Worst Journey...........ever.

Modern headlights are becoming a very real danger, they are simply way too bright and way too high. It's very rare that I'm out on my bike in the dark but if I am it's absolutely horrendous. Despite the fact that they can clearly see you coming, as you can them, before you get to the corner, they only decide to dip, (to 75% retina destruction level), once they've rounded said corner and completely wiped out your vision! Even when driving my van, where my eyeline is at approx 7 feet, I still get dazzled. I mentioned it to my optician the other day when I was there and he said that huge amounts of people are saying the same thing and that they are pushing for better regulations on headlights. There must have been deaths attributable to them.

 

Xenon headlamps, huh? Ya gotsta love them... Not.

I don't have the same problem traffic wise, but headlamps, yeah. All single track roads here, and generally you can see another vehicle approaching for ages. So, I dip my lights. Do they? No, why would they, they are still a mile away....

So, pull into a passing place to allow them past* and go to sidelights, they can still see me, but aren't getting dazzled by my lights. So how do they thank you for letting them past? They go to main beam of course.... I had one do that the other morning, so I'm afraid, after about 5 of them doing it in as many miles, I returned the compliment. I do so hope he enjoyed all my spotlamps.

* this bugs me. Passing place is on my side of the road, so I pull into it. Right, yes? Oncoming traffic, passing place on their side, do they pull in to it? Do they frell. They drive past and expect me to either go off the road, or back up. The amount of times this happens! I've reached the point now that I just stop and wait. One recently tried to argue the point, but reversed when I pointed out my old Land Rover has a beat up bumper for a reason, if he didn't reverse I would help him get there....

To be 100% honest I am actually one of the most easy going folk you could wish to meet, until the right button gets pushed. It's true in this life, you get what you give. Give me shit, you get a bigger pile back.

Oh yes... Flooding. I saw a beemer hit a huge flood a cross the A9 a while back. His air intakes made a lovely job of sucking the water in. Cue one slightly fooked hydrauliced beemer. Bet that cost!

 

Just remember the old soldier’s trick......

With blinding headlights shut one eye. When the oncoming vehicle has passed re-open. You have retained your night vision in the shut eye. The iris can shut down quickly but re-opens slowly. The blinded eye will catch back up in a couple of minutes.

 

I agree with all, modern headlights are a nightmare, whether in front or behind

 

Regarding drivers going far too fast in torrential rain, I had the pleasure a couple of months ago of seeing the result of a BMW driver attempting to reach the speed of light in the outside lane of the M66 during really heavy rain. He had aqua planed into the central reservation and severely messed up the front of his car. The police and recovery truck were in attendance. I felt it was very apt.

 

This actually reminded me of an incident I had probably 30 years ago now. It was the middle of winter and it had been snowing quite well for a few days but was now thawing. My girlfriend and I were happily making our way along a stretch of wide, straight road just a short distance from home in our Mk4 Spitfire when some dickhead coming the other way thought it would be hilarious to drive, at speed, through the huge pile of slush in the middle of the road covering all the vehicles coming the other way. Well the slush hit our windscreen with such force that it ripped both wipers from their mounts and cracked the screen. To say I was livid would be some kind of understatement I was absolutely f***ing RAGING !!!! Wankers.

 

I had self-levelling follow-the-steering-angle silly headlights on my last Ford. Often had people flashing their annoyance at me but I could not find an adjuster to angle them down a bit. Irritating for me, never mind others around me. Most people don't look for an adjuster at all and clearly don't care.

Current car has an adjuster beside the on/off switch - much more sensible, although I miss the relevant fog light coming on as I turn a corner to help me see the curb/shrubbery/badly parked Deliveroo moped...

 

I picked up a rental pickup truck 2 weeks ago (last vehicle available), it was a factory lifted 4wd hot rod 2019 Ram Rebel. I had to boost my wife up into the cab, and use the grab bar myself to get up into the cab. The headlights were incredible, unlike anything I have ever driven before. Drove for 40 minutes after dark and I don't recall anyone flashing me, that doesn't mean I wasn't blinding someone. I am not a lighting engineer of physicist but I would wager that the modern projector headlights get a great deal of beam scatter (refraction) caused by raindrops in the air and on the lens cover that is NOT accounted for. Taller vehicles with higher headlights I think can use a sharper downward angle to project at. I was taught to focus on the ditch side road line with oncoming traffic.

 

I'm sure these super-bright headlights are touted as a safety feature for the driver, but all it actually does is let them drive faster in the dark! Bit of a double-edged sword I reckon.

 

Modern Headlights are a real problem for everyone now but especially motorcyclists and pedal bikes too.
Without wishing to sound like a clever sh1te its all about wavelength.
The original filament light bulb has a yellowish rather narrow wavelength, even xenon while bright and more white is not as bad as LED lights which project a very intense true white (mostly) full wavelength light. These lights also give a blue cast of light from large distances and are very powerful indeed, more reflective and defration index, this is blinding light, very dangerous to many road users.
My thought is that legislation is needed to change the rules, more dip angle down would be a good start!