[2cents]

Originally Posted by DRIVE_ADDICT

And I find these blinding white lights are utter useless when you are behind the wheel. Recently drove the new Venue, found the light to be very inadequate behind the wheel but at the same time I cannot withstand the light while standing in front of the car.

True, and the scientific reason is pretty simple: White LED light is a combination of RGB LEDs, and the color Blue, which is critical for white (Blue LED won the inventors a Nobel prize few years back) scatters more. So, while it looks menacing for the oncoming vehicle, it actually makes matters worse for the driver. White LED headlamps are just a gimmick. In fact, some cars have mid and lower variants in halogen projectors, and LED projectors in higher variants. So if you are a prospective buyer, that's one more reason to avoid the top variant.

[Draunzer21]

I was actually thinking of upgrading stock headlamps to LEDs as my Swift comes with halogen and on highway, I have noticed people zoom past me with those white lights and blind me many times by coming from front, I wanted to increase visibility and be safe so was going towards LED but I have also read so many articles which say don't use LED on halogen setup as light will scatter like anything.

People using white lights aftermarket or factory fitted don't understand that low beam helps them to have good visibility along with 0 impact to traffic from front plus I have noticed that people want to showcase how powerful their headlight is without using their brains most of the times and this would continue in India.

[clevermax]

How many of you got blinded by the LED or Laser headlamp of a premium-segment car like a 5 series or similar model? I guess none, assuming that the drivers of those cars didn't deliberately flash their headlamps onto you.

How many of you got blinded by the LED headlamps of some of the scooter models? I am sure many of you have experienced it. Some of these models have badly designed headlamp units that blind onlookers even in low-beam mode.

How many of you got blinded by aftermarket LED headlamp fitments in non-so-premium, entry-level segments? I'm sure there are victims here too.

A properly designed LED headlamp doesn't blind anyone by itself. The drivers of those cars can blind other people by misusing high beams.

[venkyhere]

earlier post (On the blinding headlights of new vehicles)

[darklord00h]

People using high beam all the time is definitely a problem, but I feel like the white LEDs scatter the light a lot more than the yellow halogen ones. It's not just the brightness, but the amount of scattering that forms a starburst like pattern with the leds that prevents proper visibility of the road with oncoming traffic. Facing oncoming traffic with both halogens and white leds that doesn't switch to low beam, I definitely feel like the LED ones are a lot worse than the halogens.

[Santo_the_bong]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Dim your light when there's a car in front of you. If you can see a car's brakelight in front, dim your lights. If you can see a car's headlight in front of you on the opposite lane, dim.

If it's a nice illuminated piece of road, dim.

Adding on list of wishful thinking, give way for others, stop for pedestrians on designated crossings, use indicators, merge onto traffic respectfully, do not tailgate etc etc.

I follow these rules strictly when I am driving.

I have also noticed that my driving style has influenced others as well. 3 of my friends with whom I do a lot of driving, have also adopted these driving habits. They often ask me why I am driving in a certain way? Why I am not using high beams? Why I don't use the horns too much on the road? Etc etc.

Also while answering such questions, I don't use stock answers like "it's the rule" , or "it's good driving". I try giving a reasonable and sensible reasoning behind the action.
Like , for high beam questions I found it very effective to say, " are you able to see the road with the oncoming vehicles high beam on your eyes? If not, then even the other driver won't be able to see the road if I have high beams on. So what's better? Have 2 blind drivers on the road or atleast one who can see the road ahead? Best would be to have no one blinded, but until that happens I would rather have one of us seeing where we are going. I can slow down my car of which I have control."

So what I am trying to say is, why don't we simply try and educate the people around us? We don't need to get into discussions and arguments with random strangers on the road. We don't need to get into "tit-for-tat" actions (you have high beams... I'll use higher beams or brighter lights. I'll add 5 more lights and aim them onto your eyes) on the road.
If enough of us educate the people closest to us and they in turn "forward" the knowledge to a few more people, we should be able to have better drivers on roads all around.

Just my two cents.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by clevermax

How many of you got blinded by the LED or Laser headlamp of a premium-segment car like a 5 series or similar model? I guess none, assuming that the drivers of those cars didn't deliberately flash their headlamps onto you.....How many of you got blinded by the LED headlamps of some of the scooter models? I am sure many of you have experienced it. Some of these models have badly designed headlamp units that blind onlookers even in low-beam mode...

True.

Unless they are flashing their hi-beams, you are not bothered by the high end headlights. But the mainstream models. The day Maruti democratised it by giving LED projector headlights to the Dzire, I gave up. Already Dzire owners are notorious in my area for always keeping the hi-beams ON. And to give them LED projector headlights.

Funny thing is that the LED headlights of the scooters are equally useless to the riders!!! So they just keep it on hi-beam, eventhough they can't see a thing. Add to that the mandated AOH. Yeah, visibility/safety for two wheeler sure has gone up, sacrificing our eyesight health.

[Zippy_wheels]

While I feel its mostly the high beams that cause me discomfort, and I can live with LED lights coming from opposite direction, as long as it is low beam, I feel even low beams may be an issue for some. I do not drive on high beam by default, however drivers frequently flash at me, (apparently indicating I switch to low beam), however as I am already on low beam I have to flash to indicate I am already on low beam.

I have stock Led headlamp (VW virtus). This used to happen with my previous car too (stock halogen replaced with LED).

The two wheelers are problematic though and I dont even feel like flashing at them, to ask them to switch to low beam, as I fear my flashing might blind them and cause them to topple or skid.

Also, after the initial craze for white lights subsides, we realize the drawbacks of LED's. For example, the lights are totally ineffective in rains and even high beams dont work.
There is one benefit though and that is when flashing the vehicle infront to give way - there is no "lag" and its pretty sharp and means business.

I also want to add that I used to get irritated even with white LED lights at home, and avoided it all the time. Finally I visited an opthalmologist who checked and recommended "Refresh Liquigel" to be used 6 times a day for a month. It helped. Its available over the counter and basically tries to replicate tears - its harmless and can be used by everyone. One drop in each eye and keep eyes closed for 2 minutes. He suggested my issue was due to photo sensitivity because of prolonged computer use. It might be worth trying out for people facing similar issues. We often ignore these symptoms and carry on, even though there may be easy solutions out there.

It might not fix the bigger issues related to LED's or high beams but can help increase our tolerance levels a little, maybe?

[Neel70]

It is indeed illegal to use high beam when there is another vehicle on the road. Unfortunately high beam etiquette is rarely discussed even in the best driving schools.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by Zippy_wheels

I also want to add that I used to get irritated even with white LED lights at home, and avoided it all the time.

Try out the white ambiance lights from Philips. Cycles through cool day light - neutral white - warm white.

I hate cool white lights post dusk and in dawn so these lights really help reduce the strain.

Or this which has cool day light focusing towards the room and when you toggle the warm white mode the light is projected onto the wall/ceiling.

https://www.amazon.in/Philips-TwinGl...dp/B085P2D5KS/

[Zippy_wheels]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Try out the white ambiance lights from Philips. Cycles through cool day light - neutral white - warm white.

I actually have Philips wi-fi downlights that have those three colors, warm white, cool and neutral, but wife prefers white lights so you know they change it when I am not paying attention..

[rash3099]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

Mods please feel free to delete / merge if a thread discussion already exists on this topic. In my search I did not find a dedicated discussion on this.

Well it's been a debate of the decade and I personally like the white lights and yes they need to be carefully used and selected. I have seen blazing headlights from the opposite direction over the years and used to feel helpless for a lot of time. Until I decided to upgrade my own lights and had a revenge tactic in mind. Yes, my high beams in my Nexon were barely bright. I had them upgraded to some of the brightest LEDs in the market. I use them judiciously. If anyone dares to drive in front of me with their high beams on, I simply put on my high beams and that's when they realise what they have been doing. They cannot see anything but a white beam of light hitting them. If they dip their beams, so do I. This worked for me.

Mod Note: Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by rash3099

If anyone dares to drive in front of me with their high beams on, I simply put on my high beams and that's when they realise what they have been doing. They cannot see anything but a white beam of light hitting them. If they dip their beams, so do I. This worked for me.

You do not want to know what commercial drivers do to such errand boys, so please do not do such things on the road, you are probably very young and have a lot of years left to drive on the road.

If the vehicle coming opposite to you happens to be a small truck and is carrying several tons of cement or something dense, your vehicle wont stand a chance if you blind him and cause an accident, its straight away RIP!

[The_Medic]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

My question is that when we talk of safety so much, does no one (read government, ARAI) see any safety related issue with these new blinding headlamps? How are manufacturers allowed to provide these factory fitted.

The glare of headlights even from scooters are scary these days. One cannot just see anything at all on the road in this blinding glare. Are all world class brands ignoring this big road safety issue completely? What are various governments' stand internationally?

Just because the person inside such a vehicle needs to see road brighter, he/she cannot take away the right of the other person to have a clear view of the road at same time. It is plain injustice.

What was so wrong with the good old yellow vehicle lights that we had been driving with for decades?

Looking forward to hear views from fellow BHPians and if I am missing anything, happy to get en'light'ened

That's the worst part of riding at night. I am not afraid of potholes or unmarked speed breakers. But these blinding lights on my RVMs and from oncoming traffic gets insane. Especially if you have small specks of dust or anything less than completely clean visor and spectacles. Using yellow tint visor (high vis visor by MT helmets) mitigates that issue significantly for me. Especially because my retina doesn't have to adjust to vast light intensity changes from high beams of these LED monsters capable of looking into the future and my measly rc390 projector lamps .

[ashis89]

I came back from a 800 km drive yesterday, covering more than half of that distance at night. The 12 hr drive didn't bother my body at all but my eyes were stressed a lot due to the LEDs on every other vehicle on the road. Even though I was on 4-6 lane divided highway, these LED beams from across the divider and on my ORVMs were piercing through. Be the decorative blinkers on truck bodies, fog lamps on cars, bikes, scooters, trucks, aftermarket LED bulbs in headlamps or OEM headlamps/tail lights, LEDs are omnipresent! Some use the high beam deliberately, some are ignorant of it. Some have misaligned lights, some have lights which just glow without any focus. Some like to flash their arrival into my IRVM like a disco light, some have dancing tail lights.

I use DriveSafe glasses but even that doesn't help (maybe they do but that isn't enough). I hope the automotive lighting moves on to some other eye friendly tech soon!

Originally Posted by clevermax

How many of you got blinded by the LED or Laser headlamp of a premium-segment car like a 5 series or similar model?

I was blinded by a car waiting at a median cut but with full high beams and fogs on. I was expecting it to be a XUV700 but it turned out to be a new XC90. Unsafely bright.