Is it time to ban LED Headlights

Deleted member 280263 said:
If you're talking those bulbs when fitted to non Xenon headlights, then I disagree.
I have tried every brand's variant, on a multitude of older cars and none of those bulbs are what I'd consider an upgrade - the Philips die very quickly compared to the Osram's.
You gain a tiny bit of additional brightness, and the beam is a bit whiter, that's it.
Then you loose the ability to see your own headlights, the minute a car comes the other way - something that doesn't happen when you have Xenons.
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They are a huge upgrade over regular halogens - something wrong if you are gaining only a tiny bit and losing the ability to see your own, lifespan seems a mixed one - I use the +130% which are a bit more balanced for lifespan than the 150s, 200s and I don't see much difference in performance. I wonder if on some cars the enclosure isn't suited to them resulting in higher heat or something as there seems to be a 50/50 mix of people who are saying they last 4 months and those getting at least 3 years.
 
i made the mistake of reading some of the comments on that BBC headline. Whilst some of the comments have a bit of sense to them others are just bonkers.

apparently its "easy" for drivers of cars with LED lights to simply change the colour of the headlight so they do not dazzle anymore, but they dont because drivers of posh cars with said headlights are selfish. :/
 
[TW]Fox said:
There is data for contributory factor though and headlights are listed as one - the peak was 2014 with every year since showing fewer serious collisions with headlight dazzling as a contributory factory. The most recent year for which data is available - 2023 - shows that there were a third less accidents where dazzling headlights were shown as a contributory factor than there were in 2014.
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There is some data, but it's incomplete and limited. It gives some idea, but is nowhere near definitive enough to ascertain degree of effectiveness. At best, it shows they were, and still are, a contributing factor in those incidents where the reported causes could be confirmed.

Are headlights too bright? Everything you need to know about headlight glare

Do you have trouble driving at night because some headlights seem too bright? Perhaps you are driving less, or have even stopped driving altogether. If so, you're not alone. Read on to find out more about a topic that's of growing interest to drivers both in the UK and further afield
www.rac.co.uk www.rac.co.uk

and the limitations specified in:
www.gov.uk

Guide to road safety and contributory factors for reported road casualties Great Britain

www.gov.uk www.gov.uk


[TW]Fox said:
In the same time I'd imagine the percentage of vehicles on the road with advanced headlight systems has increased significantly.
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Which again is only good if they're correctly configured.

[TW]Fox said:
You could argue that the issue is something that people perceive is a problem rather than is. We notice the headlights are brighter, but does this translate into a dangerous situation resulting in a collision?
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You could similarly argue that it doesn't matter if there are any collisions or not, that danger is still present and affects other drivers.
For example, I notice when headlights are plenty bright but don't actually present a problem, compared to when they're not necessarily as bright but cause so much glare that I can't see safely past them.

cuke2u said:
I wonder if in other countries they obsess so much about it as much as we do here in the UK.
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The RAC stuff cited similar reports and stats from across Europe, with similar levels of people having issues... so I guess Yes, they do.

bigmike20vt said:
apparently its "easy" for drivers of cars with LED lights to simply change the colour of the headlight so they do not dazzle anymore, but they dont because drivers of posh cars with said headlights are selfish. :/
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It is pretty easy on the plug-and-play types, less so on factory-sealed units unless you want to go adding tint coatings.
 
Rroff said:
They are a huge upgrade over regular halogens - something wrong if you are gaining only a tiny bit and losing the ability to see your own, lifespan seems a mixed one - I use the +130% which are a bit more balanced for lifespan than the 150s, 200s and I don't see much difference in performance. I wonder if on some cars the enclosure isn't suited to them resulting in higher heat or something as there seems to be a 50/50 mix of people who are saying they last 4 months and those getting at least 3 years.
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I still disagree :P
They're just a bit brighter, than in real world, does nothing to help you see the minute you face oncoming traffic, it's literally lethal to drive a car with halogens down a road with no street lights and oncoming traffic in the rain.

They are decent on solo drives, I wont deny that. But they're not what I'd consider a fix, as oncoming traffic just washes it all out, and I've tried them on all my 90's cars. retro fitted HID's/LED's with projector/self leveling adjusters, are the only real fix. Or buying an aftermarket headlight with the aforementioned built in.

I also found the Osram's to be better than the Philips. The Osrams lasted me 1-2 years of constant driving late at night for hours at a time, so I rate them, and obviously I'd use them over the lethal standard bulbs, no denying that.

Yep, it's well known that these bulbs can and do burn the silver paint/material surround the lenses, as they were never designed for that wattage/heat/duration. HID's/LED's can do the same.
Some headlights enclosures are better suited, i.e. ones with projectors.
 
If it's raining people often have poorly cleaned windscreen & wipers(that have done many frosts) that don't help


Not sure the idea of manipulating flip up glasses attachments suggested in thread revival is a good idea, especially if you are on a windy road;
I purchased a pair of yellow tint over specs to block the right blue frequency - bit affected though.

[
european/ww glare study from earlier in thread that rac used
https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/GRE-90-20e-reduced.pdf
]
 
LED headlights have been a problem for years, hopefully something will be done.

Took 'em long enough to acknowledge it!
 
jpaul said:
Not sure the idea of manipulating flip up glasses attachments suggested in thread revival is a good idea, especially if you are on a windy road;
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It's perfectly safe, I just steer with my knees and keep both hands on the glasses for safety.
 
Eddie said:
LED headlights have been a problem for years, hopefully something will be done.

Took 'em long enough to acknowledge it!
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look into it maybe.... however if it is to be done properly a balance of accidents saved due to cars having better lights vs people being dazzled causing accidents.

how do you decide if a person is being dazzled because the lights are objectively too bright vs people staring straight at them rather than looking past them, or just having eye conditions which means they are over senstive.

also WRT auto dimming, how do you decide what is safer, a split second lag on a car potentially auto dimming its lights vs some people driving around 100% of the time with full beam on.

also with LED lights (hopefully) lasting the life of the car, how do you record the accidents saved due to plonkers driving around with 1 or both headlights out and things like that, which are far less likely to happen with LED lights.

i remember when seatbelts or airbags 1st came into force. i know it isnt a direct comparison but even that, something i think is a no brainer people pushed back and argued but what about the possibility of a seatbelt or airbag causing an injury.

i just dont think you can say person X finds LEDs more dazzling than the lights from a standard bulb from a car 30 years ago therefore LED lights are bad.

I do fully support that lights should be checked very carefully that they are calibrated properly in an MOT.
 
They are seeing head on collisions caused by people being blinded. They get dazzled and then run in to the one dazzling them, because all you can see is a big white blob and not the road. It's not really something which used to happen.
 
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Nasher said:
They are seeing head on collisions caused by people being blinded. They get dazzled and then run in to the one dazzling them, because all you can see is a big white blob and not the road. It's not really something which used to happen.
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Where have you got this information from?
 
Darkpilgrim said:
I can't see how anyone can argue against changing these lights to be safer.
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Because first we need to work out whether they really are more dangerous, or whether most of this is just caused by peoples perception rather than reality. Look at Mikes post above and you'll see there is far more to this.

The idea that nobody was ever blinded by a headlight before about 2015 doesn't seem credible and doesn't appear to be reflected in the available accident statistics, which if anything are showing a reduction in this sort of incident not an increase.

Modern headlight systems allow a driver to see further and more clearly at night giving them more time to pick out and react to hazards on the road. This is clearly a significant safety benefit - it must be balanced against any negative impacts, obviously, but nobody on the other side of this debate seems prepared to acknowledge how much safer driving at night is when you don't have poor lighting. Is it a real issue or is it just something people enjoy complaining about, like the weather? Any headlight is going to be blinding if you stare directly at it, after all.
 
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Well peoples perception of danger can cause them to do stupid things that are dangerous. So I don't really get your argument.
I have seen people drive off the road after being blinded, Admittedly probably because of there own panic.
 
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Nasher said:
They are seeing head on collisions caused by people being blinded. They get dazzled and then run in to the one dazzling them, because all you can see is a big white blob and not the road. It's not really something which used to happen.
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Who is 'they'? in the context of you making stuff up?

Umpa lumpas? Dementors?
 
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