Has the use of high beams increased recently?

Posted by Informal_Bonus_8231@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 19 comments

Has anyone else noticed a significant increase in the use of high beams lately? It’s especially noticeable on motorways and I’m often blinded by high beams from Teslas (majority of the time) among others. Are Teslas and other newer cars the culprits or the people driving them?

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19 Comments

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Beartato4772@reddit

It’s not high beams, they just can’t possibly drive a vehicle that isn’t 20 feet off the ground and they’re all fitted with cold white leds slightly more powerful than the sun because they’re the main character.

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stowgood@reddit

It's the shitty bright leds. It needs to be regulated.

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Andi-anna@reddit

It absolutely does. It's getting to the point when more cars have them than not that it actually makes pedestrians and cyclists harder to see because our eyes aren't properly adjusted to the real level of darkness.

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MountainMuffin1980@reddit

Some of it is peolle who rely on auto lights and don't pay any attention and are just cunts. A lot of it though is taller cars, with LED lights that are aligned much higher than they should be. It's a fucking nightmare.

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Informal_Bonus_8231@reddit (OP)

I agree. Whenever taller cars like vans are behind me at lights I always get their headlights shining straight into my mirrors

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PracticeNo8733@reddit

Yeah, but back in the 90s and early 00s it didn't use to be a problem with vans either, at least I didn't find it so. So I think it's more to do with the headlights themselves than the height of the vehicle. AFAICR none of this was a problem until HID headlamps came in, but even then those remained a smallish minority of vehicles until the LEDs came in.

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Confudled_Contractor@reddit

Yep auto light and LEDs. And the thing is if you flash them to let them know they get all arsey and start flashing back like maniacs.

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Major_Toe_6041@reddit

I’m in a tall car and I think I’ve got them too low. Can’t e see further than about 5 meters ahead. But if I put them any higher then I think I’m going to start blinding smaller cars. New driver and new car, by the way.

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PracticeNo8733@reddit

> A lot of it though is taller cars I don't think much of it at all is taller cars. There have always been plenty of vans and lorries on the roads and I never used to notice the dazzling from them that I do from cars now. I think it's mostly the higher brightness and blue frequencies in LEDs, as well as "matrix" headlamps.

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Jolly-Minimum-6641@reddit

The government have launched some kind of consultation into these absurd headlights, a move which is supported by the likes of the RAC. Hang tight, there might be useful change coming.

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SgtBukkakeMan@reddit

I hope so, as a pedestrian it's awful. Trying to walk on icy pavements to work in the morning, and I can't actually see where I'm stepping as I'm constantly blinded by headlights.

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Informal_Bonus_8231@reddit (OP)

Fingers crossed! Hoping to see some positive changes

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badgersruse@reddit

Auto high (main) beams that don’t work well, like most such things, alas. The driver is probably completely unaware, choosing to believe the salesman that said ‘you just turn this and you never have to think about it’.

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Informal_Bonus_8231@reddit (OP)

I had that feature as well but thankfully have an option to disable it as well. As you rightly pointed out, many drivers might be mostly unaware but there are some ppl out there who deliberately leave it

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Archibald255@reddit

It is a 'feature' that I find very annoying on my car. Every time I enable the auto driving, cruise control or steer, it forces the auto high beams, but the cameras and sensors are very poor at detecting oncoming cars on dual carriageways / motorways / roads with centre reservations. It's even bad at dipping the lights for cars more than ~300 yards ahead. It annoyed me so much that I bought an OBD controller to force override this feature because I know how bright my headlights are and I don't want to blind others for the manufacturers poor decisions.

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Informal_Bonus_8231@reddit (OP)

That is so kind of you! I wish every driver was this considerate to other people driving

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Mr-Incy@reddit

If it is newer cars, it is probably adaptive headlights, they can be prone to not working properly, and with most cars having LED headlights these days, the brightness of low beams is more than a lot of the halogen high beam headlights.

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PracticeNo8733@reddit

> If it is newer cars, it is probably adaptive headlights, they can be prone to not working properly I think they dazzle even when they are working properly, not as directly as shining in your eyes but reflecting a lot of bluish frequencies from the surroundings.

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