Blinding white headlights on new cars: Opinions on usage & necessity

The glare of headlights even from scooters is scary these days.

BHPian Rodie09 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Fellow BHPians,

This question has been puzzling me for long and always wanted to understand what others feel about the new craze in the town - blinding white headlights.

I am not talking about any illegal street modifications but the factory-fitted white headlights/HID/Xenon/Projector lamps. Please pardon my limited know-how of terminology and perhaps some may be incorrect.

I know for sure that these are not illegal as they are offered in mass market cars and all brands are offering including the luxury international ones.

I know this is not India-specific but a worldwide phenomenon now, so nothing local about it.

My question is that when we talk of safety so much, does no one (read government, ARAI) see any safety-related issue with these new blinding headlamps? How are manufacturers allowed to provide these factory fitted?

The glare of headlights even from scooters is scary these days. One cannot just see anything at all on the road in this blinding glare. Are all world-class brands ignoring this big road safety issue completely? What is various governments' stand internationally?

Just because the person inside such a vehicle needs to see the road brighter, he/she cannot take away the right of the other person to have a clear view of the road at the same time. It is plain injustice.

What was so wrong with the good old yellow vehicle lights that we had been driving with for decades?

Looking forward to hearing views from fellow BHPians and if I am missing anything, happy to get enlightened

Here's what BHPian Rajeevraj had to say on the matter:

I think it is more to do with the bare minimum knowledge and etiquette of knowing to use the low beam. There is no need to use the high beam in a lot of scenarios, but most drivers do not seem to know that there is something called a low beam and when to use low and when to use high. Also, there is a large chunk who don't care and are always on high beams.

Of course, it is true that the newer cars have more powerful headlights, fogs, DRLs and whatnot, but a large part of the 'blinding' issue is due to the improper use of the high beams and fog lamps.

Here's what BHPian shankar.balan had to say on the matter:

Lots of people including me feel this way about these blinding white lights. Some are even like the strobe lights on stage at a concert.

I am decidedly not a fan of blinding white lights and LEDs.

Here's what BHPian subuiyer had to say on the matter:

Ah, a topic close to my heart. Excessively bright headlights and fog lamps have become an epidemic. My understanding is the law limits capacity in terms of some voltage/wattage and throw angle, which has become vague by today's standards.

Technology is continuously helping extract more lumens per watt and at a pace, the enforcement machinery is struggling to keep up.

Most times it's best to let pass-tailing vehicles that dipper me or even high beam me as soon as possible. Auto-dimming IRVM isn't enough because ORVMs are still blitzing your eyes.

There are many drivers who keep hitting the dipper when in bumper-to-bumper traffic - not sure how it will help them. And the ones who wield their bright lights and loud horns closely tailing to beat poor drivers(s) ahead of them into submission (make way, and worse) only to halt 300 meters down the road for a pee break or take selfies. I find it difficult not to get worked up on encountering such idiots.

Here's what BHPian ashivas89 had to say on the matter:

Thanks, OP for the thread. I'll bet every one of us will find this super relatable.

A part of the problem as Rajeevraj mentioned is due to a significant chunk of the educated population let alone barely educated chauffeurs and the like not knowing the appropriate scenario to use high beam. This basically addresses the problem that the OP brought up about stock headlights.

However, there is another elephant in the room. Unscientific headlamp upgrades.

This is a huge problem in BLR at least due to most taxis (and even private owners) having aftermarket LEDs installed in headlights that were never meant to have LED. What they don't understand is that these just scatter light and are very effective only in blinding oncoming traffic and not much else.

I drove a friend's '09 Civic after he upgraded to LED. While the effect was dazzling in a parking lot, it did nothing to light stuff up effectively after say 50-80 metres while driving. Signboards on highways, reflectors, and trucks at a distance were better lit with my Verna's stock halogen projectors.

Having the brightest headlights is not going to help you see better when oncoming traffic is blinding you. It might act as a deterrent at best to get the other fellow to switch to low beam (if that).

As aware and responsible automotive enthusiasts shall we in this forum at least take a pledge to be more sensitive to oncoming traffic + upgrade headlights only if absolutely necessary+ do it scientifically while at it?

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