Bright light, bright light!

[IanF]

https://news.sky.com/story/victory-for- ... e-13106522

[Gavster]

On the same subject, can we have a chat about laser-intensity backlights on bikes in busy urban areas? Great for being seen, whilst being utterly retina-melting when cycling behind them.

[V8Granite]

On the same subject, can we have a chat about laser-intensity backlights on bikes in busy urban areas? Great for being seen, whilst being utterly retina-melting when cycling behind them.

Can we add any cunt who runs with a chest or head torch mounted light.

A simple low lumen head torch will do, as you jog and wave the light sabre all around blinding random people everywhere. At least cyclist front lights are generally aimed more at the floor.

Dave!

[Mito Man]

Add motorbikes running high beams all the time to that list.

[scotta]

WTF are they actually going to do other than spend a chunk of money they dont have on a drawn out survey process to conclude - yeah some lights are bright. My car has LED's - they are bright. Im going to do precisely nothing about that.

[mik]

WTF are they actually going to do other than spend a chunk of money they dont have

I suspect they will use it to create a priority list for deployment of the Bottom Inspectors. And now you've admitted on a public forum that you have LED lights..... you'll be at the front of the queue.

[Beany]

Add motorbikes running high beams all the time to that list.

As soon as people stop saying "I didn't see them officer" when they've pulled out on a motorbike, I'm sure that'll be on the list of things to look at.

But yeah, it feels like ten years ago you only really got glare from numpties with HIDs in reflector units, now it seems like every second car on even the slightest approaching decline is shining a fucking laser pointer in your eyes. Because in some cases, they literally are shining diffused lasers into your eyes.

[jamcg]

What will the research achieve though? Once headlights go past a certain brightness they have to have self levelling technology, which keeps the beam just below dazzle height so every bump they raise up enough to bypass your retina and send the beam directly down your optic nerve to your brain

The money spent on this would be much better spent improving road quality, which would have a genuine effect on reducing instances of dazzling

[Mito Man]

I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a bullshit UK only rule where car headlights have to be limited to 5 watts
Remember, the government make everything worse.

[IanF]

I wonder if they can get the lights to recognise number plates and not aim above them?

I mean, this is purely so the government can say “look at what we are doing to make your lives better!” and it’s highly likely they won’t get anywhere, but I wonder if there is an actual technical solution?

[nuttinnew]

All vehicles should have auto leveling, and fog light operation should be changed so that they all come on together to help dissuade fogtards.

[Mito Man]

I wonder if they can get the lights to recognise number plates and not aim above them?

I mean, this is purely so the government can say “look at what we are doing to make your lives better!” and it’s highly likely they won’t get anywhere, but I wonder if there is an actual technical solution?

Matrix headlights already exist, they can probably mandate them on every car if they really want to.

[RobYob]

My first autumnal cycle to work this morning and I berated three other riders for running stupid bright front lights pointed up at eye level.

Don't get me started on flashing fucking tail lights.

[Beany]

I wonder if they can get the lights to recognise number plates and not aim above them?

I mean, this is purely so the government can say “look at what we are doing to make your lives better!” and it’s highly likely they won’t get anywhere, but I wonder if there is an actual technical solution?

Matrix headlights already exist, they can probably mandate them on every car if they really want to.

Except it'd only be in the UK, they're a value add option, they'd threaten to sue over stifling competition, Govt backs down, millions wasted.

So yeah, totally on brand for a UK government.

[V8Granite]

I could never afford matrix headlights so no thanks there

Dave!

[mik]

I wonder if there is an actual technical solution?

You could argue that the tech has existed for decades in the form of polarising filters. Add to windscreens at one angle, and headlights at another angle so that the driver can see what ahead of them, but light/glare from the lights of cars coming towards them is almost entirely eliminated.

As per others above - the more current tech solution exists in Matrix LED headlights - start with immense bright light and create "black holes" around other traffic. They also do other clever shizzle like recognising road signs, and - as these are designed to reflect light, and shining a very bright source at them will create a very bright reflection - dim the LED elements pointing at them.

The Matix LEDs in Mrs Mik's E-Tron work superbly. But not faultlessly. I would guess 0.5% of the time they don't get it perfectly right (if you imagine a really long hump-back where the lights of the car you are following drop out of view ahead, but the glass area of the car is still visible - it'll happily light them up and dazzle the driver).

They also rely on the lights being properly aligned, and clean.

Mandate matrix LED on all new cars could be possible.

E-Tron also has auto-dimming rear interior mirror, and cameras for the external rear view "mirrors". The former acts quickly, and the latter don't just show you a white screen if something bright is behind - they (rapidly) adjust the exposure so you see an image as opposed to white-out. You therefore get zero glare from anything following you - only need to worry about your front view.

[Barry]

Add motorbikes running high beams all the time to that list.

Most bikes aren't running full beam (some bellends do mind) but just poorly adjusted suspension for their fat ass, so the lights are aiming too high. Same result but it needs clarifying.

[integrale_evo]

I’m not sure matrix leds on all cars is the solution, I find the multiple light points of complex led headlights far more distracting and create more glare and secondary reflections then the single bright point of a halogen or hid projector.

Legislation just doesn’t seem to have kept up with technology. There’s not really a lot they can do about cars already out either. All they have done so far is make led / hid retrofits an mot fail, with no regard to the actual light output or aim. It’s done little to stop the knobheads sticking the brightest Amazon leds into standard headlights which scatter light everywhere, although I don’t see them anywhere near as often as modern cars with seeming absurdly bright and poorly aimed lights. The big Peugeot suv things always seem one of the worst out there.

Some drls can be piercingly bright too in dim conditions, and of course don’t have any sort of aim at all. Some of them with visible individual leds can seem aimed straight at your eyeball.

And while I’m on an old man yelling at clouds rant, the rules around rear lights need some work too. So many cars have big lights with loads of fancy illuminated areas, but the actual brake lights and indicators might only be two or three leds buried in the cluster.

The new LR defender, the brake lights aren’t actually any brighter than the other rear lights, they just illuminate an extra bit inside the normal light. I’m sure it passes any brake light brightness measuring test they have to pass, but it’s not immediately obvious at a glance that the brake lights are on! I know it’s not coming here, but the cybertruck has very odd brake lights. The normal rear light is a full width red strip. When you brake it turns off the strip and illuminates a foot or so along the middle a bit brighter and makes the outside corner lights a bit deeper and brighter. Why on earth not just leave the normal rear lights as is but make the middle section and the lower corner sections brighter to make it more obvious that it was braking because bits of the lighter were brighter than the rest?

[integrale_evo]

Ie, I followed a qashqai earlier. These are the rear lights,



How much of it was the brake lights?









This bit marked in green got brighter. Why so stingy with brake lights??

[Mito Man]

This reminds me of the Cybertruck where the brake lights are dimmer and illuminate a smaller area than the normal lights so it’s the complete opposite of how it should be