I don’t want to be just ‘complaining’,
But,
This one’s a big issue for me,
And must be for others, generallyβ
The design of LED headlights,
On cars on the roads,
Is deadly,
It really isβ at least for me;
Coming across them,
On rural roads…
(This is coming from somebody,
Who’s confident with, and enjoys driving),
Is absolutely terrifying,
Debilitating,
And physically painful,
βI actually have to guess, momentarily,
Where I should be going;
Not just rural roads,
Where dark-adaptation is heightened,
βBut on city streets, too,
They are blinding,
I often have to take,
One hand off the wheel,
Just to shield myself from the lancing lights,
And see where I am going;
Even on city streets,
Already brightly-lit,
I have to ease off the throttle…
Just so that I don’t kill somebody;
Even when not shining,
Directly towards me,
βTheir repetitive flashing,
Is sooo distracting,
The light is simply too-directional,
And I live in an area riddled with speed-bumps,
βIt honestly, looks like,
They’re constantly flashing their headlights!
Yes, I’m hypersensitive,
But not so much, with light,
Not compared to others I’ve met,
βI cannot be alone with this, right?
πͺ
π»πππππ
π πΆπ πͺππππ πͺ 
The driver need to dim their lights so they do not blind other drivers. Also I used to look to the edge of the road where I was driving to avoid the lights of oncoming cars. Very annoying indeed.
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Thanks, they do. I don’t think the lights need to be so bright when un-dipped to begin with, though. They’re currently too dangerous to be trusted to manual adjustment.
Looking away doesn’t make any difference for me, which I do instinctively, as much as I can. You can’t change the angle of your eyes significantly, whilst still looking at the road. The light is still falling onto the retina with about the same intensity. And you can’t do anything about being instantly blinded when those lights appear suddenly, or are shining from somewhere you need to be looking at right now, or the cars go over bumps.
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Totally agree. It’s like driving with floodlights coming at you. I have no idea why these have not been made illegal or at least regulated so that they aren’t a danger to other drivers.
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The problem is, they are legal and regulated alreadyβ and that process is still leading to more dazzling than before LED lights.
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(Sorry, I meant that they’re explicitly legal and conclusively deemed to be ‘ok’ by the people doing the regulating, to begin with).
That they could have been naive to the extent of dazzling, and still are, is worryingβ considering how many people have noticed it. It’s just hard to imagine how it was overlooked in the first place.
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You’d imagine that lights would be one of those things heavily scrutinised by the safety standards, with lots of testing. Making a change in that technology is a big thing.
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(And here I meantβ that even with that level of scrutiny, this was still the result).
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https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/new-car-headlights-present-unwanted-safety-risk-to-drivers/
“Around 15% of drivers admitted theyβve been involved in a βnear missβ after being dazzled by oncoming traffic, or when checking their rear-view mirrors.
The RAC says 65% of drivers of all ages are regularly dazzled by modern headlights β even when they are dipped.”
The scale of it is shocking but unsurprising!
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Totally with you. I have often felt very scared when I have encountered overpowering headlights.
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Thanks Ember π. The statistics surprised me actually for just how many people admit to being affected by them. It’s really painfully-unnecessary.
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