Blinded by the light

Thank you for all the advice. I have ordered some night glasses from Amazon 👍

My husband had the same problem. It’s worth checking with your optician just to make sure it’s not the start of Age related macular degeneration or similar. If caught quickly certain types of this eye problem can be treated.

I'm with L13 & Saggi in that I bought some anti glare (yellow) specs from Amazon. Did the trick perfectly and has helped considerably with my night time driving.

I agree with you Georgesgran. My optician advised me to do exactly that and I’ve done so ever since, with no further problem with headlight-glare.

Fleurpepper

Yes, it is awful. they should be regulated.

And to hell with the blinded drivers you leave in your wake

Yes LED headlights are dreadgul, I no longer drive at night unless absolutely necessary

My husband used to wear some yellow/orange glasses for night driving ….I think he said they were for pilots !!

My dad's advice has helped me with this. He told me simply, "Don't look at them! Look straight ahead or very slightly to 'left of centre'."
On a similar note, has anyone else noticed how tiny indicator lights are? The ones with a colourless cover and an orange bulb are bad enough but, lately, the tiny little indicators are sandwiched between rear lights, brake lights and reversing lights so they are really difficult to see. That's always supposing the driver in front bothers to indicate at all. And as for behaviour at roundabouts.... What do driving instructors teach learner drivers these days? It's dog eat dog out there! 😖

It is worth checking with an optician if you have a problem with cataracts - the waiting list for surgery is several months long, so if you have got cataracts, it's worth getting on the list asap. And yes - headlights can still be dazzling - but cataract surgery is nonetheless really helpful for this - and you might no longer need glasses! Or only for reading.

A lot of cars nowadays automatically apply full beam when light level is low eg night time. The system can be switched off and lights applied manually. Think tgere is a survey being done in tge LED headlights due to the dazzle effect. What I find a nuisance is the lights worn on head by cyclists. They are right at eye level to car drivers and to me are dangerous.

Obviously no use if you are the one being blinded!

pashkaro

Have always thought all headlights (car, van, hgv, etc.) should be a standard height from the road?

You can adjust your lights to tilt up or down according to your load.
Obviously if you are heavy at the back (as you might well be fully laden) you need to tilt them down.

I have been complaining about this issue for quite a long time. The horrible bright, almost blue LED headlights are banned in quite a few states in America. I have a pair of yellow clip on glasses which do help somewhat but not always. They are a real hazard to other drivers. At least I will be driving in the light now, at least for a few months.

Same here in this country. Those LED lights are a danger on the road for many oncoming drivers. I have glaucoma so any glare is a difficult situation, even for those few seconds till the car passes.

What I try to do is avert my eyes and look downward at the edge of the road to make sure I’m not going around a curve. Whew!

In other words - they’re just nasty.
USA Gundy

I don't like driving in the dark and only would do it if necessary. I too have driving glasses with a special coating when driving at night, it does help stop the glare of lights.

It’s been a problem / known about for some time.

www.onewomanowner.com/usedcars/avoid-blinded-led-headlights/

For anyone thinking of buying night driving glasses that you wear over your normal specs, try the cheap ones first. I spent over£70 on a pair and found they were no better than the £12.99 pair from that well known online shop.

I read on another link that you can buy special glasses for night driving and I was going to get some as there was a very good argument for them, but as often happens I got distracted and forgot all about it until reading this thread. Worth some research though. Busy now but will look into again later.

Have always thought all headlights (car, van, hgv, etc.) should be a standard height from the road?

So agree they need regulating I don't see any need for those super bright lights they put me off going out driving in the evenings

While waiting for my cataract op this was so bad that I gave up night driving. It's better now though, but I agree about modern lights .

I have some very pale orange overglasses that I wear when night driving - they do help.

I don’t drive at night now, can’t stand the bright beams. It is also a good excuse to leave early if you are at a long meeting!

LED are even brighter than Xenon apparently. Over 1100 models have Xenons now, including Ford, Kia, Suzuki, Dacia and Mercedes.
Anyone can be dazzled by an oncoming vehicle and it’s better to focus on (look left at) the edge of the road, rather than into the lights for those few moments. Not phrased well, but drivers will understand what’s meant.

LED lights are so difficult to cope with when driving - they might help the driver who has them, but they almost blind me. I did notice an increasing number of them at one time, but not so much now - I wondered if they had perhaps been the cause of accidents as they are so dazzling.