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The Era of the Too-Bright Headlight Is (Slowly) Coming to an End

Recently I gave driving at night. I was blinded by glaring, too-bright headlights, especially with pickups and SUVs. Their headlights were higher than my small car. Had to avert my eyes and stare down at the side of the road. Scary.

BY Henry Grabar on Slate

"On Tuesday, the Associated Press ran a story that seemed sure to bring relief to an aggrieved of Americans: those of us being blinded by headlight glare.

“General Motors is recalling more than 740,000 small SUVs in the U.S. because the headlight beams can be too bright and cause glare for oncoming drivers,” the story begins. The recall in question involves the GMC Terrain, model years 20 to 20.

"For we squinting few who maintain that an epidemic of headlight blinding is underway, this news seemed most welcome. The idea that almost a million SUVs have been found to be too bright for the road—well, that was proof we weren’t crazy. And the idea that they would now be asked to dim their lights? A gentler nighttime driving experience was on the way.

"For some time, some American drivers have been convinced that an epidemic of headlight-induced blindness is underway on the roads. The journalist Jack Crosbie made the definitive remark on the crisis last year, when he wrote:

@jscros
maybe a controversial take but car headlights are too bright these days. every single SUV is equipped with like military grade halogen retina destroyers. jeep grand cherokee drivin around with the 9/ memorial spotlights on the front. lighthouse-ass chevy tahoes. grow

"This may sound like a simple gripe, but something is happening. When I wrote about this topic in 20, John Bullough—now a director at the Light and Health Research Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York—told me there were things going on:

'SUVs and pickups have taller bodies and higher lights that are more likely to shine in your eyes if you’re in a lower car or on foot. Bluer LED headlights, common on newer cars, feel brighter to many people. And some state vehicle inspections don’t even try to adjust the position of headlights, that tend to get bumped out of whack after a couple years of driving.'

"Since then, the share of SUVs and trucks on the road has continued to increase, which means more headlights that are more likely to shine in people’s eyes.

"The growing availability of LED headlights will, in the end, be good news for drivers coming face to face with pickups at night. That’s because the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year requires regulators approve a technology called “adaptive driving beam” headlights by 2023. Adaptive driving beam headlights use software-enabled LEDs that adjust the headlight beam to avoid other drivers and illuminate your surroundings.

"That will mean an end to headlight glare for drivers on the road as it slowly fills with new cars that adopt this tech. (And new cars probably will adopt this tech—in addition to helping those around you, it will help you see much better at night.) As for pedestrians … they will be more brightly, blindingly lit than ever. Better blind than dead, I suppose."

[slate.com]

LiterateHiker 9 Mar 25
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8 comments

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2

I don't often drive after dark, but I have dinner with my kids every other week, and I'm not going to skip that. In winter it does mean I drive home in the dark. I have started to keep blue blocker clip ons in my car, and that helps a great deal. My company is having a "town hall" meeting next week at a hotel downtown. There will be dinner, and our time is paid. I am joining via the web and skipping the dinner. I'd love to go for the free dinner, however, I hate driving downtown at night, and it's a Tuesday night, I don't want to stay out that late and then get up early the next day to work. I still get paid for the time online to watch it.

2

That's a pet peeve of mine too -- I tend to drive a lot at dusk - so the headlights don't seem so bright - but once in a while it will be super dark and these people that drive with their "brights" on (or perhaps their trucks are equipped with brighter than necessary headlights) will come up behind me, as if to push me along. We don't have a lot of passing lanes on my island, so I will pull over and let them go by me. I guess if they are bullies, they are getting their way.

I briefly had a boyfriend who drove with his brights on ALL the time. This bothered me and I said so, but he gave some excuse that he felt it was safer and a convenience to those who might not see him coming. Um... no, it's not like we have fog, smoke or driving rain or snow in this area.

2

Thank you for this. It is not just from oncoming cars but often these monsters behind you. Coming off the ferry at night I often have to turn both side mirrors and the rear view mirror down. The only place on this island with street lights is the ferry terminal and at night it really, really gets dark here (I often have to slow way down to see my own street) so the bright lights make things even worse. Another thing are the fog lights that are also on even when there is no fog. I once got reprimanded in Germany for using the fog lights inappropriately. Of course many the bright lights prior to 2023 will still be on the road. It would be interesting if there were figures that pointed to the number of accidents/injuries/deaths due to uber bright lights. So much emphasis is placed on the drivers of vehicles and little on other drivers.

5

The glare from vehicle headlights can be almost blinding at times. I recall many years ago in the wintertime on my way home from work one night, I drove down a long narrow road with cars parked on both sides of the road. One night car drove towards me on the opposite oncoming lane with headlights on full beam and four dazzling spotlights on the front fender. Dazzled by the bright lights I slowed down to avoid colliding with parked cars on my left side. The following night it happened again about the same time. I flashed my headlights but to no avail. It continued night after night and for nearly two weeks I encountered the same car, lit up like the floodlights of a football stadium.

Funny how life puts a solution our way from time to time. One afternoon after I had paid for gas at a local filling station I noticed a box containing a five inch diameter spotlight. On the box was printed 1.5 million candlepower! I did not think twice about buying it and it was made to plug into a car cigarette lighter socket. Later that night on my home the same car with headlights and spotlights full on drove towards me. My new spotlight was already connected to the cigarette lighter socket and I had placed it on the dashboard for easy access. I flashed my headlights to warn the other driver, he ignored my warning. I reached for the spotlight and hit the power on button. It shone almost as solid as a laser beam and suddenly I heard the loud screeching of car tires. After that on my way home at nighttime I never encountered the car with dazzling headlights, I do not wonder why.

@ASTRALMAX

Well done. Glad you taught that asshole a lesson.

When I was much younger and did a lot of night driving, my solution to that problem was to wander onto the other side of the road and drive straight at them, especially on the highway. I figured they'd assume I was blinded by their lights and get the message. Fortunately it always worked, but older and wiser now, I often wonder how I managed to make this age.With the amount of long distance night travel that I did, I later set up some extraordinarily powerful spotties that I reserved for use with arseholes. That worked as well 🤣

3

I don’t drive at night if at all possible. The headlights are just too bright for me.

2

This isn't a manufacturing error. It is the cynical pandering to immature bullies. The GQP evangelicals get a thrill from blinding other drivers, and take pride in their hatred.

5

They are counter productive to the other driver as well because the brighter bluer light causes more eyestrain and tiredness than the dimmer yellow.

5

The adaptive headlights have been available in Europe for years. It's our federal government that didn't allow them here.

Problem is in most of Europe population densities are a lot larger than here so roads and vehicles have to be made safer. In Germany and other states the prime motorways have a much higher speed limit than here which also mandates safety. Also, the 'socialistic' governments have a lot more control over industry.

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