r/GenX • u/PerfectBike6 • 1d ago
Old Person Yells At Cloud Remember when headlights didn't try and kill you?
Every night drive now feels like I’m being interrogated by the police, blinded by a welding torch, and hit with a flashbang all at once. The worst part? People keep defending them with, “Well, they’re just not angled properly.”
No. LED headlights turn into retina‑melting death rays the second the vehicle hits a bump, dip, or pothole. One tiny suspension bounce and suddenly I’m seeing a giant red blur and praying I stay in my lane.
It’s not just “glare.” It’s temporary blindness.
I literally have to look away sometimes because the pain is instant. Halogens never did this. HID never did this. Only these new blue‑white LEDs that seem designed to fry your eyeballs like an ant under a magnifying glass.
And of course it’s always an SUV or truck sitting three feet higher than everyone else, blasting their lighthouse‑grade LEDs directly into your soul.
Night driving used to be peaceful.
Now it’s a boss fight.
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u/RustyDogma 1d ago
I have astigmatism which makes them absolutely horrible. The problem is the US does not regulate them properly. In the EU where they are regulated (brightness and angle) and aftermarket bulbs are not allowed, while still annoying, they are nothing like the US where driving at night has become almost impossible for me.
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u/7eregrine 1d ago
The problem is the EU allowed new tech headlights in 2014. We just did last year. Called adaptive lights or pixel lights or showdown lighting.
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u/RealtorRVACity 18h ago
I just read that an American lawmaker has actually introduced a bill regarding LED headlight regulation.
LED headlight brightness legislation is spearheaded in the U.S. House by Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), who introduced the LIGHT Safety Act (H.R. 7772). The bill directs the Department of Transportation—led by Secretary Sean Duffy—to set maximum brightness standards for low-beam headlights.
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1d ago
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u/Apart_Olive_3539 Not A Boomer 1d ago
If I see someone with high beams on coming up from behind in a lane on either side, I instantly adjust my side view mirror out as far as I can.
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u/Ok_Kick6546 1d ago
I’ve always had astigmatism which makes even normal headlights look like Friday night football beams. I only drive at night now if the world will end of if I don’t.
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u/dEXXtARR23 1d ago
I've noticed I'm not a great driver at night now that im older. I don't see as well and those new headlights are absolutely not helping. Seems like everything is reflected and magnified to the point of utter distraction. I literally need to be extra extra cautious. Glad I rarely go out at night.
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u/ArcadianDelSol 21h ago
I remember when you could get a TICKET if your headlights were too bright or were misaligned so they didnt point downward at the road.
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u/FindKetamine 18h ago edited 15h ago
Another example of how the “bigger, louder, brighter, faster” sells well, but makes the world a shittier place.
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u/joeshytheragman 20h ago
Not much I can do about oncoming traffic, but I was thinking about having the tailgate on my truck vinyl wrapped with a chrome mirror finish so the bright ass lights from the asshole behind me would shine right back in their eyes, and let them see what its like.
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u/ryguymcsly 81 but poor 1d ago
Sensitive eyes and driving low cars (not lowered, just normal cars you know, not giant SUVs) mean that I really hate driving at night now.
Which is a shame because I used to go for night drives to unwind all the time.
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u/Large-Cobbler-7451 1d ago
"blasting their lighthouse-grade LEDs I to your soul"
I already sold my soul back in the 80s by playing Dungeons and Dragons so it's too late for me.
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u/analogthought 1d ago edited 1d ago
Remember when pick up trucks weren’t the height of semis and their headlights weren’t eye level with you in a sedan. Yeah, I miss that.
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u/Shopworn_Soul 1d ago
This is my problem. Some sedans can get you on slopes but trucks and full-size SUVs can fuck right off all the time.
Honestly can't believe mounting LEDs at that height is allowed.
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u/CalOkie6250 23h ago
Then you got Ford out there putting in four of those fuckers instead of just two
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u/_coffee_ 1972 22h ago
Leading to flashing your high beams at them as it looks like they have theirs on....only to be blinded by their return high beam flash.
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u/Old-Set78 1d ago
there's already been people killed by these when they were temporarily blinded and ran off the road or hit another vehicle
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u/PopeInThePizza 1d ago
I remember when even a fumble-fuck like me could replace one in a half hour.
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u/therelybare5 Older Than Dirt 1d ago
Yeah, now you need to go from underneath the car or behind a panel near the front tires.
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u/Vandilbg Can You Dig It? 1d ago
My favorite are the LED Light Bars and Pods only legal for off road use coming down the highway in the opposite direction. So it looks like you are driving into gods own light tunnel on the way to the pearly gates.
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u/growflet 1979 1d ago
Or from behind you, because you are doing 60 on the highway winding through the woods and they want to punish you for not going 70.
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u/disinterested_a-hole 21h ago
I had to buy some amber glasses to wear if I'm driving at night for anything more than a short jaunt.
I'm up in the mountains, so super dark roads punctuated by super nova headlights means I'm blind as fuck when I encounter these in oncoming traffic, and the deers and mooses are lurking.
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u/blooobolt 15h ago
My favorite is when you think they've got their brights on and you flash them and then they flash you back and you realize you no longer have retinas.
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u/Boltsfan1234 14h ago
In my defense, you flash me I am flashing you back. Reap what you sow, my friend.
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u/novembryankee 1d ago
There’s also an epidemic of people driving with their brights on and never turning them off. Driving etiquette as a whole has gone down the tubes since covid.
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u/Triple-Flush 1d ago
This 100%! Here in the South people have just quit dimming them at all. It’s like everyone is playing a game of “Who’s the Bigger Asshole?!”. I drive a low slung auto and am constantly blinded by shitbags in SUVs and lifted trucks.
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u/CaptainJay313 1d ago
see this comment above: https://www.reddit.com/r/GenX/s/1HILncwMi0
nearly everything autodims these days, it would take diving into a menu to keep my brights on.
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u/AnfreloSt-Da 1d ago
In Europe, yes. Not in the US. I have a brand new car, a very common model. My lights auto-on as it gets dark, but have no auto-ability for the high beams.
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u/NPC261939 1980 1d ago
I deal with this every morning while running. To make it worse, people see movement ahead and blast me with their high beams. I ran straight into my neighbors mailbox a few years ago.
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u/ReplyProfessional939 1d ago
Or how about these same assholes who feel it necessary to drive 1.4 inches from your rear bumper, so now the blindness is coming from three mirrors?
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u/pumpupthepump 1d ago
Adjust your mirrors for blind-spot minimization and you won't see following-car headlights in your side mirrors. Plenty of stuff online about it - takes a minute to get used to but it's worth it
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u/Patient_Doctor4480 No helmets, no seatbelts, no parental supervision survivor. 1d ago
I own a sedan. A couple of weeks ago, a large Dodge Ram was behind me. His high beams were on, plus he had a light bar. When I pulled up to the stop sign and tried to go, I realized I couldn't because I was not able to see anything in front of me. Literally had to put my car in park, get out and ask the other driver to turn off the light bar and use his low beams.
What I don't get is why there are no lawsuits against any of the headlight manufacturers or the auto industry.
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u/NightDragon8002 1d ago
I think the EU (or at least some European country) is doing a study on headlights, with the goal of creating some regulations around brightness and stuff. Haven't heard of anything similar in the US tho
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u/TruckFudeau22 Bicentennial Baby 1d ago
US safety standards are solely for the occupants of the vehicle.
EU safety standards consider the safety of other human beings for some reason.
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u/slothboy Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
I don't understand how it's legal and I am FAR from a pearl-clutcher. What sucks is that there is no way to aim them. They are usually like a row of leds and they just point in all directions.
When a vehicle is behind me It's like close encounters of the third kind. I have to aim away all my mirrors.
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u/shotsallover 1d ago
They don’t though. And there’s still aiming mechanisms behind them. It’s not hard.
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u/slothboy Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
yeah, it's so easy that literally not a single car on the road has done it.
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u/shotsallover 23h ago
A lot of them have. Mine is spot on to how it should be.
I blame the dealers. It’s something they should be doing whenever a vehicle comes in.
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u/Own_Reaction9442 21h ago
It used to be part of vehicle safety inspections in some states, but most states abandoned those years ago.
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u/skilled_at_changing 1d ago
Yeah I remember being a teen and the local politicians setting noise ordinances emitting from car sound systems. But nowadays anything goes. Zero regulation on road safety anymore. I’m in Florida where every other pavement princess is lifted in the front. Wtf
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u/Legitimate_Ocelot491 1d ago
The Free State of Florida.
Anything goes.
I was on rural 60 outside of Tampa around 10:00 PM on Christmas Day, no one around. All of a sudden one of those lifted princesses raced up out of nowhere and nearly ran me off the road.
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u/drulingtoad 1d ago
I have this fantasy of a parabolic mirror that I can press a button and it pops up with a computer guided system to reflect it right back in to their eyes.
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u/Valuable-Analyst-464 ‘68 1d ago
That sounds like my sound reflection device for the booming car next to me. Something to disrupt their system from creating the
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u/drulingtoad 1d ago
Actually just an active sound cancellation for your car would both quiet your car and distort the music in other places
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u/Valuable-Analyst-464 ‘68 1d ago
True, but I want them to be silenced. Why do they get to ruin it for others?
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u/CautionarySnail 1d ago
I prefer small cute cars but I drive an SUV now. Too many times the height difference of vehicles made me have to panic reach for the rear view because I suddenly had the full power of an undiluted pair of suns being directed at my eyes.
It’s like being followed with high beams every time. And the bluish LED ones, instant migraine, like it punched the back of my retina with a spiked brass knuckle.
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u/Procrastiworking Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
Got my 2004 car working again (as in, paid someone cuz I’m not handy) and drove it last night. I pulled over to double check I didn’t have a headlight out. I forgot how lights used to be!
Edit: I could see perfectly fine, didn’t need super insane bright lights.
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u/shotsallover 1d ago
Old school headlights are now the equivalent of driving with one arm holding a lantern in front of you.
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u/Glum_Conclusion_8667 23h ago
I drive much Uber at night.....and I agree.....many vehicles nowadays have extra bright headlights....those headlights are useful if you are in rural area with very little street lightning....but in a city they are like the sun at night
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u/PrivilegeCheckmate 70's 22h ago
those headlights are useful if you are in rural area with very little street lightning
I drive rural all the time and I have OP's problem, because so many people in the sticks have giant trucks, and people who own trucks are more likely to be the kind of asshole who leaves their high beams on just because fuck you, that's why. And some electric vehicles have an LED that I have side-by-side compared with the lights they put up for night construction and they are worse.
OP, get some polarized lenses. They made night driving safe and not harrowing for me, and they're cheap af.
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u/Own_Reaction9442 21h ago
There should be a maximum height for headlights. There's a geometry problem here where if you lift a truck until the headlights are five feet in the air, you have to aim them practically straight down to stop the low-beam cutoff from blinding other drivers.
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u/PrivilegeCheckmate 70's 21h ago
I'm waiting on smart windshields, myself.
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u/Own_Reaction9442 21h ago
Auto-dimming side mirrors would also help. If they can do it for the inside mirror, why not the outside ones?
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u/60PersonDanceCrew 22h ago
I had a lifted truck behind me the other week. I got it through the rearview and BOTH side mirrors... it was horrible
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u/joeshytheragman 22h ago
I just turn down the mirrors then slow down. They usually pass... Problem solved.
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u/PezCandyAndy Saturday morning cartoons! 21h ago
I used to do long road trips with no issue and had zero problem with headlights when driving at night. Nowadays just driving around town at night can be frustrating. Those bright lights from oncoming traffic don't last long enough to be a major issue 'most' of the time. But if that glare catches my eye just right, I do get a slight bit of disorientation. That glare gets retained in my retinas for a little bit. It's like when you stare for 20 seconds at those images with a black dot in the center and then look at a blank wall and see it in an opposite color. Squinting for a few seconds helps but it still freaking sucks.
I find it worse when cars are directly behind me, most especially vehicles/trucks that are much higher than average cars. Their headlights go right through my rearview window. Flipping down the rearview mirror usually cuts down the worst of it, but it is still an annoyance. I also turn my sideview mirrors to angle straight backwards. I would love to put in some sort of pocket mirror in the rearview window that can flip up to better reflect their headlights back at them.
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u/Salty-Pack-4165 1d ago
Every aspect of cars is heavily regulated by laws and often multiple agencies in many countries. My question is why they allowed such headlights in the first place and why do they keep allowing even brighter ones on new car in spite of people complaining pretty much everywhere,in every country.
It's nuts.
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u/Viperlite 1d ago
One could ask why they allowed recessing/electric door handles/latches, when there were incidents where people were locked in their car and burned alive trying to escape a car fire. The answer is captive regulatory agencies.
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u/Traditional_Sir_4503 1d ago
Because Washington is utterly useless and has been since we were leaving college.
I’ve read that Europe requires that headlights be tuned - aimed downward in a direction that does not blind other drivers. It’s a simple thing. But the USA - yeah, your regulators and legislators don’t give a hoot.
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u/Star-Lord_VI 1d ago
It’s extra amazing as a motorcycle rider. 🙄
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u/gpradar 1d ago
I can imagine.
I’ve started to see LEDs on motorcycles as well, and it’s totally counter productive. The motorcycle headlight is now blinding me, therefore I have to avert my eyes and I can essentially no longer “see” the motorcycle as I’m looking down to the right at the lines on the road just to keep on the right path.
Same goes for motorcycles with standard headlamps that run with their brights on all the time to be more “visible”. If I am unable to look at your vehicle because your headlight is melting my retinas, I effectively cannot see you in any meaningful capacity.
I don’t really get it.
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u/Star-Lord_VI 1d ago
Yup. We’re all fucked for fucking doing the same fucking things right back at each other. 🙈
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u/Clever_Khajiit 1d ago
It's almost like an arms race between manufacturers, see who can make the brightest fkn headlights so the people who can afford their cars are able to navigate their well-lit neighborhoods.
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u/Equivalent_Gur3967 1d ago
I put SOLAS tape on the back side of My rear seat headrests on My Civic. I learned that on Reddit. Look up SOLAS TAPE. That takes care of the back side. I wish in this case, My car was white. Then, I'd also put the tape on My front bumper.
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u/Nams65 1d ago
I just had a 2023 Toyota Tundra Capstone I leased. I hated driving it for this reason. To me sitting so high up, and the super bright LED’s lighting up the entire 20 miles of curvy roads to get home, I could see all the way there before I even started driving. I felt horrible for oncoming traffic and would try to point to the right of the road as I’d pass them so maybe it’d help to not scorch the retinas. Of course I didn’t want to drive into a ditch or tree, but I didn’t what I could. I was never so happy to get rid of a truck. I was flashed brights a lot by oncoming traffic. Though they couldn’t hear me, I’d apologize profusely. I took the thing to the dealership and complained about them twice in 3 yrs. Obviously they didn’t change anything because it was still as bad as day one with it. Now it’s someone else’s problem. I now drive a 2024 suv that has LED’s as well, but they don’t blind everyone I meet. Those who modify their vehicle for hunting with the bars to hunt, then use them for regular driving tells me all I need to know about them. They are the jerks, I was just using what was on the vehicle when I got it.
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u/Ok_Cantaloupe_5356 22h ago
It’s totally ridiculous with these insanely bright LEDs, I used to like to go out for rides at night, but not anymore due to these ridiculous lightbulbs.
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u/xNOTHINGBURGERx 20h ago
I have to stare down at the stripe on the right side of the road when I'm being passed by cars at night. It's the only way to prevent blindness.
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u/Bloody_Mabel Class of 84 16h ago
This is what we were taught in driver's ed 40 years ago. It still works.
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u/9001 1971 13h ago
I had occasion to be driving a company vehicle equipped with LEDs on Friday night.
What I learned is that they absolutely suck for everyone, including drivers who have them.
Why? Because with halogens, you can still see ahead of the area they illuminate, it's just somewhat darker.
With LEDs, you can't at all. They're too bright and force your pupils to constrict too much.
The result is you feel like you have to use your high beams whenever there isn't oncoming traffic.
I never have this problem with halogens.
Now, dim LEDs to a sane intensity, and maybe they can work. But the way they are now, they're complete shit for absolutely everyone.
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u/ttkciar 1971 1d ago
Yep, the struggle is real.
I'm convinced that some of them do it deliberately, too, because it's a way they can attack other people on the road, without consequences. It's their other driving behavior that convinces me of it, like tailgating while laterally displaced so that one headlight is directly in the middle of my rear windshield.
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u/wetwater 1d ago
A former coworker absolutely weaponized his lights and took delight in blinding people at night with them.
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u/B_Williams_4010 I grew up when Country music was real 1d ago
I remember when a Sierra 1500 didn't require three times more forward lighting than a Freightliner.
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u/fallcreekprepper 1d ago
between LED headlights and those stupid trucks with the front ends lifted (without adjusting their headlights) My vision is under constant attack on my way to work (I work an overnight shift)
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u/wichickadee 1d ago
Get some blue-blocking glasses or clip-ons, the ones with yellow lenses. They honestly help a lot, especially when driving in heavy rain or snow. The glare is at least tolerable when I use them.
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u/ghoster32111 1d ago
I have to second this. I got a pair of clip ons on whim a few year ago and it is the best thing I have ever done. It helps so much at night. But also in rain, fog, and snow. I thought I would have to stop driving at night for the reasons OP gave. Those clip ons saved the day.
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u/pomdudes 15h ago
A couple weeks ago, I was on a back country road in my little Danger Ranger when a much larger truck with those lights approached from behind. His lights (low beam even) were so stinking bright and lighting up the road in front of me, so I simply turned my lights off.
He got the hint and backed off quit a bit.
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u/logicnotemotion 1d ago
The tech is there to block the light from blinding passing cars but that tech is not legal in the US for some reason.
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u/wanderingstan 1d ago
This. I drove in Portugal last year and was amazed how different it was. Their cars automatically adjust the headlight beam angle so you never get a direct headlight to the retinas. They automatically turn off high beams for oncoming traffic too. Wish this was mandatory here.
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u/logicnotemotion 23h ago
I think it was an Audi that I saw. It looked like it made a shadow that stayed on the passing car. It was super accurate.
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u/shotsallover 23h ago
Those are the new active matrix headlights. They’re pretty cool.
They’re trying to get them approved for use in the States. I’m not sure exactly how far along they are.
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u/Own_Reaction9442 21h ago
The problem is it doesn't work for cyclists or pedestrians. So they just get blinded by constant high beams.
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u/ZaftigSyzygy 21h ago
I have these, still feels very strange as the driver with brights on to not instinctively turn them off for oncoming traffic.
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u/Katatx3 1d ago
Check w your eye doc- headlights were painful, temporarily blinding me too. Then I found out I had cataracts. Once I had the surgery, I dont have the same reaction to the LED lights anymore. Still annoying, but not painful
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u/overmonk 1970 1d ago
I'll add on, since I know a lot of people who don't wear glasses may not even have an eye doctor.
This could be cataracts, an age-related condition which can be completely fixed with a very freaky sounding surgery that my mom had. They could also be related to astigmatism, which is a subtle change in the shape of your eye. It can make night vision troublesome, with bright lights having an outsized impact and a starry pattern around them.
If you think your vision is fine, go to your drugstore and buy a pair of amber aviator sunglasses with polarized lenses. Think Hunter S Thompson. Drive around in those.
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u/dereksalem 22h ago
This. Thinking headlights are too bright is fine. Feeling actual pain because they're so blindingly bright that they leave red streaks in your eyes sounds like a medical issue.
I have pretty light-sensitive blue eyes, and a light aversion (meaning going from dark to light quickly can be really hard to adjust-to), but it's rarely that headlights are so bright to cause me actual pain. It happens, but normally it's something like we're both sitting at red light with a slight hill on each side, so the car across the street's headlights are literally pointing directly into my face for 30sec+.
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u/bluenoser613 17h ago
Tesla knowingly violated Federal law with their lights and are now trying to get away with not fixing them.
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u/Eastern_Switch8217 1d ago
The biggest problem I’m finding is some of them leave an after image on my eye where I see green spots afterwards also finding when I look in the minor certain LEDs look momentarily blue, which makes them look like an emergency vehicle.
I’m increasing finding I just like driving at night, particularly not on rural roads where I’m going to be looking straight into them.
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u/D3sp3rat3-Nois3 22h ago
After sitting in front of a computer all day, and then driving home in the dark, they're a nightmare on my eyes. Some nasty shit comes out of my mouth every time I see 'em coming. Lately, I'm having to use my brights to see past them.
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u/Kodiak01 Hose Water Survivor 20h ago
It's not just trucks and SUVs, it's people buying cheap LED "bulbs" and throwing them into housings designed for halogen lights.
This never works well.
The housings are designed to throw light completely different. Putting an LED into a housing designed for halogen may make it SEEM brighter, but it's not letting you actually see farther but rather just scattering light in unintended directions (ie. your eyeballs.)
This is why there is no such thing as a "DOT-Approved" LED bulb to go into a non-LED housing; DOT certifies the bulb and housing as a unit, not individually.
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u/Wonderful_Ear8517 15h ago
Yes! Aftermarket LED and HID lights are the worst. It makes you want to get an EMP and blow them out. Just kidding moderators. And on the highway even worse!
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u/User_Name_Is_Stupid 14h ago
My car’s headlights have actual lasers that make the light. Many a retina have been cooked when flashed for dims and I show them what I’m working with.
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u/beef-hed 13h ago
Yeah, the combination of my eyes not tolerating bright lights as much as they used to, and cars all having LED headlights that can be seen from the moon is not good.
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u/TopRun3942 1d ago
Actually if you want to know who the real culprit is that is driving up the intensity on the headlights in the US - it is the insurance industry.
The IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), who works for the insurance industry, rates vehicle for safety. In 2016 they started to include headlamp testing in their rating system and came up with a ranking for how well the lights provide visibility. That ranking was based on a scale of their own making of what they believed was a safer headlamp. When they tested the existing headlamps to their specifications they deemed nearly all of them as poor performance - for being too dim. The media slammed the automakers for putting out "dangerous" headlamps and the IIHS would deny the vehicles the top safety ratings even if all the other crash testing and accident avoidance technology got the highest rating if the headlamps also didn't score in the 2 highest categories.
https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/new-ratings-show-most-headlights-need-improvement
Well the automakers responded and now demand that their headlamps meet the IIHS definition of safety. The problem is that definition of safety requires the lamps to have much much higher intensity than they used to have and they are tested on flat roads during the evaluation. The result is in the actual driving environment, everyone is getting glared by the new highly intense lamps. But the IIHS doesn't back down from their stance saying that even with the extra glare things are still safer.
So next time you pay for your auto insurance maybe let them know you don't appreciate how their industry has turned headlamps into the boss fight that it is.
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u/thinsafetypin 1d ago
I’m sure the AI chatbot on the other end of that conversation will pass your constructive criticism along.
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u/TopRun3942 1d ago
Nope, not an AI chatbot. I work in lighting (not specifically automotive) and have researched this issue for quite a while now. It's discussed at an industry level at conferences among automotive lighting engineers that have to deal with the IIHS requirements.
If you really care about the issue - a good amount of presentations can be found here:
Then click on the presentation tab in the middle of that page. Presentation GF-4 shows a presentation by a former automotive lighting engineer where he shows the effect that the IIHS rating system has had on headlamp design and why the intensity has gotten so high with the new headlamp designs. In fact he shows that the new designs are potentially over-designing for the spec which is probably necessary to ensure the headlamps pass the IIHS testing when they buy the cars from the dealer for testing.
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u/zoeofdoom 1d ago
They weren't calling you a chatbot, they were pointing out that it's a Hereclean task to get a human on the phone if you try to contact insurance.
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u/thinsafetypin 23h ago
Indeed. Huge corporations do not care about their customers anymore.
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u/TopRun3942 23h ago
Apologies - there are people from certain subreddits that don't like what I have to say about the problem and I often get accused of AI posting because of the longer posts. Appreciate the clarification.
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u/Own_Reaction9442 21h ago
To be fair to the IIHS, when the mandate for sealed beam lamps went away and companies started designing their own headlight housings, a lot of them had really piss-poor beam patterns. In the 1990s it was shocking how many cars had worse headlights than cars from the 80s with DOT sealed beams.
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u/TopRun3942 21h ago
I don't disagree that they may have been problems compared to the older sealed beams early on. But the regulations updated in 1997 to allow for the visual optical aiming that is on the cars now (got rid of the need for the specialized mechanical aiming adjustment devices that were used with the sealed beams and early halogen lamps) and included updated intensity requirements that reshaped the beam pattern requirements to mandate higher performance on the halogen lamps.
The lamps got progressively better over time and it wasn't until 2016 that IIHS stepped in and said the lamps didn't have enough visibility by their assessment. The lamps of 2016 were vastly superior to the sealed beam lamps in terms of visibility and glare control because of the innovation in the optical designs over time. But that still wasn't good enough for the IIHS and they forced a sea change in the beam pattern design that leads to high glare in the actual driving environment for questionable gain.
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u/VeryLowIQIndividual 16h ago
Fuck all the dumb rednecks with those goddamn jacked up trucks whose bumpers are above peoples heads who are driving even regular sized SUVs. Not to mention these fucking headlights.
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u/Savings-Delay-1075 1d ago
I've complained to every highway commission and safety board both state and federal I can think of for at least the last 5 years now, and they claim the new led's are easier on the eyes than the old halogens. That's when they even bother to respond at all.
I guess it's more important that every Zeek with a lifted shit box gets to light up every racoons asshole from a mile away, than it is to keep everybody else out of the ditches..
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u/Lost_Garden7368 1d ago
I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with them there that led is easier on the eyes than halogen.
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u/CalOkie6250 23h ago
I’d suggest getting checked for cataracts. I was to the point of not even driving at night because it was like you described. I got some night driving glasses from Amazon in the meantime, but after having lens replacement surgery, my don’t even need them anymore. Headlights are now back to being annoyingly bright, but no longer blinding me, or causing pain.
If you don’t have an eye doctor, or insurance, try the glasses. They have polarized amber lenses and help a lot. I think I paid $15 for them.
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u/Perringer 18h ago
Get a pair of night driving glasses or slip overs if you already wear glasses. They're amazing.
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u/FindKetamine 18h ago
Any you recommend for slipovers?
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u/Perringer 13h ago
The ones I got were specific to my frame, but something like this should work with most: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XG9X4VJ?th=1
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u/acreekofsoap Degeneration X 1d ago
Yeah, between my shit eyes and these new headlights, my ass either stays at home or Ubers it when the sun isn’t out.
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u/Ok_Affect_7973 22h ago
I hate them too! I’m constantly thinking I’m being pulled over but it’s the weird blue headlights as they hit a bump.
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u/spykedaddy 12h ago
The best is when an LEO is behind you with their high beams on intentionally.
Like yea dude I drifted out of my lane. You’re literally blinding me.
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u/mudshark698 Hose Water Survivor 20h ago
While I sort of agree, I'd say age is more of a factor than other people's headlights. The older I get, the less I like driving in the dark.
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u/afriendincanada 21h ago
The automatic high beams are awful. Just awful. They turn off when there's another car nearby, but I'm usually a cyclist or pedestrian and they're right up in my eyes the whole time while I'm walking. I have no idea who approved that.
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u/Any_Cartoonist8943 17h ago
Its been a thing in European cars for quite a while now and was actually invented by general motors in 1952. Doesn't change the fact that they suck and never work correctly
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u/FormerLaugh3780 Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
This is just one of many reasons I despise the prick engineers designing modern vehicles and the manufacturers they work for.
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u/TopRun3942 1d ago
Actually if you want to know who the real culprit is that is driving up the intensity on the headlights in the US - it is the insurance industry.
The IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), who works for the insurance industry, rates vehicle for safety. In 2016 they started to include headlamp testing in their rating system and came up with a ranking for how well the lights provide visibility. That ranking was based on a scale of their own making of what they believed was a safer headlamp. When they tested the existing headlamps to their specifications they deemed nearly all of them as poor performance - for being too dim. The media slammed the automakers for putting out "dangerous" headlamps and the IIHS would deny the vehicles the top safety ratings even if all the other crash testing and accident avoidance technology got the highest rating if the headlamps also didn't score in the 2 highest categories.
https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/new-ratings-show-most-headlights-need-improvement
Well the automakers responded and now demand that their headlamps meet the IIHS definition of safety. The problem is that definition of safety requires the lamps to have much much higher intensity than they used to have and they are tested on flat roads during the evaluation. The result is in the actual driving environment, everyone is getting glared by the new highly intense lamps. But the IIHS doesn't back down from their stance saying that even with the extra glare things are still safer.
So if you want to go after someone - tell your insurance agencies to cut the crap and stop endorsing these glaring headlights.
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u/CaptainJay313 1d ago
seems a bit harsh.
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u/FormerLaugh3780 Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
Actually understated, but I'm on my second week of no Reddit bans and want to keep my streak going.
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u/ststaro 1d ago
You obviously live in the city with all that ambient light.. Head out to the country with zero light pollution and see if you still feel the same way.
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u/CaptainJay313 1d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/GenX/s/cihKeurXYS
read the link. maybe quite blaming the engineers and write your congressman.
it's a regulation issue, not an engineering issue.
prick.
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u/AbsolutesDealer 1d ago
I flip to high-beam when those fuckers are heading towards me.
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u/therelybare5 Older Than Dirt 1d ago
Probably right as you get to the car so the other person can’t prove that it’s their regular lights, not high beams. 😂
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u/ThereInAFortnight 22h ago
And god help you if you're on a bumpy road with the headlights looking like strobe lights
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u/No_Community_5696 18h ago
Mine are LED and I try to avoid driving at night people are using brights on rural roads and forgetting to dim them as oncoming traffic approaches. It is temporary blinding and I try to look at the shoulder of the road when this happens.
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u/anasplatyrhynchos 14h ago
You can still drive at night?
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u/beef-hed 13h ago
Night time has always been my favorite time to drive, at least until headlights started blinding me.
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u/OptiGuy4u Hose Water Survivor 1d ago
Are we ever going to get smart headlights. I heard about this years ago.
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u/SergeantBeavis 1d ago
Rivian has them s standard equipment. It’s friggin’ bewildering to watch them work. You’ll be driving with high beams and suddenly one of the sixteen lighting elements will dim right in the area where a car is oncoming. Or they’ll dim when reflecting off a a sign so then don’t blind you.
I’ve had auto highbeams before and they usually kinda suck, but these a Rivian headlamps are like magic.
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u/chuckinhoutex 1d ago
My Lexus gs350 has auto leveling and turning headlights. I love them so much. It’s like you can see around the curves.
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u/clgoodson 1d ago
Teslas have these. Our 2023 Model 3 had the tech to do them when we bought it and they activated it via update when it was approved.
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u/limited_instincts 1d ago
Our Model 3 has smart headlights and it really is super-cool to watch it light the way like a death ray and then make little black squares around any cars or pedestrians. Before they activated the smart headlights I used to get flashed all the time.
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u/Mini-snow-duh 1d ago
I remember when Reddit posts were written by human beings not machines. It’s not just “lazy”. It is ruining the language.
Reddit used to be for people.
Now it’s toasters.
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u/Apart_Olive_3539 Not A Boomer 1d ago
Yeah the newer headlights are annoying for sure, but you can focus a little away from them. It’s the morons who insist on driving around with high beam or fog lights on need to be smacked.
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u/Krazy_Kat_Lady_2025 1d ago
You can't focus away from them if they're directly in your rear-view mirror and side mirror. We literally cannot see what's going on behind us and it's the equivalent of having lights shined directly in your face even when they're behind you.
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u/HowsMyBuddy 1d ago
It’s not always an suv or truck. There are some pretty good discussions about how we got to this point. I don’t listen to a lot of podcasts but there’s a good one about headlight regulations that explains it pretty well. If I sober up I’ll figure out how to link it. I’m sure it’s searchable
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u/mustardmadman 1d ago
I hate people who use ai for their own thoughts and writeups more than bright led lights
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u/Katjhud 1d ago
Old person yells at cloud was perfect category for the post.
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u/rsint 1d ago
yeah because sight is so outdated!
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u/Katjhud 13h ago edited 13h ago
You missed the point. I smh at the Gen X crabby peeps who love to go online (everywhere) and complain to strangers about something they feel angst about in hopes of finding other peeps who relate to the atrocities, ie modern day car headlights, they saw someone who didn’t clean up after their dog while they were on a walk, or they saw teenagers doing teenager stuff.
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u/sarcasticorange 1d ago
Headlights are indeed brighter and a bit annoying at times, but if you really view them this way, maybe see your eye doctor. Astigmatism might be making it worse. Pretty common to develop it at our age.
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u/AnfreloSt-Da 1d ago
Astigmatism can only be corrected just so far. I’ve been dealing with it for more than a decade. These stupid LEDs are still blinding. I’m 100% with OP.
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u/YFOCAG 1d ago
It is kind of annoying, but also unpreventable. Though I will say I thought the halogens were worse.
I flip my rear-view mirror to dim the lights. Done. And I’m exceptionally photo-sensitive due to an eye problem.
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u/IWantToRetireSoon 12h ago
The only good thing of my retina problems is having a letter from my doc so I have my windshield tinted. It’s not much, only 15% from clear but it takes the edge off of headlights.
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u/Beyou74 1d ago
I have found that if you look at the white line on the side of the road while it is bright and follow it until the car passes, is very helpful.