Blinded by the light

[JRobyn]

FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MOTOR VEHICLE LIGHTING

All lighting on motor vehicles is governed by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108. This is a federal regulation promulgated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under its general authority to regulate motor vehicle equipment granted by the federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act. The federal lighting standards apply to the original equipment on motor vehicles and to replacements for this original equipment. The entities subject to the requirements include manufacturers, importers, distributors, dealers, and motor vehicle repair businesses. Lights and lighting equipment must be marked with certain designations that show its compliance with the federal standards. (49 CFR § 571.108)

The standards do not set a single maximum intensity for all possible types and designs or headlamps because the types of lights and lighting systems designed by manufacturers make a single standard impossible. Rather, FMVSS No. 108 determines the maximum allowable light intensity for a light by its design and the type of lighting system being used. The maximum light output for a particular headlight is determined at a specific point in its aiming pattern. Other maximums apply at other points in the light's aiming pattern. Compliance is determined through a specific set of test procedures.

The federal lighting standard is very complex and is difficult to interpret even for some manufacturers and lighting specialists. The actual performance standards are based principally on the standards developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). FMVSS No. 108 and the SAE standards apply to all vehicles registered in the United States, regardless of the headlamp filament or light source. Stated simply, the maximum light output of headlamp systems, whether two-or four-light systems, is limited as follows:

1. Type 2 or 2A Lights—Upper beam limited to 20,000 to 75,000 candela per lamp. Lower beam limited to 15,000 to 20,000 candela per lamp.

2. Type 1 or 1A Lights—Upper beam limited to 18,000 to 60,000 candela per lamp.

A candela is the basic unit of measure of luminous intensity in the International System of Units. Although the candela has a specific technical definition expressed in terms of a specific frequency and power, in layman's terms it approximates the light output of a common candle. A 100-watt light bulb emits about 120 candela.

 

[2458n]

Your looking for deer with your headlights. Imagine the hit you are going to get from 4000lbs of car slamming into you going 55 mph + your 55mph speed added on. Makes running into a deer or tree look easy. I will stay home.

 

[two_bit_score]

Several years ago I believe Texas dropped the headlight aim from the MVI required check list. Don’t know if other states still check headlight aim in the MVI process.

I think a lot of vehicles have headlights aimed incorrectly.


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[tungularafishcamp]

It looks like a lot of us are in the same boat cop and snowplow strobes are the worst.

And then you get these folks that put hid/LEDs in their low beams and fog lights(

I do have xtra lights good hids plus great bulbs in my highs, need them to keep from hitting moose/buffalo on the Alcan in the winter.
I am very careful to shut them as soon as someone comes from the other way, not very often on the Alcan

But...my pet peeve, those cars with super bright dims/fogs I have a tendency to flash them a few times with the hopes they will get them message and tone down their dims!

 

[kc5dlo]

When I was a little kid, my dad was a ramp agent at a small airport. One of his co workers was always complaining about having someone not dim their bright lights while on his way back home late at night. One of the guys at the airport fixed him up with aircraft landing lights and extra batteries. he put the lights on the roof of the VW and sure enough, on his way home someone left their high beams on. He flipped the switch and lit up the other car. It was a police car and he did dim his lights as he turned on his lights on top of the car. The guy returned the batteries and landing lights the next day. My dad always got a kick out of retelling that story.

 

[square1]

A couple of points. If you live on a hilly curvey road when vehicles are creating a hill or going around a corner they will be pointing in your eyes. Also as you get older your eyes become more sensitive to the bright lights And take longer to adjust. And yes, I agree the lights on some vehicles are terrible.

I had considered aging eyes a part of the problem, still the issue is far worse with HID/LED than standard bulbs. Maybe the color of the light in addition to the intensity is a contributor.

 

[TractorGuy]

We recently bought a 2014 Honda Crosstour and my wife commented that she likes how bright the headlights are and how far they project into the ditches and fields. There are so many deer between us and town it's ridiculous and it's much easier to see them in the Honda. That's not true about our other three vehicles. The old F150's headlights are terrible but it rarely gets driven in the dark. I replaced the bulbs in the 08 Accent mainly to see the deer better on my way home from work in the dark.

While driving into town the other night with the dim lights on in the Honda I got brights flashed at me two times by the same car coming towards me. I was at the top of a small rise in the road and I'm sure they hit him right at eye level. The dims are definitely aimed below the oncoming cars windshields on a flat road but if there are any dips or rises it's a different story.

I wouldn't be against toning down the dims a bit but give me the brightest brights available to avoid animals when there is no oncoming traffic.

Kevin

Projector beam headlights are very height sensitive. We had a Mazda 3 with the early version Xenon projector headlights. When my wife was following me down our bumpy road every time she hit a high spot the low beam would blind me through my mirror. Loved teh light from a driving prospective. Not so much from seeing them from another vehicle.

My big peeve BEFORE the newer, better, brighter, headlights were trucks pulling up on my bumper at a stop or tailgating. Who thought it was a good idea to allow vehicles to mount lights at different heights? I know there are those that detest ALL forms of regulation but time has proven we need certain common sense rules for the comfort and safety of all mankind. Regulating headlight height would be one of those. Some years back when the jacked up truck phase started FL passed a law regulating bumper height. They never enforced it.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

When I am running around a town with lotsa stop lights after dark, I just keep my parking lights on. Don't need the headlights to see and with my parking lights on folks can see me and when I pull up behind someone with a little car at a light I don't blind them. It's probably not legal but I have been doing it for years and not been pulled over for it.

In fact as I pulled into Eugene last winter I was behind a state trooper in an unmarked(sort of) challenger, as we stopped at the first light and as I pulled closer I could see my lights shining in his rear window, I switched to parking lights and he waved.

 

[Tomtint]

If you watch the news.. there are multiple accidents involving drivers hitting police cars on the nations highways every day.. more often than not it is due to excessive and blinding lights on the cruiser. The term is called "moth syndrome". .. it's a real problem, particularly with police cars and led / strobe set ups blaring away at night.

 

[square1]

Here are observations from my very uncontrolled highly opinionated study performed yesterday morning.

First the indisputable conclusion: It is "Fight fire with fire", but not in the "Ima gonna bea jerk and highbeam ya" way.

The 2 vehicles I drive frequently, a 23 year old pick up that sits up high and has mildly fogged over headlight lenses, and a 99 garage kept 2 door sedan with headlight lenses that are factory clear which sits nearly on the ground have different issues leading to being blinded by the light. Both have "old style" headlamp bulbs.

I drove the better half's 2016 Crosstrek which sits higher than my car but not as high as my truck and of course has "turn night into day" headlamps with clear lenses to the airport and back between 4 and 5:30 AM yesterday morning. It was very cloudy so the near full moon wasn't adding much, if any illumination. Not a problem one with oncoming headlights, even the one with old style highbeams that didn't get flicked off until it was nearly past me weren't an issue.

It makes sense to me now. If you're lighting up the sky (which my old F-250 can't do) and sitting a little higher out of downward glare of direct laser beams (which my sedan can't do) your retinas aren't going to fluctuate wildly with the added illumination of oncoming headlamps. You're now going from relative light to additional equal light being introduced from another source. Think of sitting in a well it room and someone flips on another light in the room, you would hardly notice the new light unless it were directly in your line of sight, right? And even then, the new light source introduced is not significant enough to blind you.

It looks like for a couple C-notes I can upgrade the truck lights significantly (in reality the experience is a good measure worse in the truck than the car). The car bulbs are factory originals so $40 ~ 50 spent on newer technology bulbs there should help.

Your looking for deer with your headlights. Imagine the hit you are going to get from 4000lbs of car slamming into you going 55 mph + your 55mph speed added on. Makes running into a deer or tree look easy. I will stay home.

I do practically no aimless (unneeded) driving now during hours when lights are needed because of being blinded. There are times it can't be avoided though. And I really, really enjoy just cruising and listening to music (die-hard 70s rocker ). Being in no hurry on the return trip from the airport yesterday, I hit the back roads and just meandered. In 20-some miles there wasn't one oncoming vehicle. I lost track of the number of deer right on the shoulder of the road. Not sure if they're attracted to vegetation that is not snow covered and therefore easier to get to, or the salt used to melt ice. They're like mice though so if you aren't using your headlights to scan for deer here you will no doubt find them another way