Your rearview mirror likely has a little tab on the bottom of it. Push it when there’s The Entire Sun behind you. It’ll dim the mirror’s reflection without changing the angle.
If you have a newer, fancier car, you might have a digital version of that.
I use that thing a lot, but they usually drive close enough to get the side mirrors too, and generally light up the whole cab. So I spend however long they’re behind me hunched forward to keep their brights out of my eyes, waiting for a passing zone. I’m not even a slow driver.
Yeah this is my problem too. I drive an accord and most of the time these fucks just drive as close as possible lighting up my whole car and now i can’t fucking see so i slow down a lot to not be a danger
More often than not you can blame the auto industry for this. People want to migrate to LED lights for longevity reasons but the industry has no interest in OEM support for models that have already been produced, especially in the realm of upgrading/mods, so you end up with people dropping in cheap ebay replacements that have been developed without any consideration to the concentration of the beam or the design of the lens. If there was some level of first party support even to just the bare minimum of “here’s how you should do it and here’s the components to buy” you’d see a lot less of these issues since it’s likely not the brightness of the bulb that’s the issue but the way the lenses and housing were designed. In addition LED lighting has become so cheap it should be the complete default for every model but instead OEMs have decided to use it as a bargaining chip for higher trim packages.
It’s not just the cheap replacements. I had a brand new 2018 Toyota Rav4 and when I first bought it, I would get “flashed” constantly by people thinking my brights were on. They weren’t. In fact, I almost never had to use the brights. It had very bright white LED’s and at that point those style of headlamps were new and not many vehicles had them.
Now that GM, Ford, and a few others use similar bulbs, the “flashing” has mostly subsided. I think people have gotten used to them. I couldn’t blame anyone for being frustrated. They were excessively bright. A lot of new headlights are and I think it’s a problem. I’m happy about the better visibility but I don’t want to blind the person coming at me in the other lane. That’s not a good situation for either of us.
Where I am it’s the exact opposite, people driving in the city at night without their headlights on at all. I think the streetlights illuminate enough that they don’t remember to turn them on.
I blame the combination of automatic lights and DRLs. Accidentally move a switch that you never touch 1 position and you might not notice for months that you don’t have your lights on.
This is why I don’t use automatic lights. You are responsible for ensuring that your car is in a safe state to operate, which means knowing whether or not your lights are on. The only times you should use automatic is when you are going though an area with a lot of tunnels, and you don’t want to have to toggle the switch every time, or, if you are driving during daylight, but you are expecting to continue into dusk or night. In those cases, move the switch to auto, so you know for sure that your lights are in auto mode but don’t just set it and forget it.
If you need headlights with more lumens than the sun to drive at night, you shouldn’t be allowed to drive at night.
The temptation to mirror tint my rear windshield goes up every time I drive at night
Your rearview mirror likely has a little tab on the bottom of it. Push it when there’s The Entire Sun behind you. It’ll dim the mirror’s reflection without changing the angle.
If you have a newer, fancier car, you might have a digital version of that.
I use that thing a lot, but they usually drive close enough to get the side mirrors too, and generally light up the whole cab. So I spend however long they’re behind me hunched forward to keep their brights out of my eyes, waiting for a passing zone. I’m not even a slow driver.
Yeah this is my problem too. I drive an accord and most of the time these fucks just drive as close as possible lighting up my whole car and now i can’t fucking see so i slow down a lot to not be a danger
you’d probably save lives in the long run
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More often than not you can blame the auto industry for this. People want to migrate to LED lights for longevity reasons but the industry has no interest in OEM support for models that have already been produced, especially in the realm of upgrading/mods, so you end up with people dropping in cheap ebay replacements that have been developed without any consideration to the concentration of the beam or the design of the lens. If there was some level of first party support even to just the bare minimum of “here’s how you should do it and here’s the components to buy” you’d see a lot less of these issues since it’s likely not the brightness of the bulb that’s the issue but the way the lenses and housing were designed. In addition LED lighting has become so cheap it should be the complete default for every model but instead OEMs have decided to use it as a bargaining chip for higher trim packages.
It’s not just the cheap replacements. I had a brand new 2018 Toyota Rav4 and when I first bought it, I would get “flashed” constantly by people thinking my brights were on. They weren’t. In fact, I almost never had to use the brights. It had very bright white LED’s and at that point those style of headlamps were new and not many vehicles had them.
Now that GM, Ford, and a few others use similar bulbs, the “flashing” has mostly subsided. I think people have gotten used to them. I couldn’t blame anyone for being frustrated. They were excessively bright. A lot of new headlights are and I think it’s a problem. I’m happy about the better visibility but I don’t want to blind the person coming at me in the other lane. That’s not a good situation for either of us.
Might be worth getting the aim checked on the lights. They may have come poorly aimed out of the factory and are just pointed too high.
Then again half the problem is the big trucks and SUVs having their lights like 2-3 feet higher off the ground than a sedan does.
So many people driving with their brights on in the city these days. It’s infuriating.
Where I am it’s the exact opposite, people driving in the city at night without their headlights on at all. I think the streetlights illuminate enough that they don’t remember to turn them on.
I blame the combination of automatic lights and DRLs. Accidentally move a switch that you never touch 1 position and you might not notice for months that you don’t have your lights on.
This is why I don’t use automatic lights. You are responsible for ensuring that your car is in a safe state to operate, which means knowing whether or not your lights are on. The only times you should use automatic is when you are going though an area with a lot of tunnels, and you don’t want to have to toggle the switch every time, or, if you are driving during daylight, but you are expecting to continue into dusk or night. In those cases, move the switch to auto, so you know for sure that your lights are in auto mode but don’t just set it and forget it.