Some drivers are just too arrogant and selfish to turn down their high beams at night. Most of the time signalling them doesn't work. I am curious to know what other people's experiences on this and if there are any solutions to avoid this now that the country is about to open up and more people will be on the roads at night.
Any Solution to Avoid Getting Blind from Oncoming Vehicles with High Beam Headlight on?
glashalful on 17/10/2021 - 11:25
Last edited 17/10/2021 - 11:26
Last edited 17/10/2021 - 11:26
Comments
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- Close your eyes - This option has other disadvantages
- Put your high beams on - Also has other disadvantages
- Squint / slightly close your eyes, slow down, move a bit to your left and focus your eyes on the left fog line
- don't drive at night, but the sometimes the sun gets in my eye, easy don't drive during the day….
I.e. uber
- don't drive at night, but the sometimes the sun gets in my eye, easy don't drive during the day….
Meh, option 3 too hard, too many steps.
Stick with 1 or 2. Maybe both.
Like your thinking !
Option 1 and 2 together will cancel out the disadvantage.
Don't look at their lights.
4 put sunnies on while night driving. has other disadvantages
High beam back and then stray into the a**hole, as a feint.
5 - Merge into their lane so they think a head on collision is imminent. Has disadvantages if they call your bluff.
Option 2:
"call an ambulance… but not for me"
- Install aftermarket driving lights to flash them.
Similar issue with tradies making the inside of my car purple or another weird colour due to illegal headlights.
Nothing you can do and chance police ping them is really low. Worse is my tax paying helped subsidies those illegal "improvements".What the hell are you talking about? How do you lump people from various industries together, and how is your tax subsidising those improvements. Everyone who works pays tax, including trades…
the country is about to open up and more people will be on the roads at night.
Am expecting an increase in road accident posts.
All you need are high beams brighter than theirs
Such a honking good idea
Watch where you're going and don't allow your eyeballs to follow the bright lights.
Not possible. OP is actually a moth, you see.
Most modern cars automatically dip their high beams, so maybe the issue is that you're in a low car, or the cars that do this to you are raised? Very rarely do I see cars these days with high beams left on.
It's usually not the average modern vehicles that are the problem, it's most often the custom utes and 4WDS with modified headlights who refuses to turn their high beams off.
How do you know this if you are blinded by the light?
They developed a sixth sense that helps them identify jerks.
" the average modern vehicles "
Those would be the large white Chinese FWD wagons with halogen-blue beams that oscillate ~2 degrees under and ~5 degrees over a sedan door-mirror level, occasionally offering a cheery wink in the cabin mirror.
I agree, no problem at all coming to you…
As many others have said - keep your eyes left, appreciate why marker posts are white [ unless in a snow-field] , slow down if needed and remember to remember to be able to describe the bit of road your traversing in the next few seconds…
Older 4WDs / Utes had really crap lights generally, the 'easy' fix for more light is to put LED conversions in them, but it changes how the light it output and reflected, making it horrible for other drivers, especially anyone in a sedan/lower vehicle.
If they have had a aftermarket suspension kit fitted (even legally) it changes how level the vehicle sits - more nose up than before. Most (if not all) vehicles have adjustments on the back of the light housing to move the light pattern up or down. I had to do this on a ute a couple of years ago.
Not that some drivers will care anyway…
See it several times a day in Melbourne during winter, usually Camry drivers but its not exclusive to them.
Combination of high beams or older cars that might have been in a minor accident that have never had headlights adjusted to not blind people on low beam also.
Shame they don't do a WOF or pink slip (RWC) here to verify roadworthy annually on older cars, so many sh!tters in dangerous conditon on the roads down here.Not sure why you got negged. My car has automatic light adjustment which switches off high beam when it sees a car front or back in 200 m. It can also do low beam to RHS light.
I was always taught to follow the side road striping with your eyes. That way you won't be blinded but can still drive.
Yep, focus on the side of the road or guide posts, don't stare into their headlights…
This! This right here. Also if you are a deer, there is a reason you aren't allowed to drive.
Drive a 4WD or a truck. And wear those sunnies!
Do you have a low car by chance?
You could wear sunnies or put your seat a bit higher
I find older cars that are towing can blind you even with normal headlights on. I've flashed cars that then turn their high beams on as if to say "these are my high beams buddy and yes I'm an idiot for not loading my trailer properly and overloading my ute tray"
One day all cars will have PDLS Plus technology and the world will be a much better place.
Wear a welding mask
Honestly, this is the only solution that would actually work.
don't drive….. boom
uber
someone elses problem
When the driver gets into an accident, it will be a problem to you too :\
Some drivers are just too arrogant
May not necessarily be arrogant, some people with poor eye sight and needs high beam to see, shouldn’t be driving.
May not necessarily be arrogant,
some people with poor eye sight and needs high beam to see, shouldn’t be driving.
I'd say you'd have to be arrogant to drive knowing you can't see well and your solution is to blind everyone else.
For me even low beam headlights blind me. When I used to ride I always had a tinted visor on. No cars around visor up, cars around visor down.
Now I just do what Corey Hart does. https://youtu.be/X2LTL8KgKv8. I have those cool aviator ones with the flip up tinted glass.
It is hard to understand how good they are until you have driven a car with them
the problem is these are sold as a luxury and certain eur models don’t even sell them here in au market. even if you mandate them the tech isn’t just in the headlight assembly so will drive up prices lot more than base models that most people buy.
Seatbelts increase base costs too.
I'm usually not in favour of more laws and regulations but honestly, where I am in rural qld, bright headlights and sun-like highbeams are easily the biggest hazard for me as they are non-stop and straight up blinding. Even the old 'Stare at the left hand white line" trick is useless for me these days.
I hear you and there is no argument on the problem this causes to receiving end of driver. My point is mandating the tech won’t necessarily put an end to it as the problem seem mostly be caused by ignorant drivers that can always leave the lights permanently on without auto setting.
Same way having the seat belts wont protect you in an incident if you aren’t wearing them
In my experience high beam is hardly used by other drivers in urban areas, and underused our on the highway.
Modern projector lights seem to be too bright IF their cutoff bounces up into your vision.
I’ve driven a lot of highways at night and can’t recall anyone not dipping their headlights when you remind them with a quick flash. For that matter, same in the city.
This!
yes you are correct, modern cars are extremely bright, it could be that the persons car is low and the oncoming vehicle is higher using normal light bright lights
some car lights float / move up and down as well so it could be that road is bumpy
Try one of these, should do the trick.
https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/cigweld-cigweld-hiderok-…I found over recent years a dramatic increase in blinding headlights on the road. At first I thought it was high beams but I’ve put it down to correlate with the rise in SUV numbers on the road and me driving a sedan. I do find it quite difficult driving at night now!
It's been like this for me for many years. Mostly coming from expensive European SUVs.
Add idiots who do "offroad use only" LED conversions to their SUVs so not only are the headlights higher in position, but they spew light in directions they're not supposed to.
A big mirror.
Yeah… get some spotlights!
Some knob wouldn't turn their high beams off one night flashed them with my spotties… still didn't turn off!
I then left my high beams on with spotties on, after a few seconds he got the idea lmao
And in the meantime became a blind pilot in control of a coiled of tonnes of metal hurtling towards you at a combined speed of over 120km/h?
Flashing your uber bright lights quickly to get their attention is one thing. Leaving them on just puts you in danger.
How about an anti-glare clip assembly to fit to your sun visor? There are lots available on Internet for around $20. Here is one example. https://www.dicksmith.com.au/da/buy/brand-ventures-car-visor…
Are you sure they’re even high beams? With basically every new car coming with LED’s, I’m sure you’ll find that they aren’t actually on high.
The only solution is to do what everyone is doing and get an SUV. I’m not saying to go spend $130k on a land cruiser, but maybe consider a Mazda CX-5 or similar. The high driving position will help, although going through car parks and dealing with the speed humps won’t.
drive like your 90 years old while you have the bright lights in your face.
Into a cafe?
Are you short? Maybe raise the height of your seat….
There are some yellow tinted visors that attach to your sun visor that might help.
Try glasses that cut out glare but not light.Can't avoid this. This isn't just high beams but many high end SUVs are running these blinding night lights as normal lights. Just have to learn to concentrate your vision to the left.
People who follow other cars with their high beams on can also be a problem with the sudden glare in the mirrors. Yes you can adjust mirrors or focus ahead but it's a pain.
oh Ikx
It's important to keep in mind that sometimes it can be an innocent mistake, not a good one, but also not intentional. Try not to let it get to you and just focus on your own safety.
Drive a lighthouse on wheels. Your light will be much brighter than their headlights. Will undoubtedly make them see the error of their ways.
As an added bonus, you are highly unlikely to incur any speeding fines.
Close one eye or offset your vision 12 degrees.
High beam them back. I was driving someone elses car which had a very worn combo switch, someone high beamed me, I checked, turned mine off.
It could also be their lights aren't calibrated correctly.
Lightly tinted Yellow Lens Glasses for Night Driving with anti-reflective (AR) coating.
some people say that's you're best option if you can't handle lights while driving at night/ get headaches from lightsJust leave your high beam on.
Or buy "yellow" driving glasses.If you notice it, put your high beams on as far as possible. They will eventually get the drift.
Or if they coming from behind you, flick that lever at the bottom of the rear vision mirror. That will just shine their high beams right back at them!
"Any Solution to Avoid Getting Blind from Oncoming Vehicles with High Beam Headlight on?"
1) It won't blind you.
2) In the same way you deal with the afternoon sun. I myself squint.
3) If the oncoming vehicle is within 300m or so, or if the beam is distracting hit your beams and leave them on until he turns his off.
Disadvantage when u own sports car
wow - the 'low car' comments
I have a low car - aka a regular sedan - which was the norm before SUV became a thing
I remember riding in one of the first Range Rovers back around 1970 - designed to soak up rough terrain - bought by a cattle station owner
then later they were called Toorak Tractors - for expeditions to the inner urban shopping centre carpark - always brand new shiny - never dirtied or scratched by actual brushes with the bush - a joke to people who actually grew up in the country
what did people in the country actually drive - utes
and the inventor of the Range Rover commenting that he was disturbed to find that buyers turned out to be pretentious people with egos that needed to feel 'over' someone else, so their aspirations for elevation were satisfied by taller vehicles much more likely to rollover in a crash (easily seen in car crash videos)
lucky I drive very little - or I'd probably be ranting more about the new normal - of tall vehicles blocking my view of the road immediately ahead - methinks WOFTAM
WIth all the shit drivers out there now, being in a big car isn't just for 'pretentious people' and 'looks' anymore.
Whether you're right or wrong according to the law, physics dictates that if you're in the bigger car, you're more likely to survive a collision than the person in the smaller car.(….and yet, i still drive a small car myself! lol)
Entering into a momentum arms race implies a fair degree of selfishness IMO
We'd all be better off if we all drove smaller cars (pollution, pedestrian safety, etc), but here we are, bunch of people trying to buy box that's bigger than the average sized box…
You could use that argument towards motorcycles as well. Remove the cars and motorcycles are significantly safer, when an incident does occur it's less likely to have as big as impact as a car or larger.
Not really. Many studies show bigger, heavier cars (even with great safety ratings) are more likely to roll over and kill the occupants, or slide off the road and into a ditch / tree etc. Modern small cars have a lot more crumple zones these days. Notice how new hatchbacks are so damn wide compared to their 1960s - 1990s counterparts?
It's a myth that a heavier car will, all else equal, come out of a two car crash better than a lighter car - in such a crash the light car bounces more. But for single car crashes - the MAJORITY of fatal accidents - the lighter car fares better (it bounces off trees more). And of course heavy vehicles with a high centre of gravity are more likely to get into a big crash in the first place.
I wear my sunglasses at night
So I can, so I can
SeeAvoid the light that's right before my eyesPerhaps your headlights are either foggy, or adjusted too high, either will have the effect of making it brighter and appear that you have left your high beams on, prompting the other driver to do the same. Worth checking out, I don't find many if any people fail to dip their lights when I'm oncoming.
Don't look at the oncoming vehicle.
SimplezNot unless you are a irresistible moth.
Bikies
Focus on the left line of you lane until they pass. Stops you losing your night vision and keeps you navigating in your lane.
revved up like a deuce another runner in the night
Wear glasses when driving (with no lenses if you dont need lenses) Get some of those clip-on sunglass things that flip up and down. Problem solved. https://www.eyekeeper.com/products/flip-up-clip-on-sunglasse…
Getting blinded by car lights is most often because people are replacing their bulbs with ‘illegal’ bulbs - as in bulbs not designed for their car’s headlight reflector pattern, hence the lights shine ‘higher’.
Or…
Regardless of your age, you might have cataracts. I just had one done - and will get the other eye done soon - and am amazed how headlights, taillights, traffic lights, neon signs etc. are less glaring and broken up into multiple lights.
Cataracts can sneak up on you (as they did with me!) making you think your sight is normal.
yeah - "new eyes" are the best!
It’s probably more to do with all the Toorak tractors on the road nowadays.
depending on your age, and how careful (or otherwise) you have been with sunglasses / UV eye-protection, you may have the start of cataracts. get your eyes checked.
I notice many DIYs with aftermarket LED lights leave the beam cut-off set higher than normal. 'Glorify' their work? The same for some cyclists.
Don't drive at night, make sure to tint portion of your front window from top, and buy a larger sun blind
Military Defensive Driving Course method from the 70's, and still holds true.
Look down and to the left to the white line / edge of the road as soon as you can. Once practiced and mastered to become instinctive, it becomes so second nature only the very worst on coming lights over a crest should catch you out.
It is not perfect, but it is a proven method to surviving the 90% of drivers with poor driving and light dipping skills, poorly adjusted headlights, and illegally modified lighting systems on many many vehicles today.
I use that method for really dense fog too
I wear a pair of those yellow glasses, they cut down on the glare
I also just concentrate on the left painted line, if I don't have the glasses with me
But now I bought myself one of those anti glare panels that you clip on the sunvisor,
that is there all the time, and it really cuts down on the headlight glare at nightWow. I didnt know a product like anti glare panels clipping on sunvisor exist. Might be useful for that low sun too I suppose.
I have these, I took off the dark part & just kept the yellow;
for the dark part, I always have a pair of shades around
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/393149415823?hash=item5b8988018f…
These are dearer on AmazonThanks. Looks like same item from different sellers and different names. A bit cheaper here. Will try out.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/164554116717
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