turn them off

What a waste of our money. I've noticed no difference in fog light usage since they started. They are as affective as their roundabout ads or the motorway ad where they implied that the car on the main carriage has to give way to merging traffic.

BostonB

They should make these extra strong lights/bulbs only come on with full beams.

db330

BostonB wrote: »

They should make these extra strong lights/bulbs only come on with full beams.

You mean spot lights?

Some people do require nicely bright lights if they do alot of driving at night in non light up areas. one reason why so many trucks have like 10 spot lights fitted.

I myself have 100w bulbs (no brighter than modern hid's) in and they are fine once pointed in the right direction, going up hills does trick people in thinking beams are on, but a quick flash back at them sort's that out.

I am getting a set of spots for the a-bar soon to make it easier to see when working (opening gates, loading trailers...)

I do encounter alot of bright lights on the road but if you just use common sense and don't look into them it's grand.

Cuddlesworth

I read about a game on this forum early on in the year. If your by a road at night and waiting for somebody, try to count up ten cars in a row with correct lighting. So no fogs, full beams, no lights, misaligned lights, bulb gone etc..

Its been about two months and I haven't managed it yet.

BostonB

db330 wrote: »

You mean spot lights?

...


I do encounter alot of bright lights on the road but if you just use common sense and don't look into them it's grand.

No not spots, simply their dims are really bright. Almost as bright as someone else full beams. Hence these really bright bulbs should only be used on full beams or spots. But neither should be on when there's on coming traffic.

Its impossible not to look into them, as they oncoming and its kinda tradition to look in the direction you're going. I tried closing my eyes or looking at the passengers, but they weren't so keen on it.

PauloMN

JaneyMacker wrote: »

Im guilty of not dipping my lights for someone who has their fogs on.
Might as well slow them down as well as me when im blinded.
They flash me because my lights are too bright. I flash them back because theirs are too bright too.

That's clownish behaviour tbh.

I've never been blinded by fogs, don't know how people find them so annoying. I have been blinded by people leaving their full beams on though.

Tazio

db330 wrote: »

I myself have 100w bulbs (no brighter than modern hid's) in and they are fine once pointed in the right direction,

None of my business really, but just hope you upgraded your wiring and relays etc to handle the extra current?

Are they worth the hassle out of interest, i.e upgrading to 100w? Do they project much further in the darkness on typical road application?

BostonB

PauloMN wrote: »

That's clownish behaviour tbh.

I've never been blinded by fogs, don't know how people find them so annoying. I have been blinded by people leaving their full beams on though.

The usual way is to flash your beams to let someone know they've forgot to dip.

Properly aimed fogs shouldn't blind anyone. But too many people have the light badly adjusted so they point all over the place. If they fixed that they might not need to run with all these extra lights.

walus

PauloMN wrote: »

That's clownish behaviour tbh.

I've never been blinded by fogs, don't know how people find them so annoying. I have been blinded by people leaving their full beams on though.

Try next time in the rain. You will see how much light is reflected of the road and hits you in the eyes. This is why they are banned in some countries. In my country they are only allowed to be used in FOG and FOG only and only outside the city. Here people seem to have them on because they look cool. How smart is that? On the grounds of improper lights one could possibly collect more money than the government are looking to get from motor tax hikes in next year budget!

PauloMN

BostonB wrote: »

The usual way is to flash your beams to let someone know they've forgot to dip.

He's not flashing the lights, he's leaving his on - at least that's how I read it.

Leaving them on wittingly is being a clown imo.

db330

Tazio wrote: »

None of my business really, but just hope you upgraded your wiring and relays etc to handle the extra current?

Are they worth the hassle out of interest, i.e upgrading to 100w? Do they project much further in the darkness on typical road application?

No need for that, been in near 2 years now (longest lasting bulbs yet) and no trouble although leave them on when not running and it will drain the battery quick enough,

But ye they do make a difference they project a nice white light rather than yellowish, and when you get back into a car with normal lights you can really see the difference

BostonB

PauloMN wrote: »

He's not flashing the lights, he's leaving his on - at least that's how I read it.

Leaving them on wittingly is being a clown imo.

I think flashing give the message better than leaving them on. Most people dim when you do it. But thats not really the issue. The issue is these over bright lights on dims.

The LED brake lights are the same, especially in traffic, and someone leaves their foot on the brake. They'll have to bring in some means of measuring lights, many of them are way too bright.

Tigger

light is measured in lumens
power is measured in watts
the govt say its 55watts in your dips but 55 watts of hid could be 20 times as bright as halogen

ps fogs dont dazzel you need to stop worrying about them

kazul

MarkR wrote: »

I'd love if people were actually pulled over and fined for blinding lights, missing lights, lights that should only be used in certain weather conditions but are on the whole time, parking lights, and no lights at all in extremely poor visibility.

Give them 5 working days to get it fixed, failing that a fine.

How about making it compulsory to carry spare bulbs and give drivers 5 minutes to get it fixed, failing that a fine?
5 days to take care of a vital safety failure? Very Irish.

EPM

Keep this about dimmed headlights. There won't be any more warnings.