We’ve all SEEN them (not like we have a choice, actually), vehicles with that blindingly irritating, eye melting blue white light searing our eyeballs, it matters not if the idiot is behind us, or coming towards us, the effect is the same, pain, and the instinct to slam our eyes closed (and also to bludgeon the inconsiderate motorist to a fine red paste with the nearest heavy, blunt object, but that’s beside the point), not the best instinct when driving, being able to see the road and other road users is kinda’ important…
It also doesn’t help that most of the idiots doing this happen to be driving lifted 4wd pickups, so the headlights are aimed just right for maximum glare-pain…
Every time I encounter one of these inconsiderate jackwagons I have the urge to smash their headlights to bits and force feed them the glass fragments, then connect their nether regions to the high voltage leads from the bulbs, there’s a reason why cheap HID “upgrade” kits are (or should be) illegal, they are a danger to other drivers dark adapted vision
I have no problem with HID headlights themselves, the ones that were DESIGNED around the bulb and use proper focusing optics to control the beam pattern, but the cheap reflector kits need to die in a fire and the clueless morons who use them to be forced to drive rusted out Yugo GV’s with three dead cylinders (or a Toyota Prius, not sure which would be worse, actually )
I did not know that they were aftermarket kits. I was sending my hatred to the manufacturers. I approve this rant and thank you for fighting my ignorance. Now I know to hate the drivers instead. Somehow, that is more satisfying.
I doubt the Audis, BMW’s, and Mercedez Benzes who blind me daily around this time of year are going after-market, but they still make me wish I’d gone for the Gatling gun option instead of the better stereo when I bought my car.
A couple weeks ago I was getting blinded by a motorcycle coming towards me with those lights. Worse, it was behind another car and the lights (that were blinding me) were coming through that car’s windshield. I felt bad for that driver.
Personally, I’ve always wanted to see some sort of laws that stated a range of acceptable brightness, color temperature and where the headlights should be aimed. Even if OEM had one set of standards and there could be slightly brighter/bluer bulbs available as an aftermarket option for people that wanted to modify them. But if you’re blinding me from two and a half miles away, that’s too bright. There’s a long straight stretch on my way home from work and it drives me nuts when I can pick out one set of headlights at the other end of the stretch and know that they’re just going to get brighter and more painful as we get closer and closer over the next minute or so.
I wholeheartedly support this rant. The light morons deserve the same fate as those whose stereos set off car alarms 4 blocks away and douchebags who park sideways across two spaces so their doors don’t get dinged. All should be gelded with a rusty grapefruit spoon.
Factory HIDs that are properly aimed should not be blinding other drivers. Problem is no one bothers to do this anymore.
Someone changes bulbs and nudges the light out of alignment (it’s easy to do ) and next thing you know, ole Johnny cock-eyed light is coming down the road at you. Or the front end is bumped in a parking lot, and no one notices that all is not the same as it was before. Replacement tires of a non standard size, lift kits, suspension mods, all affect the aim of the headlights. Also carrying 400 pounds of junk in the trunk will tilt the front end up, resulting in retina burn as well.
Dealerships and bodyshops should be re-aiming light beams whenever a car comes in for any front end work. Most don’t. Instead we have backyard teenagers putting a fancy scoopy, spoilery new front grill/bumper on their Civic, and aiming the lights right into your retinas.
Also, the fad of blue or other color tinted bulbs is just stupid, IMHO. True HIDs should be an almost pure white. Blue tinted bulbs actually put out lesser usable light. But you know they are “cool” and all.
HIDs are not the problem, it’s the people operating them that the problem.
And don’t even get me started on the jackholes with a loose “jiggly” headlight. Holy Fuck.
I totally second this pitting. Those are DANGEROUS.
On a side note, why can’t auto makers manage to come up with a “night” mode for side mirrors that would reduce the pain of having bright lights behind the driver, as the center mirror has?
That seems more a driver error than manufacturer problem. If your side mirrors are pointed such that the headlights of a car directly behind you are blinding you, you need to adjust your side mirrors properly. No reasonable amount of mirror technology can deal with the kind of asshats who can still blind you when they’re off to the side.
Naturally, the center rearview should be adjusted so you can see the headlights of cars directly behind you.
So please explain how a short driver is supposed to aim them to be able to see behind and alongside the car and not get a charming view of nothing but pavement or sky?
Self -leveling headlights are the answer. I have them on my Mini Cooper. Turn on the headlights, they dip down a few degrees and then slowly rise back to perfectly level, no matter how my suspension is sitting. So if I have a lot of weight in the back, it compensates. Should be required on any car with HIDs.
Can people who pull up behind me and blind me see when I give them the finger? I’d rather be giving them the hail of machine-gun fire that they so richly deserve, but since all I have is a finger, can they at least see it?
This website has a nice cartoon on how to properly adjust mirrors.
Basically, you really shouldn’t be seeing alongside your car with your side mirrors at all, though this is what a lot of drivers still do. It leaves blind spots. They should be pointed out away from your car so that they just overlap the edge of your center rearview. The large overlaps from the other way are inefficient.
And if your side views are that pointed that far away from your car, the headlamps of cars alongside will be visible but won’t be so focused on your eyes to be blinding.
That said, a lot of drivers still set their side mirrors to sight along the side of the car and can’t get used to proper mirror settings.
I agree with this rant, and I also hate that I see a bit of blue in my rearview and have the “it’s a cop” response. Oh no, it’s just those blue headlights. :smack:
to help lessen the problem you could try clip-on flip-up Polaroid lens sunglasses on your glasses. or a pair that you have out to put on if you don’t wear glasses.
Me too. I was watching some commercial about how bright some manufacturer’s headlights are (“Blindem Headlights are 20% brighter than average headlights!”), and I remember thinking, “Well, that’s great for the driver of that car, but what about oncoming traffic and people in front of these extra-bright lights?” I’m afraid we live in a world where “I got mine, and to hell with you!” is the common mentality.
ETA: Not to mention, we already have extra-bright headlights - they’re called “brights,” and only assholes use them when they blind other drivers. Well, that’s how it used to be, anyway.
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