Shouldn’t all headlights be okay as long as your headlight angle is calibrated right? That’s like the first thing they teach in driving school
Yeah, it’s not. No one levels those properly and projectors should be used with LEDs, not reflectors. Also, tye temperature of the light (blue light is harsh and males it harder to see without high beams), the little LED strip lights that replaced headlights on a bunch of models now don’t help either.
Even if the lights are leveled correctly, part of the problem is how directional LEDs are. On a flat surface you’re fine. If you’re cresting a hill so your vehicle is level and there’s someone coming up the hill towards you, your headlights are shining directly in their eyes. As soon as you start descending the hill your headlights are now pointing in the right direction relative to oncoming traffic again. Adjust the headlights down and you just change the angle that this happens at. Adjust the headlights down so it only happens on particularly steep hills, and your headlights are basically useless because they’re not illuminating enough of the road in front of you.
Some people here in CR use bikes with these. The only difference is that the lights flash constantly
Bring back standardised headlight, and a maximum height allowance on vehicle’s headlights so that they’re not right in a sedan’s driver’s rearview mirror when a pickup is tailgating.
maximum height allowance on vehicle’s headlights so that they’re not right in a sedan’s driver’s rearview mirror when a pickup is tailgating
That’s actually already legally mandated at least in states that require state inspections. Headlight angle is supposed to be one of the things you have to check in order to pass inspection.
In practice, mostly nobody checks it and it doesn’t matter. But it should.
Can’t you just install couple of headlights facing backwards (asslights?) for such occasions?
I saw a graphic of how big the “blind spot” is in front of modern trucks and it was bigger than most giant construction equipment.
And that’s for an average height driver.
Most of the huge truck guys also happen to be well under the average height, so entire reasonable size cars disappear in front of them when they tailgate. They might see the roof, but they won’t see brake lights or taillights.
It’s flat out not safe for other people. Which is why we have people driving giant SUVs instead of minivans now. Which just makes it worse for everyone else.
Part of it is also outdated regulations. They recently updated the regulations to allow adaptive lights that turn off the parts of the led array that would blind oncoming drivers while maintaining road illumination. The technology has been around a while but the US didn’t allow car makers to use it.
In case anybody doesn’t know, a good trick to avoid blindness is to close one eye until the car passes so you’ll retain your night vision in that eye. This also works great for going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
What if you’re on a one lane road, and not only is there a dude with bright lights on behind you, but also there’s just a continuous stream of them in the opposing lane, all flashing you as well?
Well I held onto my butt and ended up crashing into a tree… I would suggest to any one else who sees this post, don’t do that.
