There aught to be a law!

[Poppy]

Virgil challenged me to do some research, and so I did. I estimate that I spent about 20 hours locating and reading articles pertinent to the discussion at hand. Studies vary, but headlight mis-aim ranges from 24% to 39% of the vehicles on the road at the time of the studies performed.
These two links are to two different posts within the same thread.

Too-Bright Headlights & Fog-Lamp Questions

An '08 Grand Marquis's headlamps can be upgraded pretty significantly. Suggest you talk to Daniel Stern (search Daniel Stern Lighting and you'll find his site) Virgil, Awesome recommendation! I found his site. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/ In 2001-2002, the US Federal Government's...

www.candlepowerforums.com

Too-Bright Headlights & Fog-Lamp Questions

An '08 Grand Marquis's headlamps can be upgraded pretty significantly. Suggest you talk to Daniel Stern (search Daniel Stern Lighting and you'll find his site) Virgil, Awesome recommendation! I found his site. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/ In 2001-2002, the US Federal Government's...

www.candlepowerforums.com

 

[kaichu dento]

You can buy a Lux meter and measure the brightness for yourself if you claim it to be too bright.

You can drive down the road and see cars with halogen high beams that are less dazzling and blinding than many newer cars on low. Flash you lights to get them to lower theirs and they flash back even brighter yet.

Whatever standards are in place, the light you face driving down the road now is much more dangerous and blinding than it was just a few years ago. Keep running defense for the people making these designs and trying to win an argument on the internet if you wish, it still won't do a thing to change the reality we see on our roads which gets worse with each passing year.

 

[theory816]

Or even something as simple as driving around with 100 pounds of stuff in the trunk. Doesn't do anybody any favors, in terms of the cutoff of the headlight beams. (Where I live, there are lots of smaller pickup trucks, and often there will be a small load in the back; with cars and the crossover/SUV vehicles there's no telling, but I suspect it's not infrequent that a bit of load gets carried around at all times (ie, spare wiper and coolant fluids, first-aid kit, winter/survival stuff, a jug of water, etc).

it has to be more than 100lbs to cause the headlights to dip up. When you get blinded, most of the time its simply because of the road angle that causes you to be under the cutoff line. Again like I said, driving is a brute activity. Being blinded is part of driving.

 

[theory816]

You can drive down the road and see cars with halogen high beams that are less dazzling and blinding than many newer cars on low. Flash you lights to get them to lower theirs and they flash back even brighter yet.

Whatever standards are in place, the light you face driving down the road now is much more dangerous and blinding than it was just a few years ago. Keep running defense for the people making these designs and trying to win an argument on the internet if you wish, it still won't do a thing to change the reality we see on our roads which gets worse with each passing year.

as long as you are under the cut off line, we can objectively say that you are being blinded. However if you are above the cutoff line and you still believe you are being blinded, then you need a lux measurer to be objective. And if you measure it and the lux is under .4 lux from 25 feet away, then it is solely your perception that you are being blinded, which is often the case where people think the lights are too bright but its more that they think they are being blinded.

 

[kaichu dento]

...it is solely your perception that you are being blinded, which is often the case where people think the lights are too bright but its more that they think they are being blinded.

Keep spinning doctor...

 

[theory816]

Keep spinning doctor...

lol that's just what it is. I went through a phase where I thought I was being blinded by everyone too. Turns out it was just me.

 

[kaichu dento]

I went through a phase where I thought I was being blinded by everyone too. Turns out it was just me.

Apparently you saw what you saw, but then decided that if everyone else liked the Emperor's New Clothes, you didn't want to be left out.
The lights are getting worse all the time and the Emperor's New Clothes are still no clothes at all, regardless of what the in crowd says about them.

 

[jtr1962]

Its because most new car sales in the US are trucks and SUVs, which circumvent regulations by being classified as light trucks instead of cars. Car Industries market these vehicles over conventional cars because it makes them more money, mostly because light trucks arent held to the same crash & safety standards as cars. Thats despite most americans being better served with a much more practical station wagon with better cargo space & fuel economy.

And that loophole should have been closed the minute automakers exploited it to get around CAFE regulations. Pickups and SUVs are an awful trend which could have/should have been nipped in the bud.

 

[pnwoutdoors]

it has to be more than 100lbs to cause the headlights to dip up. When you get blinded, most of the time its simply because of the road angle that causes you to be under the cutoff line.

Somewhere around 100-125 lbs, in my own car, sends the cutoff just into the eyes of shorter oncoming cars. But then, my lights have been adjusted so they're aimed optimally for normal driving; as others have pointed out, many aren't. All of this is in addition to whatever roadway undulations there might be for everybody.

Life on the road. Always interesting.

 

[theory816]

Apparently you saw what you saw, but then decided that if everyone else liked the Emperor's New Clothes, you didn't want to be left out.
The lights are getting worse all the time and the Emperor's New Clothes are still no clothes at all, regardless of what the in crowd says about them.

No it was just that week where I had an eye allergy problem where it was more sensitive to light.

Somewhere around 100-125 lbs, in my own car, sends the cutoff just into the eyes of shorter oncoming cars. But then, my lights have been adjusted so they're aimed optimally for normal driving; as others have pointed out, many aren't. All of this is in addition to whatever roadway undulations there might be for everybody.

Life on the road. Always interesting.

The only time most headlights need to be touched is when changing out a bulb. They are all aimed properly before coming off the production line and its quite hard for aim to deviate over time since theyre so well engineered. Its when people mess with the lighting that causes lighting issues. But alot of people don't mess with their lights.

 

[alpg88]

Virgil challenged me to do some research, and so I did. I estimate that I spent about 20 hours locating and reading articles pertinent to the discussion at hand. Studies vary, but headlight mis-aim ranges from 24% to 39% of the vehicles on the road at the time of the studies performed.
These two links are to two different posts within the same thread.

Too-Bright Headlights & Fog-Lamp Questions

An '08 Grand Marquis's headlamps can be upgraded pretty significantly. Suggest you talk to Daniel Stern (search Daniel Stern Lighting and you'll find his site) Virgil, Awesome recommendation! I found his site. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/ In 2001-2002, the US Federal Government's...

www.candlepowerforums.com

Too-Bright Headlights & Fog-Lamp Questions

An '08 Grand Marquis's headlamps can be upgraded pretty significantly. Suggest you talk to Daniel Stern (search Daniel Stern Lighting and you'll find his site) Virgil, Awesome recommendation! I found his site. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/ In 2001-2002, the US Federal Government's...

www.candlepowerforums.com

do you have links to actual study? i would love to see how they got their data, cuz if you ask a mechanics who do inspection and have the machine (they charge you extra for aligning the light, sometimes more than inspections' price, and would not tell you that upfront, you get surprised when you see the bill), they would say they had to align half the cars they inspect., some would say they had to top off halogen fluid too, lol.

 

[bykfixer]

I blame it on dirty windshields.

 

[theory816]

I blame it on dirty windshields.

Lol its a little bit of everything. Headlights yellow and fade over time causing alot of light transmission. If I had to guesstimate, over 10 years its a lost of 50% light. Polishing and restoring the covers help alot, but there's going to be a 15% loss in light still because Lexan yellows to the bone. It's not just a surface defect.

 

[John_Galt]

And that loophole should have been closed the minute automakers exploited it to get around CAFE regulations. Pickups and SUVs are an awful trend which could have/should have been nipped in the bud.

Lol, "loophole."

What's wrong with being able to carry around half your stuff and half your family at the same time? The min/max headlamp standards are not being "exploited" or worked around just because they're mounted on a pickup or suv. The standards are the same.

 

[jtr1962]

Lol, "loophole."

What's wrong with being able to carry around half your stuff and half your family at the same time? The min/max headlamp standards are not being "exploited" or worked around just because they're mounted on a pickup or suv. The standards are the same.

What's wrong is the enormous cost in resources and safety due to these ridiculously huge vehicles. If you need extra storage build a shed.

The loophole I referred to isn't about headlights. It's what allowed SUVs/pickups to be produced in such huge numbers. If they had to be counted in CAFE standards, the automakers would have kept them as niche items only.

 

[jaycee88]

Maybe more automakers will do what Hyundai and Kia are doing and start putting the headlamps lower than you'd normally expect on SUV's. It'll look really odd, and a minor fender bender will now cost you $5000, but at least they might not glare you as much amirite? 😅

 

[Terrywhite]

Actually laws are written by lawyers, and staff members of the "Office of legislative Services" They take direction from the sponsoring legislator. He/She may give them a rough draft of what they want said. The OLS then takes the idea and writes a Bill in legalize. They may, or may not have any knowledge of the subject they are writing about.

The Bill, may get modified a dozen times or more after the sponsor gets input/complaints from concerned parties.

Each city or municipality and county can legally write their own ordinances to address pretty much any motor vehicle law.
Most people would be surprised just how many motor vehicles regulations are written locally as ordinances.

 

[Poppy]

do you have links to actual study? i would love to see how they got their data, cuz if you ask a mechanics who do inspection and have the machine (they charge you extra for aligning the light, sometimes more than inspections' price, and would not tell you that upfront, you get surprised when you see the bill), they would say they had to align half the cars they inspect., some would say they had to top off halogen fluid too, lol.

There's a link within this post.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/too-bright-headlights-fog-lamp-questions.464590/#post-5368337

Virgil posted a number of informative links in that thread. If you are interested in the subject, I'd suggest that you follow that thread, AND the links within it.

I read each of the linked materials, and although they used scientific methods in the studies, I sometimes saw flaws in their conclusions. I didn't want to debate with Virgil though, it would have been too time consuming, and I would have had to do a LOT more research. It just wasn't worth my time.

 

[Poppy]

Each city or municipality and county can legally write their own ordinances to address pretty much any motor vehicle law.
Most people would be surprised just how many motor vehicles regulations are written locally as ordinances.

Pretty much ANY motor vehicles regulations?
I doubt that statement.
Please cite some local ordinances that contradict State or Federal regulations.

 

[theory816]

Maybe more automakers will do what Hyundai and Kia are doing and start putting the headlamps lower than you'd normally expect on SUV's. It'll look really odd, and a minor fender bender will now cost you $5000, but at least they might not glare you as much amirite? 😅

It sorta defeats the purpose of SUVs. The higher mounted lights will light further up ahead before it dips below ongoing traffic. If its mounted lower, it'll dip way ahead of time. Sure, you'll glare other drivers less, but that wasn't really much of a problem in the first place.

You should see the performance of my HID headlights on my suv on a dark road compared to a sedans headlight. Im like a giant galaxy whiles theirs is little pluto lol! And my suv isn't even that high.