Your bad driving encounters

[builder22]

people driving with full beams on - auto/reactive etc are maybe to blame sometimes but still not an excuse ...I hope they make a specific law about it and enforce it sometime like they did with mobile phones, it's so ****** annoying!

I don't know why people even bother with full beam on motorways/ big dual carriageways and that's where I see them on the most

 

[jpaul]

auto/reactive etc are maybe to blame sometimes but still not an excuse

they are to blame irrespective ... you can always distinguish the auto systems/brain-dead when they are oncoming, the lights are not dimmed before they straddle the brow of the hill, or emerge from the corner,
by which point I've flashed them.

 

[d_brennen]

I don't know why people even bother with full beam on motorways/ big dual carriageways and that's where I see them on the most

I do a fair bit of driving in Ireland, motorway/unilluminated. If you've ever hit a large animal at 2AM, you will know why you want to see them some distance away...

TBF I see more high beam idiots in London than anywhere, where you really don't need them

 

[builder22]

hmmm, fair point - I start work around 3am, in the past 18 months had one near miss with a deer on a 40mph road - ran over the remians of another deer on the motorway, 'lucky' enough whatever hit it previously spread it out enough over both lanes that there was no damage to my car

to add to the 'muppets on full beam' annoyance...when someone is behind you slowly approaching with full beams on until either they or the auto/reactive system decides to switch down to dipped

 

[builder22]

they are to blame irrespective ... you can always distinguish the auto systems/brain-dead when they are oncoming, the lights are not dimmed before they straddle the brow of the hill, or emerge from the corner,
by which point I've flashed them.

yes...can any of the auto systems detect an obvious vehicle approaching from the other side of a hill, obstruction etc?, doesn't matter lah lah lah my lights are automatic

 

[ICDP]

they are to blame irrespective ... you can always distinguish the auto systems/brain-dead when they are oncoming, the lights are not dimmed before they straddle the brow of the hill, or emerge from the corner,
by which point I've flashed them.

yes...can any of the auto systems detect an obvious vehicle approaching from the other side of a hill, obstruction etc?, doesn't matter lah lah lah my lights are automatic

Most modern auto high beams sensors are mounted high on the windscreen around the rear view mirror mount. This puts the sensors about 15 CM higher than a drivers typical eye line. So most modern cars with auto high beam or matrix lights, will indeed see and react to oncoming traffic over the brow of a hill before a driver will.

The auto high beam and matrix lights on my I-Pace and my previous E-Tron reacted very quickly and never once have I received flashes from some angry lunatic who thinks flashing oncoming cars at night is a perfectly sensible thing to do.

I will not argue they are perfect but by and large they are better than most people who rely on the manual system.

EDIT: By simple logic if auto high beam was as dangerous and slow as you two are making out, they would never have passed been allowed.

 

[Rroff]

to add to the 'muppets on full beam' annoyance...when someone is behind you slowly approaching with full beams on until either they or the auto/reactive system decides to switch down to dipped

Got someone who quite regularly comes up behind me as I'm leaving work who has matrix headlights or whatever and it does not work with my pickup at all - I've had them follow me a couple of times now in other vehicles and it works OK mostly though do get dazzled occasionally but in the pickup, despite being dipped if I look back or in the rear view mirror, the wing mirrors are lit up by them like mini-suns and dangerous significantly impacting my night vision.

The auto-dipping feature in the Qashqai does work pretty quickly when it comes to people in front of you to be fair - in fact a little too eager to dip sometimes - there is a spot on my route home where they'll dip for vehicles over 500m in front.

 

[jpaul]

The auto high beam and matrix lights on my I-Pace and my previous E-Tron reacted very quickly and never once have I received flashes from some angry lunatic who thinks flashing oncoming cars at night is a perfectly sensible thing to do.

Think it was max 250ms, the requirement I've linked in earlier posts, but most humans are pre-emptive (like the tennis player receiving the high speed serve),
you get tired of flashing people, even though it erodes your safety margin.

the proliferation of touch screen controls in cars (bar mazda) despite the data from Japanese and North American research showing driver distraction, is another example of dangerous systems being installed,
(you could say it's like the cigarette manufacturers.)

 

[ICDP]

Think it was max 250ms, the requirement I've linked in earlier posts, but most humans are pre-emptive (like the tennis player receiving the high speed serve),
you get tired of flashing people, even though it erodes your safety margin.

the proliferation of touch screen controls in cars (bar mazda) despite the data from Japanese and North American research showing driver distraction, is another example of dangerous systems being installed,
(you could say it's like the cigarette manufacturers.)

What utter tripe. You are just wrong that auto system are slow to react or are dangerous. Are you seriously trying to claim that automakers are like the cigarette industry by lying about unsafe products?

What total and utter tripe. I have no words for that laughable argument.

 

[theone8181]

I think what he's trying to say is that sometimes us people notice things the cameras don't. Fir instance with high beam, if I see an area lighting up round the corner I realise there's a car there so I'll turn mine off early, whereas the car only sees the lights when the car comes round the corner.

 

[ICDP]

I think what he's trying to say is that sometimes us people notice things the cameras don't. Fir instance with high beam, if I see an area lighting up round the corner I realise there's a car there so I'll turn mine off early, whereas the car only sees the lights when the car comes round the corner.

Which is perfectly fine as long as the lights are off in time not to cause dazzle to other drivers.

My own experience of auto high beam or matrix lights, is that they notice the increased brightness before a car comes round a corner, or over an hill and react accordingly. This idea that auto high beams are causing problems is a massive exaggeration. Or in this person’s case pure hyperbole by comparing the car manufacturers to the cigarette industry. The idea that they know auto high beams cause serious dangers to life. Or implying they and touch screen displays cause thousands of road accidents every year but chose to ignore it and even spend massive sums on cover ups and fake scientific reports etc. people had accidents fiddling with radio or cassette tape controls and basically it boils down to idiots going to idiot.

Yet here I am after 7 years of owning cars with either auto beam assist, or matrix lights and finding them perfectly fine and that they do exactly what they are designed to do. I also rarely have issue with poor high beam discipline from other drivers. Yet this poster would have us believe in some frootloop conspiracy to cover up a major road safety issue.

 

[Ryan-3]

I find it more of an issue with people having really badly aligned beams. Saw a guy on twitter complaining about Tesla's being bad across the board (build quality..) but I haven't seen it. Usually stuff like Dacia's that get driven like they're stolen that blind me daily.

 

[tom_e]

I find it more of an issue with people having really badly aligned beams. Saw a guy on twitter complaining about Tesla's being bad across the board (build quality..) but I haven't seen it. Usually stuff like Dacia's that get driven like they're stolen that blind me daily.

Minis are terrible for it, if you ever hear a biker complaining about being blinded you can almost guarantee 9 times out of 10 it was a Mini.

 

[jpaul]

Yet here I am after 7 years of owning cars with either auto beam assist

just that the high beam adjust is not anticipatory enough, having driven before these existed being dazzled is not a problem I recall,

on the touch screens - as I say mazda believe the safety issue is compelling

Why Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles

Tablet-like touchscreens have become the ubiquitous interfaces of choice, and they’re seemingly everywhere in daily life, on everything from thermostats to coffee makers and refrigerators. But Mazda really doesn’t think they belong in cars—or at least anywhere near the driver’s seat. It wasn’t a...

www.motorauthority.com

Physical buttons outperform touchscreens in new cars, test finds

Physical buttons are increasingly rare in modern cars. Most manufacturers are switching to touchscreens – which perform far worse in a test carried out by Vi Bilägare. The driver in the worst-performing car needs four times longer to perform simple tasks than in the best-performing car.

www.vibilagare.se

Spoiler: result

Car	Time to perform four tasks, seconds	Score, 1–5
BMW iX	30.4	4.0
Dacia Sandero	13.5	3.75
Hyundai Ioniq 5	26.7	3.5
Mercedes GLB	20.2	3.25
MG Marvel R	44.9	2.5
Nissan Qashqai	25.1	4.25
Seat Leon	29.3	3.25
Subaru Outback	19.4	4.0
Tesla Model 3	23.5	3.75
Volkswagen ID.3	25.7	2.25
Volvo C40	13.7	3.5
Volvo V70 (2005)	10.0	4.5

• Activate the heated seat, increase temperature by two degrees, and start the defroster.
• Power on the radio and adjust the station to a specific channel (Sweden’s Program 1).
• Reset the trip computer.
• Lower the instrument lighting to the lowest level and turn off the center display.

it's the other driver you have to worry about.

 

[ICDP]

edit. Double post

 

[ICDP]

just that the high beam adjust is not anticipatory enough, having driven before these existed being dazzled is not a problem I recall

Then you are contradicting yourself because you previously posted this.

“they are to blame irrespective ... you can always distinguish the auto systems/brain-dead when they are oncoming, the lights are not dimmed before they straddle the brow of the hill, or emerge from the corner,
by which point I've flashed them.”

So now you are claiming the “brain dead” did not exist prior to auto dimming technology. My experience is different than yours then because the auto dimmers on my previous cars and current car work perfectly. They work on light sources of other cars and street lights far better than most humans. In actual fact these auto dimming and matrix systems were invented to mitigate this “brain dead” drivers.

In fact I would argue that you intentionally flashing other drivers is worse, because it means you are deliberately causing a dangerous (and illegal) act.

This was also not about touch screens, the sound of scraping goalposts is deafening with that one.

 

[jpaul]

“they are to blame irrespective ... you can always distinguish the auto systems/brain-dead when they are oncoming, the lights are not dimmed before they straddle the brow of the hill, or emerge from the corner,
by which point I've flashed them.”

it was intended as a reference to people with the auto system, who are aware of system deficiencies, without overriding them in problematic situations, or, worse, people who haven't figured it out.

I made it about touch screens.

 

[ICDP]

No, it really wasn’t. You were claiming auto systems don’t work as well as human operators. Yet my experience is that the auto systems have less problems overall.

Not once in over 2.5 years of owning cars with matrix automated lights, or the other 4+ years of automated beam assist have I found them problematic. Let alone be flashed by some idiot who deliberately and knowingly dazzles other drivers.

The absolute hypocrisy of complaining about people dazzling you and then thinking that doing the same back is a safe and rational response.

 

[NasherUK]

I've been dazzled by automatic headlights many times, especially in low slung cars.

There is always a split second of full beams in your face before they react after exiting corners. Like any automated system they cannot anticipate or make ad-hoc decisions, so can be sketchy.

Also as mentioned above. Tesla headlights are especially horrific. Either the lamp design or alignment from the factory is off.

 

[ICDP]

And you know they are auto rather than the driver?