A new community where people can just vent about or actually do coordinate action against the pest of ultra bright LEDs.
Like the sun, if the lights are bright, don’t look at them. Problem solved.
FuckYourHeadlights - A community for people to organise and vent about ridiculously bright lights
Submitted 1 year ago by callcc@lemmy.world to newcommunities@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.world/c/fuckyourheadlights
Comments
WhyFlip@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Thank you for this useful insight. What do I do when my eyes quickly adapt to this stupidly bright light in my peripheral vision and I now can’t see anything in my own headlights ?
I have tried closing my left eye before, out of desperation. Doesn’t really work and I wouldn’t recommend losing depth perception while driving.
Lightsong@lemmy.world 1 year ago
So I’m on an undivided highway at night, curving leftward. Oncoming traffic is using bright ass light, blinding me, I can’t even see lane or lines. I’m supposed to look away and hope for the best?
Or even better, there’s divider, about 1m tall and there’s always some douchebag in pick up truck that have their lights just high enough to blast over the divider over to my eyes and I can’t even see lane beside me or where the divider are.
So please, use your actual common sense when posting nonsense like this. It’s a legitimate concern.
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I mean, sort of, but I live in a place with narrow winding roads that all too often don’t have a line painted on the edge of the road.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I thought it was just me getting older and my eyes getting worse, but headlights have really gotten ridiculous in the last 20 years or so.
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I thought the same, until my teens started driving. Both of them complained they can’t see in the glare and ask me to drive at night sometimes, LoL
CoolMatt@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
How about a high-vis vest? Doesn’t even take batteries
rmuk@feddit.uk 1 year ago
A quick question for Americans: here in the UK, cars have to pass an annual inspection once they reach three years old. It’s called an MOT test and it’s primarily concerned with making sure the car is safe - they check for rust, seatbelt tension, brake wear, and, yes, they make sure all the lights are not just working but also aligned properly. Do you not have an equivalent?
Gengaar@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I think some states have laws similar to this but in a lot of the country you can basically drive your car until it falls apart unless a cop specifically stops and tickets you for something egregious.
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Not in my state in the US. Arkansas did away with vehicle inspections. As a result you not only have to contend with bright headlights but severely misaligned headlight housings. Most are done on purpose and the funny part of it, if there is a funny part. When they bright light you its really better than when they are on dim.
DarthKaren@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’ll add onto the answers already. I lived in both an inspection state (Virginia), and a non inspection state (Washington state). I was in Va for about 2 years. I never saw more janky ass cars on the road and broken down ones. I saw more in those 2 years than the 20+ years I’ve lived here in Wa.
When it came time for mine, all my neighbors sent me to a mechanic down the road. It was a long ass line, but moved pretty fast. No appointment needed. “WTF is this?” I thought. I got to my turn. The guy was in a short stool, like a dr’s one. He didn’t even leave it. I was in and out in 5 minutes. I’m anal retentive on our vehicle maintenance. So I’m not a danger, but man, I know how others are.
One of our neighbor’s friends brought his car by one time. When it was off, oil was flooded into the spark plug holes. I swore it would never start. He cranked it. It turned over right away and all the oil sucked back down into the engine. I’ve never seen anything like it, nor since. I’m still flummoxed by it.
I saw one car where the person cut the roof away from just behind the driver’s seats. Regular old car. They half ass put a piece of plywood and, what I assume, is plexiglass to act as a wall. The “bed” of the vehicle was now the passenger seat area. It also had some janky work going on back there.
Our inspection system is really shitty, even in the states with them. There are so many, “I know a guy”, things going on that they might as well not have them. Then there are exemptions as well. Year ranges exempt. They do no real good if they’re there. Completely defeats the purpose.
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s by state. I’ve always lived in states with relatively strict inspections, at least compared to other states, but I’ve never heard of them checking lights or window tint. They’re supposed to
parrhesia@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
We used to have inspection in Oklahoma but I think it violated our “freedom” so they got rid of it.
churlish@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Some states have something similar, but it’s more for emissions I think. Michigan doesn’t seem to care AT ALL.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Not just cars, goofy cyclists too. Broad daylight, high noon on a cloudless summer day, somehow, cyclists need piercingly blinding bright little lamps on their handlebars. Or their helmets. Or their armbands. Or all at the same time. Cheap electronics from China make this possible. Backpacks. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing the other day, a guy dressed like a manga-ninja, all black with a face mask, and a backpack covered in LEDs.
Scrollone@feddit.it 1 year ago
Honestly, riding a bike in the middle of traffic is so dangerous that I understand the desire for being visible
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
If you need extra lights in summer, in daytime, on a cloudless noon, you shouldn’t be riding a vehicle. What gives you the right to blind and annoy oncoming pedestrians and drivers because of your misguided paranoia?
And typically, from my observations, the people crowing about biking being dangerous and they need safety … wear earbuds. Sure, seal off one of your senses and then complain about safety. We biked for decades without piercingly blinding Cree LEDs taped on our bodies 24/7.
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah but a single blinding light doesn’t make for good visibility. They’re supposed be much more visible with multiple lights
ikidd@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The hell of it is, its even stock vehicles now. So many new models have these crazy bright headlights. I know it can be done right, so how about we start having the safety bodies dealing with this bullshit at the manufacturer level?
Nomecks@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
I personally think headlight brightness peaked just before LED became mainstream. Through the mid teens companies were installing projector headlights. I had a 2014 Corolla with projector headlights so bright that I got non-stop flashes from opposing drivers.
boonhet@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Newer LED headlights are often matrix headlights. See the entire road like you’ve got high beams on, except the oncoming car’s area is dark. Best of both worlds if implemented well enough.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Ooh a place for the cult of the Honda Fit to congregate
Etterra@discuss.online 1 year ago
What about overly bright LED signs? Like billboards or business signs? Those things also suck.
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Or LED’s in modern electronics. I have a wine fridge that insists on telling me its temperature in the brightest possible blue segmented display. And apparently, I must be informed of the temperature at all times because I cant turn it off. Blue LED on the subwoofer brighter than the sun. I had to put a yoshi plushy infront of it to block the light. Wireless phone charger next to my bed… you bet that puppy needs a bright ass light to light up my sleeping area… FUCK! Electrical tape is my best friend today, I use it to cover up any of these stupid LEDs now.
azdle@news.idlestate.org 1 year ago
I know this website seems sketchy/scammy AF, but I found that these actually do a good job dimming the LEDs to reasonable levels, but keeping them visible.
I imagine (mostly because of all the “patent pending” bs) that this is a film you just just buy from somewhere else way cheaper, I just don’t know what it is.
rumba@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
And we drive all LED elements at 100% of their rated value, no matter what. there used to be a Youtuber that rewired electronic things and dimmed all the lights as he was going through them, it’s been ages since I’ve see him tho.
callouscomic@lemm.ee 1 year ago
This is why I have a lot of black electrical tape covering a lot of petty lights throughout my house.
Also noises. A lot of household machines like a microwave are unnecessarily obnoxious with noises, with little to no options or choices for it.
werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If all LED headlamps followed a new polarization standard, things could be very cool. As an example, let’s say the headlights could only shine horizontally polarized light and the windshields could only pass vertically polarized light. That means that one could see every thing very clearly because you wouldn’t be blinded by the cars coming on the opposite side. Your light would illuminate everything in from of you, which would then reflect non polarized light back at you plus all other light reflections from other sources like street lamps. Houses could be fitted with the same filter film as older cars. Similarly, people could wear polarized glasses and get the same benefit.
DarthKaren@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It would add to the price, which would suck, but I’d love to see some sort of HUD assist system. Even if it was a wire frame or something that appears as a HUD on the windshield. Not bright enough to blind you or be in the way, but enough to see. User could adjust the color (within limits to maybe not negate the system). To me, we don’t take enough advantage of HUD tech and different types of vision that a computer could do that a human can’t. Make it come on with the headlights or something. That way it’s not on during the day.
werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 1 year ago
One big challenge with this is that the human eye has not followed all the technological advances… Its still gonna give you shit after the age of 40. So that means you cannot have a simple mirror reflection system where the driver simply focuses on stuff outside of the car and then from time to time onto the HUD. But I think Mamazon and the apple companies have figure either automated focusing or long distance focusing such that the eye doesn’t have to focus on shit up close while driving. So it’s totally doable.
Etterra@discuss.online 1 year ago
Yeah but see that would require the government to do something, and right now they can’t even tell their asses from their elbows. Oh and they’re cutting at least half the jobs. Because eFiShAnSeE.
werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Maybe guns are the solution. Just gotta aim for the LED’s! Lol.
rumba@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
AynRandLibertarian@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I didn’t pay attention in physics class, why is the light reflected back not polarized? what happened to the once polarized photons that they come back non polarized?
Also what is polarization? I know that Electro Magnetic Radiation or EMR is made up from pulsating magnetic and electrical fields that propagate through space at a fixed rate or frequency… but what does polarization mean? does it mean the fields are slanted to one side or into one direction or something? or is it like some sort of spin or other sort of modulation?
werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 1 year ago
There’s Horizontal and vertical polarization as well as circular polarization. In a simple explanation , think of horizontal as a fence with horizontal bars so that only the horizontal part of the photons pass thru. Now once those horizontal photons pass, they will meet surfaces, which will reflect back their light so your eyes can see it. However, in this experiment only the vertical photons will pass your windshield. Because polarization depends on the angle of incidence, you will get some of the horizontally polarized light back as vertically polarized light which will pass thru. The effect is psychedelic. I totally recommend you to try it. You need polarized glasses, a flashlight and a piece of polarized film to place on your flashlight. The colors and shapes come back to you without defined form or glimmers so stuff looks normal, but weird as heck.
sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
In North America we can’t even get signal lights to not look different than break lights. I hope Europe has better luck.
werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I agree with you. Our king Elon tried to make our cars automatic. Our felon president trumpfus will be banning electric cars and orange lights because he doesn’t like to be called orange face.
But yeah otherwise not too crazy of a solution.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They don’t have to look like point sources that feel like they are burning your retina.
LanguageIsCool@lemmy.world 1 year ago
[deleted]callcc@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Argh, hate them!
toddestan@lemm.ee 1 year ago
While we’re at it, let’s also vent about cars and trucks with loud modified exhausts.
Master@lemm.ee 1 year ago
No. Loud = safe for motorcyclists. Its the only way they can be noticed inside sound proof cars by people on their phones.
I dont ride anymore because bad drivers killed every motorcyclist i used to ride with.
DarthKaren@lemmy.world 1 year ago
My man, I watched an accident yesterday in a grocery store parking lot. A raised up truck was backing out and a car was behind it. The car honked. Laid on that horn. It was a loud horn. Truck didn’t even flinch. Backed right into it.
I’ve been passed by “loud” motorcycles many times. I saw them in my mirrors. I have a tiny blind spot, but I tracked them the entire way. What I didn’t do is hear them. Especially at highway speed, they’re undetectable.
iegod@lemm.ee 1 year ago
As a fellow motorcyclist I hate this myth. spauldinginjurylaw.com/…/loud-pipes-saves-lives-m…
Majorllama@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The brightness is one thing but also the alignment. These people install new headlights or the manufacturers just do not adjust the lights alignment correctly at all.
I installed entire new headlight assemblies in my car upgrading from weak stock crap bulbs to LEDs with running lights, but I FUCKING ADJUSTED THEM afterwards.
If I am ~50 feet from a wall there is a hard line where the top of my lights do not shine. That line is purposely placed so it won’t shine until cars in front of me unless I am every far away from them or there is an elevation difference. Sitting behind a car at the lights my lights will cut off generally right below the top of the trunk of most sedan models.
I have never seen a headlight that could not be adjusted up and down with a little screw. Maybe the newest cars need an app or something stupid but I would be willing to bet they can also be adjusted.
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Where do you get those? Or is it just for a few models?
My car has nice LED projectors but my old car that my kids are driving has older xenon bulbs that were bright when new but insufficient in the face of modern glare. I’m tempted to get the glaring ones because then at least my kids could see but if I had a way to upgrade the right way I would
Majorllama@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If you want OEM look I would recommend: www.genera.com/Headlight.html
If you want different styling I would go with: www.carid.com/headlights.html
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s also the height of install. If you drive a subcompact a lot of vehicles will just have lights so high up to you that what’s a reasonable angle for them is directly in your mirror
Majorllama@lemmy.world 1 year ago
This is another issue. The ride of the front of certain vehicles. Namely large trucks. I’m 5’11" and there are many trucks sold now that have headlights at my shoulder level. It’s ridiculous.
They need to lower the front hoods of all these vehicles. It’s dangerous for pedestrians and just general road safety but it also would help alleviate some of the headlight woes others experience.
Impromptu2599@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You haven’t bought eBay replacement headlights before then! I have never been able to get them adjusted properly to the point where they match even close to the factory pattern. I usually end up pointing them away to low just to be kind to anyone in front of them. The only saving grace is a love in the city and want didn’t need to rely on them for proper lighting.
Majorllama@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You would be correct. I buy replacement lights from reputable brands with quality parts and adjustability lol
My dad bought some replacement lights for his car recently and he was so angry about the way they were pointed he apparently sent them a super angry letter. I then showed him I could adjust the beams down with my hands and he went back inside to send them another email apologizing hahahahah
ksigley@lemm.ee 1 year ago
As a cyclist, please.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 year ago
The most annoying thing about bright LED headlights is that LEDs don’t have to be bright. Yet because so many are, people view LED headlights as the problem. You can get varying brightness LED bulbs for your home, why not your car?
CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
I agree, fuck those headlights, but I don’t understand the point of a community for it.
Somewhere for me to go and make myself annoyed?SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It is like road rage videos. I hate road rage. I hope they lose their license. But I can’t watch them because they pointlessly get me worked up.
OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
Welcome to the Internet
crapwittyname@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Have a look around
Anything that brain of yours can think of can be found
We’ve got mountains of content, Some better, some worse
If none of it’s of interest to you, you’d be the first
TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
I’m just glad the Xenon fad is practically over
Naughty_not_bad@lemmynsfw.com 1 year ago
So I drive an Old car (Audi 80 build 1994) and it’s so annoying when people behind me drive with an automatic High beam. My front and rear lights aren’t as bright as newer cars so their car detects me way to late and blinds me every time there is no oncoming traffic. Sometimes I then start turning my bright foglight (on the back) on to make thier car think I’m closer.
OrkneyKomodo@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
Automatic high beams are a new hell. I thought people were just retarded until I hired a newer car recently. Then I realised what everyone else was doing… trusting faulty technology, and possibly being lazy in the process.
ComplacentGoat@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
The AHB on my Tucson works great, until it doesn’t. Usually when theres a few widely spaced cars on a 2 lane country road… Biggest issue is some genius decided to program the module to not let you turn the high beams off in auto mode unless the high beams are on. So when the system is doing dumb shit you have to let it flash people or do a hard reset by turning the lights completely off and back on.
HK65@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
I recently rented a car from SIXT, a BMW SUV - it was one of their rideshare cars, it was nearest to me, just so you know it was not my choice.
It auto-aligned lights to just slightly blind everyone in front of me. It also had tinted rear windows, wonder why. As a cherry on top, the navigation software made it impossible to anticipate off-ramps, so it had you switch multiple lanes at the last moment.
I think I understand a bit more about why BMW drivers suck.
sunbeam60@lemmy.one 1 year ago
Built in GPS always sucks, except for Stellantis who at least licenses software, maps from TomTom og Volvo who has built in Google. VWs are a dumpster fire.
Grass@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I still get mad about this aftermarket center high beam. way more blinding in person than the photo, also makes it impossible to see the plates
DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
That is definitely “please ticket / pull me over officer”
MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 1 year ago
It’s a probably a cop driving it.
childOfMagenta@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Aircraft approach lights level.
Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The main issue I see comes from regular headlights being replaced with LEDs and other High-Intensity bulbs. Don’t get me wrong, Bubba with his lift kit is just redneck high-beams, but I get more frequent glare from someone in a Sentra who decided to put LEDs in her stock headlight assembly that wasn’t made for LEDs.
AA5B@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That’s my feeling as well, but it would be great if any data exists. Most of the intentional LEDs may be super tight but also have very sharp cutoffs, no problem
How many of these blinding headlights are
- idiots driving with high beams
- idiots with aftermarket LEDs that should be illegal
- idiots who raised their truck enough that headlights can’t be aligned correctly
mlg@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You know how solar eclipse glasses allow you to see the sun surface without any glare by essentially reducing the light by like 50,000 times?
You can also point the glasses at a regular light to see the bulb.
I need the same thing that let’s me check really quick if some scrub has their high beams on so I can reflect their blinding light of death back at them because I’m too nice to do the same against morons who threw nuclear bombs into their regular low beam enclosure.
Although I am also very close to buying a rally high beam light array to do the light equivalent of telling people to shut up.
proudblond@lemmy.world 1 year ago
As a Tesla driver (yeah yeah) I’ve noticed in my heavily-Tesla area that 80% of the time when I think someone might have their highbeams on but it’s borderline that it’s a Tesla. It makes me uncomfortable about how bright my own lights are to others. My only consolation is that my car is 6+ years old, so there’s a (slim) chance that the new cars that are being rolled off the line are more poorly aligned than my own. Anyway I don’t know what I could do about it regardless.
cynar@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I drive a van, so I could easily be the culprit. I therefore make a habit of adjusting my beam dip appropriately. Apparently that is unusual enough for them to note they had been adjusted in the service. There’s literally a dial on the dashboard. You’re SUPPOSED to adjust them to the vehicle and road conditions! Apparently not having them set to max is now considered a “fault” to fix!
Linuxer@discuss.online 1 year ago
Yes ! I hate these as well!
xpinchx@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I recently had a high beam tailgating me. I moved my side and rearview mirrors to reflect it back and he passed me on a double yellow line with him in front of me I just turned on my own high beams. He turned off soon after but I hope it made his day a little more frustrating ¯_(ツ)_/¯
taiyang@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Now this is a community I can get behind, like a lifted pickup truck tailgating with his LED high beams on.
Strider@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That’s the kind of freedom I love giving up in Europe (it’s regulated).
fuzzzerd@programming.dev 1 year ago
There’s a load of cars with headlights that are overly bright, but there is an even bigger epidemic of idiots driving around with high beams on as part of regular course.
In the city there is no need for those, ever. Let alone always being on.
fraksken@infosec.pub 1 year ago
I’mma get some downvotes for this. But is this community also for the headlights of bicycles who like to shine into the face of other road users instead of illuminating the road?
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
I came back from the mall, they had one of those little trains for kids. The locomotive had two incredibly bright 6000K (blue-white) headlights. What for? You’re in a mall. It’s lit. You’re going 2 km/h. It’s just cheap one size fits all Aliexpress junk. Not a single thought went into the selection of these abominations.