Nah, it's the new "there/their/they're" grammar mistake that has suddenly become pervasive where a lot of people just put 's to make a plural of something, even everyday words.
Is it time to ban LED Headlights
- Thread starter Glanza
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 May 2006
- Posts
- 7,800
i dunno, be careful what you wish for there imo. the only time i care about my lights are in rural areas (which i live near one so.......................) but i very much doubt locals living in a rural area would want streetlights down all their roads due to light pollution, but that is where good headlights come into their own.
but in areas with street lights i am less bothered about the the type of lights in my car (so long as they work)
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Caporegime
Street lighting is already way too ubiquitous and bright - so much light pollution! - and also much brighter than they used to be when we had those lovely orange sodium lamps.
Not where I live it isn't. The light coverage and brightness of the older lights were way better before they replaecd them with LED ones. I think the main issues is that the LED lights have a narrower field/cone of light compared to the older ones so even though they brightness is similar they just don't provide the same coverage.
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Soldato
yes
Soldato
Street lighting is bright enough IMO, too bright/white in some cases, ruins your night vision. Much preferred the softer orange from the days of old.
The idea that we need retina burning bright white lights, is the issue.
The idea that we need retina burning bright white lights, is the issue.
There is a LOT less light pollution with LED street lights, but they aren't nearly as powerful as the old orange ones and are way to high Kelvin. The orange was nice as ambient light, bit these are awful.
They flash when they fail as well, which is super annoying if there is one outside your house. Like cars, the bulbs don't seem to be replaceable either as I've seen the council replace the whole thing when they die, which must cost 1000s
They flash when they fail as well, which is super annoying if there is one outside your house. Like cars, the bulbs don't seem to be replaceable either as I've seen the council replace the whole thing when they die, which must cost 1000s
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The streetlights in our residential road were replaced with LED units a couple of years ago and they are much nicer. A more neutral colour, they seem to better illuminate the road beneath them but not shine into adjacent houses like the old sodium lamps did. Less light pollution, more efficient, last longer...hard to see the downside tbh. Hope they keep them.
Caporegime
I dread being "flashed in" by a modern truck - higher specification Scania's especially - the LED lights are truly blinding - my own 23 plate model doesn't have them, and to be fair the lights are great.
Which makes me wonder why bother with LED's at all? They are imo too much.
Which makes me wonder why bother with LED's at all? They are imo too much.
I do wonder if the ones who have no issues are the ones in suvs.
In my pickup some of the cars with newer LED lights are horrifically dazzling - I actually find the Qashqai the sweet spot, with lower or higher cars seem to suffer the most with some newer and/or replacement/modified headlights.
On the way to work Monday had someone coming the other way around a corner in the middle of a pack of 6-7 cars where their headlights completely dazzled me so that I had to slow up and struggled to reference my position on the road, all the other cars were fine and they weren't on high beams.
As I've mentioned before I had some mixed experiences with these newer matrix style headlights (both oncoming and when being followed) - when driving a car they mostly work fine and sometimes can even be a benefit with the additional illumination around you but when driving a van or pickup they generally don't seem to handle it correctly and often your wing mirrors are lit up like mini-suns completely destroying your night vision or ability to see anything behind you (especially in a van without a rear view mirror). They really need banning or people being more considerate with them until they are fixed in my opinion - couple of times I've had to pull over because it has been so unsafe.
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Soldato
Wait, you have a Nissan?
Soldato
Our village street lights were also upgraded too very recently, have a nice 'warm' glow to them instead of that awful orange look to everything. Much better for stargazing, or looking at the aurora these days. But the LED's they fitted to the street lighting our former town were simply horrible with a definite blue to them.
The other issue with white LED streetlights rather than the older orange type, is I often find myself dipping my car headlights only to discover its not a car coming the other way but a streetlight and the angle of the road. Cant tell from a distance now if its a car or street light!
I've had that quite often. Some are so dazzling you can't see the road as they go by. Which is probably why it's suspected that LED lights are causing more head-on crashes.
I've also noticed the "matrix" ones don't always seem to work, or they take ages to react and you can see them spazing out. Automatic systems like this are always flakey really.
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I'll give you that, as I've experienced the same. But I still reckon they're a net benefit, at least in residential areas.