Is it time to ban LED Headlights

[Diddums]

What’s more dangerous is the idiots with Drl’s not putting all there full lights on when it gets dark. Now it’s getting dark earlier I’m seeing new cars on a daily basis driving along with no rear lights on whatsoever just there sparkly led’s on the front but nothing at the back. There was some bint yesterday driving on the motorway in a black 4x4 in complete darkness you could barely see her and there must have been a handful of cars all flashing her but she obviously thought she had her lights on because of the little led’s on at the front

This is exactly my point above. The car has turned on its DRLs and with it the dash lighting. So the driver thinks their lights are on and are too stupid to actually think otherwise because the car does everything by itself, it's so smart!

 

[snips86x]

This is exactly my point above. The car has turned on its DRLs and with it the dash lighting. So the driver thinks their lights are on and are too stupid to actually think otherwise because the car does everything by itself, it's so smart!

It's so obvious as well. See it all the time round here, at least i know when my lights are on or not.

 

[Nick1881]

I'm more often dazzled by cars with misaligned headlights, normally older cars with halogens, probably a wrongly inserted bulb or accident damage.

As for LED being worse for the driver behind the wheel, that's ridiculous. Halogen lights are useless and I never want a car without Xenon/LED again.

 

[geekman]

The xenons on my Range Rover are adjusted correctly but when I go to other states I occasionally get people coming the other way flashing me, I guess because most of the cars they encounter are lower down / non xenon. I always give a quick flash of the full beam to show them just how bright they can really be, which usually starts a flash war until we pass each other. it's the little things that brighten up the long journeys....

 

[Diddums]

It's so obvious as well. See it all the time round here, at least i know when my lights are on or not.

My opinion of the DVSA and their completely inadequate, unacceptable standards of driving tuition in this country are no secret.

I did my driving licence in Holland, my wife did hers here and the difference is ridiculous. In Holland I was taught how to drive, how a car works, how to change basic components and basic checks both occassional and frequent. I was tested rigorously and failure was failure, start again.

Here my wife was taught how to pass a test. Nothing more. It's unbelievable. Add to it all the minicab drivers who come over here from some dump 3rd world country where they did their "driving test" on the back of a donkey in some tiny little 3 man town with 1 paved road and four cars in the entire provence, let them hand in their licence and get a full UK licence on the spot with zero checks or tests and set them free on one of the world's most congested and advanced road networks where even the most basic things are completely different, like the side of the road they drive on, and you've got a complete mess on your hands.

Granted it's not quite Brazil but having spent some extensive time (read: many, many years) driving in Europe and knowing how efficient it could be, it just drives me nuts.

I absolutely detest driving in the UK because the vast majority of the people I share the roads with lack even the most basic skills, like lane discipline and as demonstrated, the ability to understand the very vehicle they fjnd themselves in. It's unbelievable.

 

[snapdragon69]

Mid-40s, eyes are not what they were, but can't say any particular light source is a problem for me, just the cars with badly adjusted lights, faulty lights, yute's 'modded' lights or eastern european cars with lights that dip into oncoming traffic.

 

[Chris1712]

I think it’s more incorrectly levelled lights and the onslaught of ‘suv’ type vehicles on our roads. Quite frequently the car behind me will be so high with such stupid lights that my car will just be a silhouette in front of me, and I can see their beams are a good 1-2m higher than mine despite being 5m behind me.

 

[Sin_Chase]

No, don't be silly.

The quoted author lost any sense of credibility when he made the tired old "People feeling the need to buy SUV" dross comment.

I have LED headlights and have more issues with badly aligned halogens than I do other LED users.

I'm really not sure what these people are doing getting dazzled by correctly aligned LED headlights. Don't bloody stare at them!?

 

[Frozennova]

I have no issue with them generally, until a Range Rover stops behind at a traffic lights and I'm the MX5. In that case it's like a pair of lasers engraving my retina as the width and height difference is enough that the headlights align perfectly with both windmirrors and the interior mirror

 

[Simon]

None issue for me. Not sure what you are all moaning about.

I’m more bothered about the chumps driving in dark country lanes below the speed limit and not using main beam

 

[Participant]

LEDs are great and I'd take the safety from the extra brightness over any perceived light / dark contrast issues any day.

Mercedes' multibeam ILS is a fantastic system (for the driver) with its ability to full beam everything and selectively dim a few small areas of the road. I do get flashed more with it, due to people thinking I must be full beaming them as the trees around them are lit up.

The only argument I can sympathise with is the fact that intelligent systems don't dip until you're already in line of sight, but then don't stare at other people's headlights like some kind of dumbstruck rabbit and you should be fine.

 

[Rroff]

Sign of the times I guess that people are both too stupid and too inconsiderate to work with the limitations of auto-dip and pre-emptively dip manually when appropriate with the auto function providing a backstop when there might be reasons why you didn't notice/too busy to dip in good time and/or useful in the situations it does work.

LEDs can be developed to provide less sharp cut off and more gentle diffusion - I've got a HCI torch that has higher intensity white light centrally and wider soft light.

 

[Scania]

As a night trucker I can tell you that YES they do dazzle.

And as for that stupid Auto Dip crap effort.. Is it really wise to blind the driver of a 44 tonne vehicle driving directly towards you ?
I can see your headlights before I round the bend and dip so I DEMAND likewise. No I don't give a dead rats arse if you have Auto Dip as it aint working fast enough !

[/Rant]

Agreed.

 

[grudas]

I have no issue with them generally, until a Range Rover stops behind at a traffic lights and I'm the MX5. In that case it's like a pair of lasers engraving my retina as the width and height difference is enough that the headlights align perfectly with both windmirrors and the interior mirror

yup driving my mx5 is a challenge at night! country lanes + heavy rain and I'm blinded from all directions..

lexus is not too bad but it has dimming mirrors etc and sitting much higher up helps reduce the glare.

I guess people who drive cars with higher seating position will not understand the problem but range rover, mini countryman etc all those with lights up on the bonnets and high up in general are terrible.

 

[Nasher]

For people behind you, do the trick of angling the rear view mirror back at them so they blind themselves

LEDs are great and I'd take the safety from the extra brightness over any perceived light / dark contrast issues any day.

Mercedes' multibeam ILS is a fantastic system (for the driver) with its ability to full beam everything and selectively dim a few small areas of the road. I do get flashed more with it, due to people thinking I must be full beaming them as the trees around them are lit up.

The only argument I can sympathise with is the fact that intelligent systems don't dip until you're already in line of sight, but then don't stare at other people's headlights like some kind of dumbstruck rabbit and you should be fine.

These systems just aren't good enough through, you probably are dazzling people.

 

[grudas]

For people behind you, do the trick of angling the rear view mirror back at them so they blind themselves



These systems just aren't good enough through, you probably are dazzling people.

agreed, the systems are often too slow! not sure how they are on top top end lux saloons etc but most cars I see result in me being blinded and you can often see the lights adjusting all over the place which causes even more of an issue.

 

[Skillmister]

LEDs are great and I'd take the safety from the extra brightness over any perceived light / dark contrast issues any day.

Mercedes' multibeam ILS is a fantastic system (for the driver) with its ability to full beam everything and selectively dim a few small areas of the road. I do get flashed more with it, due to people thinking I must be full beaming them as the trees around them are lit up.

The only argument I can sympathise with is the fact that intelligent systems don't dip until you're already in line of sight, but then don't stare at other people's headlights like some kind of dumbstruck rabbit and you should be fine.

I can't say I go around flashing people because the surrounding trees are lit up, but if I'm getting blinded you'll be getting flashed. And judging by the fact that a number of cars I have flashed recently have then turned their full beams on and destroyed my vision entirely, I think that says normal beams are becoming too bright.

Misaligned headlights on older cars are a huge problem but newer cars are definitely becoming worse.

 

[Usher]

My Toyota has auto LED headlights and no setting to actually turn it off, so if I go under a bridge the lights come on for a couple of seconds and gives the impression to the driver in front that I'm flashing them for some reason

 

[jpaul]

agreed, the systems are often too slow!

we had a quasi identical thread - https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/31697128

1/2s was best in class adaption and BM had worst matrix/multi-beam, and ...God help you when the oncoming car go over a bump ?

 

[TheVoice]

Why ban them? It may be that more regulation is required in how they are designed and adapted for use on cars, but banning would obviously be very short-sighted and foolish considering they're the leading lighting technology now.

Headlights aside, LED lighting should've become the standard on most cars long ago, it's still baffling that there are brand new mid-range and higher-end cars coming out with halogen brake lights etc when these were standard on stuff like Passats 10+ years ago.