Team-BHP - Revenge on full beam blinders

Revenge is the only thing that has worked for me. I make it a point to give it back to people who use high beam.

I always refrain from using high beams. In most cases its just a 1-2 second check. However, I found myself thanking the highbeams for once. There is a stretch on double road (KH road) which is poorly lit and has trees in the median. I found one guy trying to lift his cycle through the median and he has stopped half way (with the butt of his cycle still dangling on the on one side) because the other side has traffic. I would never have spotted this cycle on low beam. That brings to the bigger question, we have so many unexpected obstacles in the roads where low beam is unfortunately not sufficient particularly in low lit areas. Is inadequate street lighting/painting the cause for the problem?

Typically in most countries the white paint markings are so obvious, there is no need to switch to high beams, unfortunately that is not the case here. Whenever there is an empty stretch of road there is always a temptation to dip once and check if there are no heart stopping experiences ahead. The other instance is the barricades that are put in Mysore road for checks (Naka). There is hardly any reflective coating on them and one can barely see them with all the trucks beaming on the other side.

The last observation among high beam users is high percentage of senior citizens. Again I feel it may be the visibility issue for them, but a high beam santro at 20Kmph is quite a long ordeal.

The best approach would be to get night vision goggles (as in BMW night vision: BMW 5 Series Sedan : BMW Night Vision).

I Googled around and saw that BEL does manufacture these. But i think it's for the Defense personnel only. Not sure if they are available to public and at what price. Any pointers would be appreciated.
link: BEL Website - Category Details

I guess we'll need something like this, a little more basic so that it can be worn like goggles. This should definetely solve all visibility issues mentioned by kvish and take out the need of high beams.

Alas, i don't see it happening in the near future

On the other hand this could be a lucrative business, if someone starts manufacturing these for public use :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gypsyFreak (Post 704065)

Dude night vision goggles are very different from the BMW night vision systemplease:. They will amplify the available light many folds even a burning match stick will appear very bright which will force you to close your eyes :eek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by DirtyDan (Post 703292)

I upgraded the lights in my vehicle by about 40% brightness on high beam and I pointed the lights slightly to the left of the stock position. This way when an oncoming vehicle blinds me I can hit the brights and pick out the left side of the road without blinding others coming at me. Mostly it works.

You seem to be a goody goody guy. :) But you also have to teach these guys the same lesson. :deadhorse

Quote:

Originally Posted by RajaTaurus (Post 700872)

Driving straight into them sometimes could prove catastropic
This could happen also to these illiterate, drunk idiots, who might just FREEZE and everybody knows who will be the looser..!!!
I don't support driving into the hi-beamer at all..

I support Raja Taurus.
I always used to do the same 'gitt the hell out'f mah way' kind of all lights blaring and charging at the oncoming traffic beforehand. But once I was part of a big accident :eek:. It happened like this,I was coming back home after dropping my fiance (now wifey!),and it was a twisty narrow road in howrah but usually poorly lit and with sparse pedestrians.I was going at a high speed,when right at a turn a Tata Ace (stupid car!) came from the opposite direction with high beams on.This minitruck has surprisingly powerful highbeams and it was coming at quite a speed and we had about 30ft distance between us.But the driver of the Ace was not aware of the Philips Rally 130/100W bubs installed in my car.I put on high beam and the Ace swerved suddenly to its left.There was a small bicycle group going past me just in front of the Ace (without any back lights offcourse).The Tata truck hit them from behind at high speed and I saw one cycle guy and his cycle going up sky high and another two falling on the road.I could see it clear on my right side view mirror as I sped away fearing trouble.

After that incident,although I still use 130W in my high beams,I use them judiciously and carefully.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultimatechamp (Post 985001)

we have a murderer in our midst at t-bhp!!!!!! :uncontrol
but i DO agree with you that its not good to take revenge in a way that it could cause harm to others..

The other side of the coin - many roads in Hyderabad are so badly lit that low beam is absolutely inadequate. There are guys dozing in the middle of desolate roads after a full bottle of rum, buffalo herds ruminating resting in a group, sporty teenagers appearing from between the bushy trees on the dividers sometimes with a bicycle in hand as bonus. There are also foot deep trenches that you cannot avoid within the range of low beam, bullock carts that quietly merge into the overall scene, and trucks camouflaged much better than army vehicles and with no rear light or reflector that you can't make out until you ram into them.

So yes, while I consciously try to use low beam as much as possible, sadly low beam is rarely adequate.

I think the solution is blindingly (pun intended) simple:

The auto manufacturers need to be convinced (or ordered) to ensure that no car's high-beam can be left in the "ON" position.

Let me elaborate: In most cars, there are two options for using the high-beam:
1. Pull/push the stalk, holding it there (against the force of the spring which tries to return the stalk to the normal position.
2. Pull/push the stalk until it clicks, thus leaving the high-beam in the permanently "ON" position.

So if the manufacturers left out option 2, then those idiots who want to constantly drive with high-beams would need to constantly have one hand on the headlight stalk. Eventually they would give up and learn to use low-beams. This would also reduce the likelihood of people accidentally leaving their headlamps in high-beam and driving around unaware that they are blinding others.

Just to clarify one more time: I propose that the switch for high-beam be just like the switch for windshield-washers. You can only "squirt" but you cannot leave it on.

Now the trick would be to figure out how such a law can be enacted. I personally feel it would be of much more use that the headlight level adjusters that are now found in all cars (I think this was mandated by the government a few years ago, so it shows that such a change can indeed by affected).

well, i have 4300k HIDsand i alwayz have them on low beam. i have set those little higher so that i can get good low long beam.
what i do is when i see any one comming on my opposite direction, i just swtich from low to hi and blindiging hi as well for few secconds and turn back to low again.
.turning back to low again before he passes me will show him that he have an option to lower the beams when he has upcomming traffic.

You do this even when someone coming from opposite direction is on low beam?

Quote:

Originally Posted by monty9991 (Post 985732)

what i do is when i see any one comming on my opposite direction, i just swtich from low to hi and blindiging hi as well for few secconds and turn back to low again.

Turning back to low again before he passes me will show him that he have an option to lower the beams when he has upcomming traffic.

Is it legal to have high mounted headlamps BEHIND your vehicle? I've seen quite a few trucks with this aftermarket 'feature' and really want to use it on the morons who keep driving behind you in traffic with their high beams on. I was thinking a pair of tractor headlamps mounted on top of the truck will teach these goons a lesson or two. I could even fit just one inside my spare wheel cover.