Blinded by the Light......

[Jon Grider]

I know my eyes are a little past their prime, along with the rest of me; but do those halogen or halide headlights bother anyone else here while driving at night? Sheesh, they seem so much brighter than necessary, and then elevate them 4 or 5 feet off the ground on an F150, throw in the fog lamps for good measure and have them approach you at 60 mph on a 2 lane. Good for the driver of the vehicle, not so good for those coming the opposite way. I'm surprised NHSTB hasn't put more stringent limits on the brightness allowed by the new lights, or then again maybe they have but the standards are not stringent enough.For me anyway.

[Dave Johnson29]

do those halogen or halide headlights bother anyone else here while driving at night?

Jon,

If you are getting flares or halos, it might be time for a new pair of specs. :)

[Jon Grider]

Jon,

If you are getting flares or halos, it might be time for a new pair of specs. :)
Yeah, I know I need new specs, but I don't wear them for driving, my long range vision is OK, just my near sighted vision needs the help.

[Norris Randall]

Jon, Amen and Amen.
I agree with you. There should be some regulations regarding this situation.
But then if the regs were not enforced any better than speed:mad: limits it would just be more "smoke" .

[Mike Henderson]

I find the xenon discharge lights (not the halogen) to be less of a problem - if they're adjusted properly. The line between light and dark on those lights is very sharp. Unless they're adjusted improperly, those should bother you less than regular incandescent bulbs or the halogen lights (which are incandescent lights also).

If you're getting halos in your vision or "stars" when you look at a bright light, it could be the beginnings of cataracts in the lens in one or both of your eyes.

Mike

[John alder]

I know some of them are illeagle,the after mkt catalogs state for off the road use only to cover themselves,as far as enforcing regulations ??I can recall when auto inspections first came in new york they would check youe head light alignment now?I have never see it done in years.There is a filter or film that can be put on your glases to reduce the glare my daughter had it done and she says it helps a lot.

[Tim Morton]

x2

Between these brighter lights and people today just being so inconsiderate or maybe just too lazy to dim their high beams on the country roads that take me 40 miles home each night...i generally arrive home with a bit of a headache and some serious relief to be home.

[Joe Mioux]

While driving my Ford Transit-Connect at night, I get a lot of on-coming traffic flashing their bright lights at me wanting me to dim my headlights.

The only way for me to dim them is turn them off and I don't think that is a godd idea.

I don't like the fact the my headlights are so bright as is causes problems, but I am not going to change out perfectly good bulbs before they are burned out either.

joe

[Belinda Barfield]

As Mike said, you could have early cataracts. Halos around lights and issues with glare are symptoms. See your eye doctor. It may be that the lights are just too bright, but it can't hurt to get your eyes checked just in case.

[Joe Pelonio]

When I started having to wear reading glasses, I hated putting them on and taking them off all the time. I ended up getting the doctor to order me some that were graduated lenses, with plain clear on the top and correction on the bottom, had them add a non-glare coating. That solved the headlight problem completely and at the same time made it easier to read the GPS and tiny lettering on the radio buttons.

[Lee Schierer]

When I started having to wear reading glasses, I hated putting them on and taking them off all the time. I ended up getting the doctor to order me some that were graduated lenses, with plain clear on the top and correction on the bottom, had them add a non-glare coating. That solved the headlight problem completely and at the same time made it easier to read the GPS and tiny lettering on the radio buttons.

I have glasses with that coating also. It is great no more stars or glare at night when driving. I think one type of coating is teflon, but there may be others as well as I had one set of lenses with a slight gold tint to them if you angled them just right. The gradient lenses are also great. I just got a pair of polarized sunglasses with the gradient lenses and I really really like them so far.

[Carlos Alden]

Hear you on this.

The brightness is a problem for me, but almost more so is the blue color. I feel as if I'm in a dream with that unnatural flood of blue on everything. I think the same thing about the street lights (halogen? mercury? don't know what the gas is...) that give off the pinky-orange light.

Joe, you might want to see if your headlamps need adjustment so they're not pointing as high. Then you won't get flashed by people who erroneously think you are merely inconsiderate.

Carlos

[Steve Rozmiarek]

What gets me are train headlights. Out here, most of the highways run beside a busy train track. For some ridiculous reason, BNSF, and UP both use huge headlights, and don't dim for the traffic. Honestly, why do trains need headlights like that??? They can't stop within the distance they can see, and they sure can't steer around an obstical. Really bothers me to have an oncoming car, and train, and me in the middle.

[David G Baker]

Steve,
The bright lights on trains may be so the public can see them coming in time to get out of the way.

[Jon Grider]

It sounds like I better bite the bullet and make an eye doc app't. Halos and stars I am well familiar with. Thanks to all who responded.

[Greg Portland]

There should be some regulations regarding this situation.There are regs, the bulb manufacturers just found a loophole. The reg is for total lumens across the visible band of light. By concentrating the light bandwidth in the region where our eye is more sensitive, the lights appear brighter (but still pass gov't regs). The blue light issue is becoming less of a problem since HID is so expensive... most manufacturers are heading toward white LED lights (cheaper and longer lasting).

Having said that, I have noticed a large amount of people who drive with their high beams on or have their lights out of adjustment.

[John alder]

Can I bring in my current glasses and have the non glare coating put on them??TIA for any info.

[David Epperson]

Having said that, I have noticed a large amount of people who drive with their high beams on or have their lights out of adjustment.
I'm not sure the brighter bulbs are as "focused" as the "sealed beams" we were used to, and the wider beam must be adjusted to point slightly differently in order to not shine into oncoming drivers eyes. I do not think that most people realize this and so do not readjust the beam directions.
The old "Safety Inspections" we used to have to get every year had a test device that could measure where the beams were aimed and accurate adjustments made. I'd wader than many of your older service stations still have these pieces of equipment and could re-aim the headlights for little of nothing.