Dame Jenni Murray died due to dazzling headlights

Oldnproud

I have occasionally been dazzled by the extremely bright LED torches that some pedestrians use when walking their dogs at the side of our dark country lanes, and also joggers, so this problem isn't just limited to oncoming vehicles.

I always cover my light when a car approaches if I’m walking at night.

Fallingstar

MT62

“ I don’t do public transport as it’s too expensive.
Pity I can’t get a free pass as I would definitely give up my diesel car.”

I think I read your post about this or similar. Perhaps Burnham whilst empowering more English councils can insist the age for free bus passes be set at 65 and not pensionable age which by my reckoning is now 67.
If other parts of the UK can do this then English councils should follow their example.

Yes more than likely I’ve mentioned it.
I feel it should be 65, or less. Especially when the government wants more people on public transport, rather than cars.
I feel though that they will keep shifting the goal posts to get a free bus pass.
I would even pay for a cheap annual pass.
Oh well!, I’ll just keep driving for as long as I am able if they don’t.

I am dreading the darker nights for this reason I drive a small car and feel so nervous knowing I'm going to be dazzled it really puts a stop to any evening socialising

I complained to my son about the blinding LED lights when I'm driving my little Fiat. He drives a van for Tesco and he told me he finds the lights just as blinding.

It is a big problem when like me you pive somewhere with no public transport.
I do drive at night but only short distances on very familiar roads where I feel safer. If I get dazzled I at least know the road ahead .... but not a unexpected obstruction of course.

My son in law was driving me at night one day and he is a very experienced and confident driver but even he had to stop dead when he simply cpuld not see the road ahead of him because of being dazzled.

I'm dreading the clocks changing. I will have to spend a fortune on taxis .... I am definitely not going to stay in.

Always try to avoid driving at night once autumn comes as I live in rural area on very bendy roads and it's just not safe when a car with the new type headlights comes towards me from around a bend. Just as bad on a straight stretch of road when faced with taller car and higher set lights. No public transport available without a 2 mile walk from nearest bus stop on unlit country road with no footpath.

I have solved this problem with some glasses that I ordered from Amazon. They fit over my prescription glasses and have a yellow filter. I’ve worn the for night driving and daytime use as I sometimes drive on a road with low morning sun flickering on my right side on a long stretch of the A27. They work for this situation also as the have yellow filter at the side also. They were less than £10.

Apparently the police no longer record when a road accident has been caused by dazzling headlights, but road safety associations are pressuring government to change this. My guess is that large car companies must have been lobbying government to insist the police should stop this.
So much for public safety taking precedence.

This has struck a chord with me too. For the last few years I have been driving 30 miles each way once a week to collect GS from school and play with him. The 30 miles is impossible to do in less than 60 even though there are a couple of fast (60mph) stretches on it. Coming home in the winter is a nightmare and I had already said earlier in the year I didn't think I would be up to it again. It is indeed the bright LED lights which cause the problems for me. Like others, I have quite a small low car. On one particular stretch of road, with no streetlights, i have a never ending stream of lights coming towards me and often someone right up my backside urging me to go faster. I try to ignore that but it is intimidating. Reading about Jenni Murray was the final straw and I will not be doing it again this year. I'm so sad to be losing the special time with my GS but also very relieved not to be making that journey at night in busy traffic again.

Impossible to do in less than 60 minutes

I remember the old public information films saying ‘dip don’t dazzle’ with regard to road safety. But as someone said upthread, new cars are now so high off the road that even dipped headlights are dazzling.
But am positive it is not beyond a car designers gift to design cars with headlights that don’t dazzle. I suggest they start be stopping the use of LED lights, and if that is more expensive then the customer will have to suck up the extra cost knowing they are potentially saving other motorists lives.

Magme

I have solved this problem with some glasses that I ordered from Amazon. They fit over my prescription glasses and have a yellow filter. I’ve worn the for night driving and daytime use as I sometimes drive on a road with low morning sun flickering on my right side on a long stretch of the A27. They work for this situation also as the have yellow filter at the side also. They were less than £10.

I asked my optician about these. He advised they may help psychologically but absolutely useless to the eye.

On a separate note, regarding the OP, I feel there are so many 'tall' cars on the road that those of us with lower seating positions are the most at risk of being blinded by their oncoming lights. I believe that they could be adjusted if the Government saw fit to encourage that.

My friend has these yellow tinted glasses for night time driving.
She's over 80. They can be bought on Ebay.

I've argues for years that all LED lights (not just cars) are great for being seen by others but not for seeing things in front of you. LED torches I find are useless in comparison to other forms of non-LED lighting'. The same is true of newer headlights fitted to modern cars. Previous lighting formats were much better.

I’ve had the yellow tinted glasses for years - I find they help a little but don’t completely solve the problem.
In built up areas where there are street lights I’ve noticed the lights dont light up the road as well as they used to years ago. Someone told me the brightness of street lights has been reduced because of complaints of ‘light pollution’ ?

I have some special anti glare coating on my driving glasses called Drive Safe Zeiss individual photo fusion. I don’t know if they work or not as I haven’t driven at night after being scared driving back at rush hour from my sons in a nearby town. What worries me is that he and his wife both cycle to work through traffic and motorists may not see cyclists if they’re dazzled. I don’t understand why the problem is being ignored especially with there being so much talk about older drivers being a danger on the roads. Because we’re experienced enough to see that there’s a problem.

Modern cars have luggt systems that change to high beam in the dark, dipped when there is light eg day light, street lights, car headlights. I have an SUV and can see the angle of where the lights are hitting eg side of road, straight ahead. I do agree that some headlights are very bright. When experiencing that, I just slightly look to the side to lessen the glare. As to indicator luggts not being bright or big enough, totally disagree. Some xars have indicatirs that blink half way across the bonnet and boot. I have thought of having that done to my car.

Fat finger syndrome luggts = lights
zars = cars, indicators = indicators

I've not driven at night for years if I can possibly avoid it because of this dazzle. SUV's have higher lamps, so dipping them doesn't honestly make much difference to somebody in a lower car. If you're driving in an SUV you've higher than a "normal" car and thus above much ofthe dazzle, unless lights are really badly adjusted.

I think it's ridiculous that people use dazzling headlights. I don't drive, but I have to close or cover my eyes, so it must be extremely distracting for the drivers. And what about the cars that have a strip of lights across the back a couple of feet up?! They're awful too. Don't the manufacturers have any safety advisors?

I read that Dame Jenni Murray was dazzled by headlights, crashed but was able to climb out of her car. She went into hospital, contracted Broncopneumonia and passed away.
Having recently lost a friend who fell in the road, broke a limb, recovered well in hospital, was ready to come home, then caught Broncopneumonia and passed away, I decided to Google why people catch Broncopneumonia in hospital and the answer states due to low immune system and from other people, staff, visitors etc. The Broncopneumonia viralent in hospitals is stronger than the normal one. I guess I'm wondering why this is happening to older people so often. My friend was planning to come home, we were discussing aftercare and she was a bright, tough 89 year old, she told me she was getting a cold.

People with cataracts, including myself, find it difficult to drive in the dark, as the headlights seem to create auras.

MT62

Fallingstar

I meant very unfair for drivers giving up driving in the dark not ourselves having to take public transport.

Yes you are right. If I went to see my friend it would cost me £12, as I need to take two buses each way.
If the fares were reduced to a pound it would only cost me £4.
Shame really as the buses are always empty at that time round our way.

If you're over 65 surely you can get a bus pass?

I have stopped driving at night.
If I need to go anywhere, I shall take a taxi. However, the last time I took a taxi, I thought the driver was an axe-murderer - what should have taken 5 minutes, took about 1/2 hour. He took me through all the dark narrow country lanes. Believe me, I had the phone in the palm of my hand , ready to dial 999. It was a scary night.😱

Paperback writer

“ If you're over 65 surely you can get a bus pass?”

In some parts of the UK you can get a bus pass aged 65 or even 60. But councils in England will only do it when pensionable age. And if a person is 65 now they will have to wait until they are 67 when they can get their pension. I am 77 and think it is unfair that many of us got our bus passes and our pensions aged 60 or 65 but others have to wait so much longer.