Advice for Battling Bright Lights on the Road—Save My Eyes!

Posted by Pitiful-Ad4796@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 17 comments

Well drivers, winter is upon us. With all the extra white on the ground, it makes one thing even more annoying. The high beam warriors...

Are they in oncoming traffic? I flash mine, no big deal. But the worst? The ones behind or beside me, turning my mirrors into retinal death rays. I spam my marker lights, brake lights, even hazards—no luck. So, out comes my “portable LED sun” (a very bright flashlight). Still, some don’t get it.

So, Reddit, any tricks for dealing with these high-beam heroes? Or at least share my pain—my eyes will thank you.

P.S. To the “just let us around” crowd with busted headlights: if you can’t afford to fix your lights, what else isn’t roadworthy? Maybe fix that first before telling us to “deal with it.”

Note - I'm a company driver, but at least I top out at 70 mph... So no, I don't 'hog the left lane' I pass then get over. Like you're supposed to. :)

[-]

Lanky-Present2251@reddit

A cheap pair of yellow tinted safety glasses work for me. If I drove a lot at night I'd get a better/more comfortable pair. I even wear sunglasses on dull days because of those bright headlights. (I don't think they are all high beams left on rather they are aftermarket replacement bulbs and its possible the headlights weren't realigned after installation.

justdan76@reddit

Some of them are just assholes with high beams on, but some of them are just the new lights being way to bright. It’s because of a stupid misguided regulation. Everyone please sign this petition

https://www.change.org/p/u-s-dot-ban-blinding-headlights-and-save-lives

Opposite_Sell_9857@reddit

I just slow down. Make them pass you

llkey2@reddit

I was noticing the other night. All those older cars that have halogen headlights. The sun and UV have fogged those lenses up. Not as bright as they used to be

If you wear glasses. Get another pair with either a yellow or light brown tint.

clapped-out-cammy@reddit

I got flood lights facing rear ward on my sleeper for backing up in dark areas at night. They get to see the sun too.

THExPILLOx@reddit

Yellow lenses.

There some science behind it, but anecdotally the benefit far outweighs the limited amount of decreased vision

chocoholic24@reddit

Seconded. They also work well on the blindingly bright snow in the daytime

Echodarlingx@reddit

It's the Tesla's, I can't stand them and they all think they are race car drivers.

foreverlost1nsea@reddit

99% of the time that’s a dumbass pick up, not a Tesla

KaleyKingOfBirds@reddit

Yellow or amber glasses are a game changer

Molly8174@reddit

You’re flashing your marker lights, brake lights & hazards…. If they did notice all the extra flashing lights on your vehicle you probably just confused them and now they’re gonna hang back trying to figure out what you got going on.

Just adjust your mirrors and turn your cruise off, let them go around you. Try those yellow glasses others have posted about, sounds like they’re worth it.

Hotshots are the ones that irritate me the most at night with their headlights because they don’t get them adjusted when pulling a heavy trailer. They blind everybody.

DixDark@reddit

I just adjust my mirrors so they reflect it somewhere else(cool if I can reflect their beams back at them, but that requires some precision)...

Pitiful-Ad4796@reddit (OP)

Yes indeed, too bad mine don't exactly rotate quite that far. It just lights up the side of my trailer, lol.

jmzstl@reddit

Are you moving it outward? I don't even move it all the way out and it still works almost every time.

lord_nuker@reddit

I just slow down and let them pass me...

Pitiful-MobileGamer@reddit

I don't know what's happened in Northern Ontario the last couple years, the amount of extreme brightness headlights and off-road lights getting common.

Part of it is people using LEDs or HID in regular reflective headlights. They spill so much light up and away from the road.

But at least here in Northern Ontario there's a lot of off road lights. I have a light bar on an aux switch, so needed running secondary roads at night. I don't use it on the highway, my high beams are good enough.

FlappyJ1979@reddit

I wear night driving glasses, the kind with yellow tint. I have the Cocoons brand that fits over my prescription glasses. They’re expensive but worth every penny.