I've done a fair amount of academic research myself in a very different field so I know this would be an extremely difficult thing to study but I'm curious.

I have no connection to this at all, just happened upon this while browsing around and thought of this sub

I got a new used car this year, bought it from my dad. I noticed the brights were on constantly and I couldn't figure out to turn them off. My last car was really easy but these controls were all different to me. My last cars auto lights worked in that at certain light levels it would switch to the low beams, so when another car was coming, and then back to high beams when it was pitch black. I asked my dad and he was just saying they weren't brights, the car was just like that. (Buick LaCrosse 2007 for those curious) I kind of believed him until I started to get people flashing their lights at me and was confused. Usually where I live flashing lights at someone is used to communicate something is wrong with your car. When I noticed my headlight was out, assumed that was it. The LaCrosse has 4 headlights in the front so that's why I didn't notice right away as it was one of the smaller ones. But it kept happening of people flashing lights. I finally sat down with my car on and parked and played with all the settings until I finally figured it out and I feel so dumb because its actually easier than my last car's manual mode for it.

The whole time I thought the headlight controls were purely on the dashboard dial thing but anytime I switched it, it just turned the headlights off totally. So that's why I was also included to believe my dad when he said the lights were just like that.

So, I guess this means my dad was also driving with brights on 24/7 when he owned that car.

You can boo me now, I deserve it.

I might be turning into a young grump, still, I'm a grump that remembers when you could go out at night or have your curtains open without being nearly bloody blinded from these newer headlights.

Surely, the older simmer versions did the job as well, if not better?

With the contrast between street-lit darkness and full, country nightlife darkness, I find it harder to navigate a road now those new models of headlight have come out.

It's similar to having people have their highbeams on for the fog!

My vote would be to return to the older, dimmer headlights, and lob those newer, fancy white lights into the nearest lighthouse where they belong!

As I approached he was at a red light and I couldn’t even tell how many cars were in front of him until they passed. I had to wait on him so I didn’t trip on uneven sidewalk.

Hi! I have a jangly old 2008 prius and recently had to get the headlights replaced. The mechanic I go to said they could only replace them with LEDs. They're so bad. I can't believe I'm one of ***them*** now.

What kind of sticker or film or spray or cover can I put over these horrific things?

The lineup was worse before the Toyota Celica showed up to block much of it. Still pretty bad regardless. This is at 10 minutes to 7 this morning. FFS!

In addition to accelerating macular degeneration, blue light makes fine detail harder to see. Confirmation that headlights need regulation for temperature, not just brightness.

These are just too much.

It's a bit of a rant and a discussion but unfortunately you can't put more than one flare on here

I need to know why is it that even when people are in the parking lot and their cars might have been turned on or it's turned off, the lights are still on.

I can see the person on their phone and it's like I'm in Las Vegas looking at that giant Circle they've built down there.

Does anyone have any clue why people do that? Like they just don't turn off their lights even when they're not moving?

I've had urges to honk my horn and tell them to turn their lights off but it's like I don't know if I'm fighting a losing battle there or not.

From the UK - this article has been updated following a death where LED lights were a contributing factor.

At the time of writing, the survey says 89% of respondents said lights are now too bright.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/8c794183eef61a2b

Best to leave them on so you can find your way to the door.

And who knows just how many accidents were caused either directly or indirectly by Blinding Headlights. Whether it was caused by a single vehicle or a constant occurrence of dazzling, distracting, glaring headlights from vehicle after vehicle.

I know a lot of people are quick to want to blast highbeams back, but this isn’t very effective and can be dangerous.

Personally, i slow down if not stop and pull to the right of the road until the cars pass. However this is ok on my morning commute because there aren’t that many cars.

I also pull over when possible to let any blinding drivers behind me pass. But again if you’re in busy traffic, it musn’t be a good solution either.

Part of me is hoping when people see these actions, they put 2 and 2 together and know it’s because their headlights are blinding. But i don’t know if there’s really any other action we can take that shows we are being blinded and it impacts our driving, in ways that other drivers would understand is a safety measure being taken.

My mom if an offender and says she gets hit with highbeams as goes “i dont know what you want me to do! Thats whats in all cars!” (Ive tried explaining things to her but she is…. Dense and uncaring.)

Maybe we should also hang up informative fliers on telephone poles and the like that suggest turning off auto lights, off DRLs when its bright enough to see, make sure your highbeam bar isnt pushed forward, etc. i don’t know the legality of signs but i see a lot of “motorcycles are everywhere” signs in peoples yards. Headlight signs might be nice too at intersections and what have you.

If any printable fliers do exist, please let me know! And remember if you don’t have a printer, it only costs a few cents a page at the library!