I need this
You can see all the drivers swerving towards you with their forearms covering their eyes trying not to be blinded.
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We used to have a pair of Cibie “Big Oscar” driving lights on our Land Cruiser in Uganda.
Great for spotting potholes, livestock & game animals while driving dirt roads at night.
Of course, they were rated “Off-Road Use Only”, and would get you a ticket if used on highways here.
It is always a trade-off between being able to see at a distance and blinding oncoming cars.
Just drive with your brights on. Duh!
/s
I drive faster than the speed of light, thankfully there’s Braille...
Back in the ‘90’s I bought a new Pontiac Grand Prix, loved that car! Fit like a glove, drove like a sports car. But, the headlights sucked. Oh they were plenty bright when you look at them, but, the light from them didn’t “cast” very far, and I felt I was “overdriving my headlights” at 45 MPH.
I don’t know light terminology, but they were the ones with the bluish cast to them.
I went bact to a car with old-fashioned, sealed beams, incandescent, and the throw the light twice as far.
I got rid of that Pontiac after a couple of years, mainly because of the headlight problem.
“If you’re not in the market for a new car, area law enforcement say all drivers should think about headlight maintenance.”
pretty easy to replace dimming bulbs and clear fogged lenses but no “upgrades” to factory lighting are allowed under law in the state I live in so if your factory lighting sucks learn to live with it. probably due to kids putting $50 HID kits in headlights not designed for HID light sources which results in blinding glare all over the place.
My last 2 cars have had HID lights, and I would never go back to halogen. I never have people flashing at me.
It’s important to recognize that not all HID systems are the same. Some are much better that others when annoyance to oncoming drivers is considered (one of the factors considered in the IIHS study).
I looked at the report on their site and they aren’t clear on what lighting technology is on the cars that they rated (only that it is the best available).
By far the worst for oncoming drivers are the rice-racer HID aftermarket conversion kits.
For stock HID systems, from my experience, the worst seem to be on Cadillacs (Escalade especially) and large Japanese SUVs.
If you think about how you really drive at night you don’t use your headlights to see oncoming traffic. You use the headlights of oncoming vehicles not only to see them but to see that there is nothing blocking that light which would indicate there is something in your path. Your headlights only light up the lane markings so you can stay between them. Animals attempting to cross the road are usually revealed by the jewel-like reflections of their eyes.
It takes more thought and attention to drive at night than in the day.
Yep, here’s the justification for the next reg increasing the price of your vehicle in the name of safety.
I’ve done plenty of highway night driving for years, w/o concern.
As far as the folks that sells these headlights are concerned, not enough of the market is buying them, because of the oncoming glare problem.
So what’s the fix? Send you lobbyist to capitol hill to work on pushing a reg through so you can recoup your investment.
This pattern occurs over and over. I’m surprised more people don’t recognize it by now.
If we had a real press, it’d research who’s pushing this through and how and publish THAT.
Would have been nice if the article included a link to the test results.
Back in the early I '90s, replaced the stock headlights in my Jeep Cherokee with higher wattage European halogens and glass housings. The difference was dramatic, and not once did any car flash its lights at me in eight years. Later, I replaced that with an Bi-Xenon HID conversion kit, and once more the improvement was dramatic. I probably can see out 300 feet on low beams. I found that the color of the light makes a huge difference, as the yellow light of a halogen bulbs does not reveal as much as the pure white light of an HID unit. Again, if the headlights are properly aimed, there is no issue with other drivers, nor has anyone ever blinked their lights at me.
It’s the oncoming new fangled headlights dazzling my eyes that keep me from seeing far enough at night.
I will only be satisfied when I can mount 40 watt green lasers in my headlight wells.