Led headlights. (Rant alert)

[denverpilot]

I'll ignore the crack about tired worn out eyes; what you need are even brighter lights. Don't get mad, get even!

LOL... I've threatened to install rear facing LED bars.

Show me how bright lights cause eye damage (they don't...)

Hey man, want to come over and stare at the sun for a while?

slam on your brakes and crush those lights with your rear bumper!

I was thinking similarly... brake lights trump flashing headlights. Gosh, that rabbit just darted into the road... you didn't see him? Sorry you were following too close and put your fancy pseudo-SUV in the ditch after hitting my bumper. I have a tow strap... want me to wrap it around your bumper and pull? (Note I didn't say tow hook/tow point...) Ahhh crap, your bumper came off. Gosh man, not your night.

I frequently drive in a two-lane, and when someone is coming in the opposite direction with bright lights, I have learned to look at the shoulder. I don't need to stare at the lights to know where the other vehicle is. As far as vehicles coming from behind, any car I've ever owned had a flip setting on the rear view mirror so the lights didn't seem as bright. My current vehicle does it automatically.

Grandpa was a professional driver in the 40's and 50's and taught the same technique. The auto dimming mirrors, depends on what vehicle I'm in... the GMC even dims the side mirrors. Some moron could flash all day back there and it'd be noticible but wouldn't bother me.

I haven't had my speedometer calibrated, so my 65 may be someone elses 62. /QUOTE]

Takes five minutes at a few key speeds with a free GPS enabled free speedometer smartphone app these days. Not exactly rocket science to figure out if your speedo is off. I'm surprised the auto manufacturers don't just recalibrate the silly things from their own on board GPS by now, really.

 

[mtuomi]

Hey man, want to come over and stare at the sun for a while?

Sure, not a problem, as long as I can protect my eyes against UV radiation (which is what causes damage).
For the light itself to cause damage, you have to stare at it for hours. Light from oncoming cars will not, ever, damage your eyesight.

 

[ktup-flyer]

Those are HIDs. LEDs and HIDs only work well in a projector housing. The rednecks in lifted trucks like to cheap out and put them in reflector housings and blind everyone instead of buying a projector retrofit kit.

 

[Groundpounder]

these need to be banned. I'm a 21 year old, and hardly have the tired worn out eyes of a 60 year old. I still feel worried about the damage these selfish jerks are causing me when they pop on there high beams right in my face using these damn lights. The lights alone are probably detrimental to people's vision, but it's being used as a harassment Tatic by idiot drivers on top of that. I'm not going 65 through a snowy intersection in my run down Plymouth so some jackass pulls up 2 feet behind me and blares his high beam led lights in my mirrors, now I literally can't see anything. I'm tired of these, they are definitely causing damage to people's eyes and should Be outlawed, im worried about my vision, and others who get in the crossfire of the people who use these. OUTLAW THEM!

We should outlaw bad grammar

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Sure, not a problem, as long as I can protect my eyes against UV radiation (which is what causes damage).
For the light itself to cause damage, you have to stare at it for hours. Light from oncoming cars will not, ever, damage your eyesight.

Light from oncoming cars? Probably not a problem.

Photic retinopathy does exist.
Here's 2 cases from using a microscope. In the second case, a UV filter was used with the microscope (UV is bad, but visible light can also cause issues): http://www.ajo.com/article/0002-9394(86)90946-3/abstract

Here's a case from plasma welding with protective gear: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908862/ This also cites another case of photic retinopathy while wearing UV protectice goggles.

Here's one from 5-10 minutes of exposure to an arc welder: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3596908

 

[Jim Case]

No, I'm not.
Read those articles and you'll see they are pretty darn far from stating this as a fact.
Prove me wrong with something that wasn't tested with albino rats, or directly exposing epithelial cells in vitro to massive amounts of radiation. There is no scientific evidence, that bright lights harm your eyes.

Ok if you are going to ignore the science that has been done proving it there is nothing I'm going to be able to do to sway you. Go stare at a light for an hour and see how you're vision is afterwards.

 

[Jim Case]

I suppose it is OK to look at the sun? An arc welder? A strong laser? I'm glad photic retinopathy was just a myth.

 

[Jim Case]

Not trying to undermine your article but Gunnar makes those obnoxious yellow gaming glasses and markets them to e-sports wannabes based on 'better performance' and 'eye protection'. They have a vested interest in saying that so people buy their glasses!

WTF Jim!

signed a 68 year old

It's not a shot, I really do care about you guys!

 

[mscard88]

It's not a shot, I really do care about you guys!

I know, I was just joining in the shaming Jim thing.

 

[AKBill]

I must say I dislike the very bright head lights. I often turn my mirrors away so I am not distracted by the brightness. Nothing you can about oncoming traffic. Luckily I only have a 4 mile ride to get to the boat I take daily to work. Only 7 miles to the airport..... I put about 3,000 miles a year on my truck....

 

[SoonerAviator]

It sounds like the real rant is about poor quality retrofit HID lights, which as stated require their own specially designed reflectors (or projectors.) That aside, people that drive around with their high beams on all the time are REALLY annoying. As a motorcyclist, I'm shamed to say some riders are particularly bad about this.

^This. It's almost always the teenagers putting HID kits into their stock reflector headlight housings which causes the intense light to be scattered instead of focused with a distinct cut-off line. They also think that the blue-er the light, the better it is, despite it usually going further outside of the optimum color temperature for human vision. 4300-5000K is where all of the OEM systems are calibrated to. It's against the DOT regulations in most every state in the US, but seems to be rarely enforced by LEOs. I also agree about lifted/leveled trucks who didn't both to adjust the lights down to compensate for the new ride angle. I see a lot of people with the LED light bars on bumpers or on top of the windshield, but I never see anyone running them unless on back roads.

 

[signtwist]

With my old worn out eyes,can only wait untill your one of us.

I agree!!!

 

[ElPaso Pilot]

^This. It's almost always the teenagers putting HID kits into their stock reflector headlight housings which causes the intense light to be scattered instead of focused with a distinct cut-off line. They also think that the blue-er the light, the better it is, despite it usually going further outside of the optimum color temperature for human vision. 4300-5000K is where all of the OEM systems are calibrated to. It's against the DOT regulations in most every state in the US, but seems to be rarely enforced by LEOs. I also agree about lifted/leveled trucks who didn't both to adjust the lights down to compensate for the new ride angle. I see a lot of people with the LED light bars on bumpers or on top of the windshield, but I never see anyone running them unless on back roads.

Was just following a bro truck the other night with a rear mounted light bar on his bumper. From a long distance behind.

He either miswired it trying to get it to work with his reverse lamps, or flipped the switch on and had no clue.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Norman]

When I had the landing lights in place of the high beams I never had to ask twice to get someone to dim theirs.