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Transportation United States

How Do We Stop People From Blinding Other Drivers With Aftermarket LEDs? (arstechnica.com) 290

Posted by BeauHD from the do-your-research dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: It might be stating the obvious, but your car's headlights are a safety device, and not all headlights are created equal. For a while, carmakers have been fitting powerful LED headlights to their high-end offerings, but more often than not, their cheaper cars -- and particularly cheaper trim levels -- get saddled with much-weaker illumination. But sometimes a commuter wants to see more of where they're going when the sun goes down. Eventually, they go looking for a solution, starting with their local automotive parts store. But stuffing aftermarket LED headlight bulbs into OEM housings designed for conventional halogen units results in dangerous glare for oncoming drivers. While LEDs can deliver more intense light at a higher end of the spectrum, most aftermarket units also create a hazardous condition.

The major brick-and-mortar auto parts stores know this, which is why they tend to shy away from aftermarket H11 LED bulbs, other than ones clearly marked for use in fog lamps or "for off-road use only." It's a different world online, with off-brand H11 LED bulb listings on Amazon, eBay, and Walmart websites failing to carry the same prominent warnings. [...] Do your lighting research before you make your next vehicle purchase. Headlamp technology has typically been bundled with the trim level. The base model would get fitted with reflector headlamps, with projectors offered in the mid-range and higher trim levels. Adaptive headlights have been the preserve of the top trim levels. All that means that less-expensive vehicles are often stuck with reflectors across the range in America. (IIHS recently changed its testing rules and will now only give its coveted Top Safety Pick+ to models that offer the best headlights across all trim levels.) "While halogen filaments deliver 360-degree illumination, LED bulbs typically emit light with a pair of back-to-back 180-degree planes," writes Daniel Gray for Ars Technica. "When LED alignment gets skipped, oncoming drivers are blinded, as are drivers ahead of them in traffic. Poorly aimed headlamps are especially bothersome with pickup trucks and SUVs due to the vehicle height."

Make sure to do your homework if you choose to install aftermarket LEDs. "Find a reputable manufacturer and domestic retailer. Buy based on quality, not price. The optimal LED replacement bulbs mimic OEM halogen filament bulbs as closely as possible. The worst bulbs are a stab in the eyes. And don't skip alignment -- take your time and do it right."
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How Do We Stop People From Blinding Other Drivers With Aftermarket LEDs? More

How Do We Stop People From Blinding Other Drivers With Aftermarket LEDs?

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  • Dealar only serice / parts with DRM! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @11:30PM (#59838750)

    Dealar only serice / parts with DRM!

    • Jesus fckin christ on a pogo stick (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Or just make excessively bright headlights, or incorrectly aimed headlights, both objectively measurable things, illegal.

      • Re:Jesus fckin christ on a pogo stick (Score:5, Informative)

        by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:10AM (#59839000) Journal
        They actually already are, it's a 'fix-it' ticket, and if you're driving around with your highbeams on all the time (or look like you are to a cop/highway patrol) you can be issued a citation.

      • They are if you are caught. If your model wasnâ(TM)t offered with leds then it is illegal. That used to be a real easy separation to spot.

        I say this as someone who did fit aftermarket leds to a car. The manufacturer was extremely careful and included a blinder bar that would restrict the fov. Not everyone is going to buy high quality aftermarket upgrades. They worked great and I liked a color temp that would never get me busted. Car was sold off ages ago and I informed the new owner.

    • Re:Dealar only serice / parts with DRM! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:49AM (#59839132) Homepage

      How do we stop people being stupid? That's going to be a tough one to solve.

      • How do we stop people being stupid? That's going to be a tough one to solve.

        That's actually got an easy solution. Evolution; Unfortunately this solution may take some time and involve the elimination of the human race plus plenty of other collateral species with it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dwywit ( 1109409 )

        Sure is going to be tough. People still buy hummers.

    • Maybe you could just require carmakers to equip their vehicles with uniformly bright headlights and eliminate the incentive for people to replace shit headlights with good ones for reasons of either practicality or status.

      Some people will still aftermarket their headlights because their ratrod needs aftermarket everything to be cool. But if the gap between a Chevy Cruze and a Mercedes in headlamp illumination quality was small or non-existent, it wouldn't be a status symbol and people would be less incline

  • Ask your legislator to pass a law? (Score:5, Funny)

    by MikeDataLink ( 536925 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @11:41PM (#59838792) Homepage Journal

    Did any of the Slashdot editors go to grade school?

    • Let's try enforcing the laws we already have first.

      I see people driving all the time around other cars with their high beams going. Many of them are doing it because they have a low beam out on one side and while police seem to ignore someone driving without brights on, they will more readily jump at the chance to pull over someone with no light on one side of the car.

      • FWIW, it's not just you that's seeing this, I see it all the time. I even get blinded by cars behind me these days. I don't usually have to flip the rearview to dark mode but of late I sometimes have to because someone's lights are way, way too bright.

      • Lets not forget the jacked up pickup trucks that have headlights that are higher than the head of a driver in a normal sedan type car...

      • Reckless endangerment (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Immerial ( 1093103 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @08:26AM (#59839836) Homepage

        I would charge them with Reckless Endangerment... which can mean a fee and/or jail time.

        "Reckless endangerment is a crime consisting of acts that create a substantial risk of serious physical injury to another person. The accused person isn't required to intend the resulting or potential harm, but must have acted in a way that showed a disregard for the foreseeable consequences of the actions."

        I would say driving with lights that temporarily blind oncoming traffic to be in that category.

    • No, they're programmers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      But it's more fun to speculate about creating a retroreflector that somehow sends the beam back directly into their retinas for geeky revenge.

  • Ars Fuxica (Score:5, Insightful)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday March 16, 2020 @11:42PM (#59838798) Homepage Journal

    ""While halogen filaments deliver 360-degree illumination, LED bulbs typically emit light with a pair of back-to-back 180-degree planes," writes Daniel Gray for Ars Technica. "

    Who gives a shit? That's completely irrelevant to the issue of blinding people. What matters is whether the LEDs are in the right place. It's also wrong. The tip of the lamp in your headlights is covered with a reflective coating. They are not 360 degree devices.

    I put Beamtech H7s in our sprinter after reading reviews on a sprinter forum. They are only two-side lights, but the light goes where it's supposed to. You do have to clock them correctly, however.

    Add to that the fact that many headlights out there are mis-aimed to begin with, even the halogens can be blinding people, and this is a total nothingburger.

    • Re:Ars Fuxica (Score:4, Interesting)

      by CaptQuark ( 2706165 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @03:04AM (#59839266)

      ""While halogen filaments deliver 360-degree illumination...

      ...The tip of the lamp in your headlights is covered with a reflective coating. They are not 360 degree devices

      You're confusing his statement that the filament emits light in 360 degrees and that the glass bulb has an opaque covering on the end.

      I do agree that replacement LEDs must be configured to work correctly inside the reflector of your headlights. Most older single-lens headlights had a single bulb inside with two filaments only a small distance apart. The reflectors and lenses were designed to change the direction of the light with just that small difference. Now, replacing a carefully engineered halogen or HID bulb with a LED where the light is emitted from a non-designed location is irresponsible and perhaps unlawful.

      I remember once when I bought a used car with the old round headlights that the previous owner had replaced the lamp but accidentally rotated the lamp 90 degrees during replacement. Headlamps didn't have replaceable bulbs inside back then. The requirement was for "Sealed beam headlights" and you had to replace the entire headlight. Anyway, when I drove the car at night the right headlight would illuminate everything from the street to the tree tops. I learned I needed to rotate the light back to horizontal when the cop stopped me and asked me if I was trying to hunt squirrels at night.

      ---

      • Re:Ars Fuxica (Score:4, Interesting)

        by wierd_w ( 1375923 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @04:21AM (#59839366)

        I concur.

        The solution to this problem is superior engineering requirements on the part of the LED manufacturers.

        I replaced the head-lamps on my vehicle with LEDs of identical luminosity, and did extensive research on which ones to get for my vehicle before purchase, then did a "reflector positioning test" against my garage door a the appropriate distance, to assure hotspot formation and placement after installation.

        This was because my vehicle does not have a direct replacement LED kit. (Mazda 3).

        However, it DOES have separate High and Low beam bulbs, so I do not experience the specific scenario you describe.

        Assuring that the LED chips are mounted in the correct position AND orientation needed for your reflector is essential to having good function of an aftermarket luminary. Similar applies to those plasma based luminaries; the ampule needs to be in the correct position.

        Rather than just crack-down and say "No, we insist that you use some garbage dark-age tech that burns out every 3 months and costs 50$+ to replace each and every time, because we are big brother and we love you!", the sensible thing to do is just impose regulatory requirements for sale in the US for "Halogen equivalent bulbs", and fix the whole problem to start with.

  • Can't renew registration without correcting the problem to manufacturer spec'd parts. Don't like it? Get a different car with lights you like. Yes I know there will be those that switch them right back out after inspection, but most people aren't inconsiderate assholes, they just don't know its a problem.

    I doubt you can pass inspection with white bulbs in an amber turn signal socket, why should this be any different. Also the aim direction should be within spec or FAIL.
    • What inspection? Here in Ohio, we're good with bailing wire holding the bumper on as long as you pay the yearly registration fee.

    • Lol inspection

      Here in California we have emissions tests, but no safety inspections.

      If a cop decides your lights are aimed incorrectly they can send you to an inspection station, but they're too busy writing speeding tickets to bother with that.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by lgw ( 121541 )

      I a lot of states with safety inspections, it's specifically illegal to check headlight alignment, because that was a very common scam at the places doing inspections for years.

    • "Can't renew registration without correcting the problem to manufacturer spec'd parts. Don't like it? Get a different car with lights you like. Yes I know there will be those that switch them right back out after inspection, but most people aren't inconsiderate assholes, they just don't know its a problem. "

      They need to be educated then. A car with illegal parts is not legal to drive and in case of an accident you're going to jail and be liable even if the accident wasn't your fault.

  • Simple - enforce the law. (Score:5, Informative)

    by LynnwoodRooster ( 966895 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @11:44PM (#59838804) Journal

    FMVSS 108 [govinfo.gov] regulates lighting of vehicles. You are limited to no more than 4 forward beams (or clusters of LEDs designed by the manufacturer to function as a single beam) at a time, and location, output, and beam pattern are strictly controlled. Driving a vehicle with extras or not properly aimed/equipped? Pull them over, ticket, and impound the vehicle - just like would happen if you had cut off your exhaust, or were running racing slicks, or other non-street-legal mods.

    Do that a few thousand times in the first month, and you'll see people catching on real quick that if they use their illegal LEDs, they'll run the risk of a $500 ticket and a few thousand in impound fees.

    • They don't impound vehicles on the spot for that stuff. They just write a ticket. You have to correct it or they will eventually impound.

      LED replacement headlights don't automatically lead to bad headlight aim, either. Most of the time they're fine.

      Pattern and output are NOT tightly controlled. You can get higher wattage lamps for example. You are responsible for headlight aim, however. It's easy enough to adjust yourself, if you can find a flat parking space pointing at a wall. The light just needs to cut

      • A vehicle can be impounded when it relates to public safety [legalmatch.com]. Having a lighting scheme (including colors or excess lights) that does not meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 108 is clearly a violation of public safety per the law and the regulations, and the officer can order an impoundment.

        • It can be, but it isn't. That would be a hassle.

          The lighting scheme thing is about having red lights on the front of the vehicle, or unlicensed strobes, or extra white lights on the back, etc. It's not for the color temperature of your headlights.

          • You want to stop the LED issue? It's completely within the law as-is, nothing new needed. Excess light output/improperly aimed lights are illegal. Ticket and impound. Do a few thousand times, and people will start to catch on. Simple, easy.

            As far as color temperature goes, educate yourself [govinfo.gov]. Color temperature of all lights on a vehicle are regulated. it's about where, how many, how aimed - and what colors are allowed. And that includes a definition for color temperature of ALL lights.

            PS: I have a st

          • Impound one vehicle and make sure that it goes on the internet and the matter is off the table.

  • Lasers! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Xenolith0 ( 808358 ) on Monday March 16, 2020 @11:45PM (#59838810)
    Having not read the summary or article, I'm going to assume the answer is Lasers. With well aimed, high-power lasers. Really, most problems can be solved by application of a laser. Virus? Laser it. Bad Drivers? Laser them. Aliens? Laser.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • I remember in my youth buying halogen conversion kits to replace the utterly crappy sealed beams than all cars came with back then. Certainly the state of automotive illumination is better now than it was then, but the fact people still do this suggests that a lot of factory lighting is still inadequate.

    I'm happy with my factory xenons, would never even consider going back to halogens, but don't blame people stuck with them for looking for solutions that are cheaper than buying a new car. If it is a defic

    • I've got a bus (gradually doing an RV conversion) from 1999 and it has those stupid sealed beams. But ironically those are the least trouble when doing a LED conversion because there's no issues of interactions with reflectors.

  • Give them coronavirus.

  • emergency vehicles, too. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by edibobb ( 113989 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:06AM (#59838864) Homepage
    When you pass modern emergency vehicles on the side of the road, their flashing LED lights are so blinding you could never distinguish a human in the road if there was one. These need a night mode -- they're making things more dangerous for the first responders, not less.

    • Re:emergency vehicles, too. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by MikeDataLink ( 536925 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:20AM (#59838900) Homepage Journal

      When you pass modern emergency vehicles on the side of the road, their flashing LED lights are so blinding you could never distinguish a human in the road if there was one. These need a night mode -- they're making things more dangerous for the first responders, not less.

      This! Not that long ago I came upon an accident at about 10:30PM driving home. The cop came up yelling at me to stop gawking and move along. I barked right back at his ass and told him "Why don't you go back down the hill and see if he could see a damn thing with all these lights in your eye. I could have just flew through here and caused another accident. Don't be a dick." He quickly shut up and waved me on.

      I agree. These lights need to adjust brightness at night.

    • They're supposed to be bright because some people are dumb and distracted and don't notice things.

  • I'd just be happy if we could get rid of high beams. I've noticed a marked increase in their (pointless) use over the last couple of years. And apparently no one taught these people that when someone blips their high beams at you it's because you have yours on and are blinding them.

    • When your lights are on low beam, the distance you can see drops way down. You are relying on the extra light from the approaching car to be able to see anything. Your seeing distance is way, way less than your stopping distance, so if there is anything in the road, you hit it. You have no choice.

      If you did away with high beam, you'd have to drop the highway and freeway speed limit down to about 30mph. And you'd complain about that, I'm sure.

      • If you did away with high beam, you'd have to drop the highway and freeway speed limit down to about 30mph.

        At 30mph, the reaction plus stopping distance is about 100 feet.

        If your low beams can't illuminate that far, maybe it's because you're still using WWI-era kerosene lamps.

      • If you did away with high beam, you'd have to drop the highway and freeway speed limit down to about 30mph.

        Nonsense. I NEVER drive on the freeway or highways with highbeams on all the time and I can see ahead of me just fine. Not sure what you're doing that you can't.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

          Unlit mountain roads. Without brights, you can barely see the guard rail curving away from you in time. Unless you want to crawl along at residential speeds.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Cyberax ( 705495 )

            Unlit mountain roads. Without brights, you can barely see the guard rail curving away from you in time. Unless you want to crawl along at residential speeds.

            If you are driving mountain roads with abrupt turns at highway speed at night then you just deserve to die.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by imidan ( 559239 )
          In addition to Dog-Cow's comment about unlit mountain roads, rural areas where there are significant populations of deer, elk, and so forth. High beams illuminate animals by the side of the road much better (the lights reflect off the animals' eyes) and help you anticipate animal crossings.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sjames ( 1099 )

        Have you considered that your night vision might be going bad? Seriously, you might want to get that evaluated before it becomes irreversible.

        Even the old '70s low beams were adequate to highway driving. Much brighter than that and you increase the risk of blinding oncoming drivers and having a really nasty head-on collision.

    • The problem isn't the highbeams, the problem is they don't teach people to drive properly anymore! Why else do you think the 'self driving car' idiots are getting listened to by legislators? What we need is driver education/training/testing reforms, and bring back driver ed/driver training in highschool. Teach people how to operate a vehicle competently and most of our problems will go away.

  • When I notice oncoming headlights drastically interfering with my vision, it almost always turns out to be some jackass with his pickup lifted up to the point where his headlamps are at the same level as my eyes.

  • Guns. Pointed only at the offending lights, of course. AND you're doing a favor for the guy behind you.

    Gun control is being able to hit your target.

    • Guns. Pointed only at the offending lights, of course. AND you're doing a favor for the guy behind you.

      I hate guns. I might make an exception if you put a bullet into any car light that is blinding people. But only the lights.

  • *yawn* (Score:3)

    by jargonburn ( 1950578 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:30AM (#59838916)
    They could try regulating by brightness, rather than by wattage? Unless they ARE doing that now, and I just didn't know.

  • It's not the aftermarket LED's. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bjwest ( 14070 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @12:36AM (#59838922)
    It's not the aftermarket LED's that are the main problem, it's the factory LED headlights running at 5000K or more. There are very few new cars that don't blind me, and I'm in a full sized pickup, I can't imagine how bad they are for people in cars. The main problem is the frequency of the light, and they're way too high for what is required to see properly. 5000K or above will be blinding to anyone, especially while driving at night. We need to bring these back down to 3500K - 4000K max.
    • You're not wrong, I've noticed the change in color temperature too.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      There seems to be some debate about colour temperature being the issue: https://www.luxreview.com/2017... [luxreview.com]

      Headlights have been getting brighter for decades. Higher output bulbs, better reflectors, more energy available to run them.

      LEDs require a different reflector shape and when people fit them aftermarket they usually don't change the reflector. Some aftermarket bulbs claim to be drop in replacements for factory fit bulbs but they never are. That's the problem.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Why would anyone ever install white fog lamps? That defeats their entire purpose, they are supposed to be monochromatic lights that don't reflect off of snow that much but still allowing you to see the road, with white lamps all you're going to do is get blinded by your own lights.

    • It's not the aftermarket LED's that are the main problem, it's the factory LED headlights running at 5000K or more

      False. The lumination of factory headlamps is covered by strict standards. Your problem is that people don't realise many cars have a switch to adjust how the headlamps dip, and those people who do think the only setting it should ever be set to is 11.

      Don't blame manufacturers for the idiocy of people. You'll never be blinded by a high end car because headlight dipping is computer controlled and the light won't hit your mirrors or face in the first place. *That's* the type of things manufacturers are doing

  • Require all new cars to come with top grade lights and be properly aligned out of the factory. The summary already makes it clear that cheapo cars having cheapo lights is the cause of the problems.

    • I put LED headlights in a used van, you insensitive clod! I'm going to put them into a used car and a bus, too.

      The bus probably needs them the most. It has the same headlights as a car from the 1970s.

  • Eventually they'll get the hint when enough people do.
  • A lot of punching

    Optionally some kicking, too

  • LED lights need to go (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:57AM (#59839148)

    LED lights are a problem for everybody, including drivers of cars that have them.

    The transition between the illuminated area and the non-illuminated area is abrupt and unnatural. Things are fully illuminated from the ground up to a "horizon", and then 5mm above that horizon, complete darkness.

    If you drive an LED car at night, you'll often find yourself instinctively but fruitlessly ducking to try to see what is above that horizon, because you NEED to see what's there, but the abrupt transition from fully-illuminated to completely-dark prevents you from doing so.

    The "old-fashioned" lights (halogens? incandescents?) whose beams gracefully decay to darkness may not be as bright as the LEDs, but they are superior because they distribute the light better and have no artificial horizon above which you cannot see anything.

    Oncoming drivers often give you their brights when your LEDs are on low beam. You can "educate" them by giving them yours, but that doesn't solve anything in the long run.

  • Certification on aftermarket parts and approval? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by burni2 ( 1643061 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:05AM (#59839152)

    In Germany cars need to have an A.B.E. (Allgemeine Betriebs Erlaubnis / General Approval to operate on Streets).

    This ABE confirms, that the as-built version of the car is configured in a way, that it is in accordance with rules and regulations for safety and environment (like the sound level from the exhaust or particulate emissions).

    If somebody wishes to install aftermarket parts those need to have a such an approval document too, that document is issued by a certification body . During the time the aftermarket parts are installed and the car is driven on official streets the approval documents must be in the car and ready for inspection by police - except the changes where approved by a certification body and written into the "Fahrzeugschein" (registration document).

    For example the trailer coupling on my 90s Suzuki Vitara (or Geotracker) is an aftermarket part, however the changed built was inspected by a certification body and was added to the registration document - so I just don't need to carry around the ABE and installation manual (Anbauanleitung) for that part.

    However my bull bar is an aftermarket part too. Due to the scare that stiff bull bars increase the seriousness of head injuries to pedestrians in case of an accident, from a certain date on those aftermarket parts cannot be added to the registration document anymore. However, I am in possession of the original ABE document and installation manual. So when I have the bull bar installed I need to have this document in the car - if I fail to show it during a police inspection I get fined.

    If an aftermarket part is combined directly with other aftermarket parts and not the original as-built situation for which the ABE was valid, the whole custom built must be inspected and approved by a certification body. It will be checked for safety and accordance with regulations.

    If you would get caught having an aftermarket part installed that has no ABE the police can require you to have the modification confirmed by a certification body within a few days and reported back. Furthermore, if they find your car's configuration unsafe they, can forbid the further operation on the street.

    You are allowed to drive your just modified car/bike to the inspection place. If the approval is denied you might even drive it back, however if the inspection engineer judges your car unsafe for street operation the way back is on the back of a tow truck.

    If your unapproved aftermarket part is causing an accident your insurance will hold you accountable - it will still pay for the damages done to others health and other things.

    Even though it sometimes can be a hassle to get certification I think it is a very good way to restrict what people can do to other people in terms of making them uncomfortable (sound level), ill (exhaust) or unsafe (brakes, steering, suspension, injury mittigation).

    (example: like your aftermarket oversized tires not restricting the turn angle in combination with your custom suspension)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Corbets ( 169101 )

      Switzerland too. I find it to be a very sensible step and results in much better-quality vehicles on the street.

      That said, introducing such a law in the US would initiate some massive upheaval, as a very large percentage of cars wouldn’t be drivable anymore. For all that I support it, it’d be chaos.

    • What about bicycles?
      A fairly large proportion of cyclists have front LEDs set too high, blinding pedestrians, car drivers and other cyclists. It is so easy to adjust things but too many people are too stupid or antisocial to bother.

      • Actually, Germany being Germany, bicycle lights also must be approved. They often have a notch on the top or the reflector is not uniformly shaped. There are also other rules (a red back light, a white frontal reflector, two red rear reflectors - small and large, yellow pedal reflectors, yellow wheel reflectors if single, or white if in a continuous ring). Hypothetically if a bicycle does not conform to the rules, it can be seized and the owner fined and if only some parts don't conform, they can be seized,

  • Law enforcement solution. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Revek ( 133289 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:06AM (#59839156)
    They can simply train law enforcement to spot and identify bulbs that are in compliance with existing law. A similar fine to having blackout tint would help curtail the use of these 'asshole' lights.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dohzer ( 867770 )

      Just like when they fined my friend for having an excessively-loud aftermarket exhaust. He paid the fine, changed the exhaust to a stock one, had the car re-tested, got the compliance certificate, and straight away the loud exhaust went back on there.

  • I Call for Government (Score:3)

    by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:09AM (#59839162)
    Aftermarket LED Control. No one needs an off road ASSAULT led on a normal road!! It is about the children who ride in cars.

    Just my 2 cents ;).

  • Simple! you start pulling over (Score:5, Insightful)

    by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @02:13AM (#59839174)
    drivers with illegal lights in their vehicles. Stop them, Check the lights with a gauge, Seize the vehicle(can not drive home blinding others) and tow it.
    After people pay a few thousand, several times they will start obeying the laws about headlights! There are regulations on the books already.

    Just my 2 cents ;)

  • Headlights should be much more spread out .. ideally over the entire front bumper/grill, it will greatly reduce glare. Diffuse out lighting. Light shouldn't have a point source, like a cloudy day except brighter.

  • Eh, cyclist are already there. (Score:3)

    by shess ( 31691 ) on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @03:39AM (#59839298) Homepage

    The bikeways are full of cyclists running solar-maximum lights sourced from China and put on seizure mode. When one of these asshats comes my way, I stand in the middle of the path with my arm over my eyes, and yell at them about how they're blinding me. When this happens while riding, I'll turn about and chase them down and tell them their blinking lights from hell are blinding.

    Problem is, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." No amount of information can catch up with the obvious conclusion that brighter lights are better, even if it's wrong.

  • It is very easy to stop them from doing that. A 12 Bore is my preference, but a heavy chain, a baseball bat, or a cattle prod will also work.
  • Like in Germany by a TÜV, and also approved and registered parts be allowed. What many car models do in the US is simply outright illegal in most parts of the world.

  • It was in line with fog lights and aftermarket Halogen "Blue Bulbs" used in headlights, so why not make the same ruling on the LED variants?
    Blinding oncoming traffic is still illegal. Same as running your highbeams and/or fog lights when you shouldn't be. Just add these to the mix. Just make sure it gets Enforced evenly!

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