Advanced Driving Hub

Following on from the discussion about the Mini bus crash where we mentioned overly bright lights, I thought I'd start a separate discussion.

This came up in the news today. The comments section on Facebook has exploded. Why has it taken so long for a major organisation to speak up when many of us have been saying this for many years.

BBC - Modern headlights a road safety risk - RAC

Saw this post on Pistonheads.

I'm thinking it's because they don't actually listen to us, the motorists.

I wonder how many are genuinely too bright, and how many are just badly adjusted (possibly coupled with dirty/scratched lenses that cause additional scatter). And also how many are dodgy aftermarket modifications, particularly those fitting xenon bulbs into fittings not designed for them.

The volume of cars where the lights are like a welding arc would suggest it is by design and not just dodgy DIY ... though that is an issue that is about to be addressed in the MOT but will not catch those under 3 years old.

It's not just headlights but brake lights too. The manufacturers have been allowed to produce designs where more is better with no thought of the consequences.

GTR1400MAN wrote:It's not just headlights but brake lights too. The manufacturers have been allowed to produce designs where more is better with no thought of the consequences.

I've no issue with bright brakelights per-se, but people who sit on the brakes at traffic lights with a queue of traffic behind them deserve a good slap

And don't get me started on the new scrolling indicators that seem to have started with Audi but spread to other makes too. Why on earth did anyone agree to those meeting C&U regs?

I don't mind the scrolling indicators, but it's the manufacturers (step forward VW) who stick a tiny indicator in the middle of the brake lights.

angus wrote:I don't mind the scrolling indicators, but it's the manufacturers (step forward VW) who stick a tiny indicator in the middle of the brake lights.

I shouldn't mind them - it's all that growing amount of gratuitous electronic tat that pays my salary

jont- wrote:

GTR1400MAN wrote:It's not just headlights but brake lights too. The manufacturers have been allowed to produce designs where more is better with no thought of the consequences.

I've no issue with bright brakelights per-se, but people who sit on the brakes at traffic lights with a queue of traffic behind them deserve a good slap

And don't get me started on the new scrolling indicators that seem to have started with Audi but spread to other makes too. Why on earth did anyone agree to those meeting C&U regs?

The sitting on footbrakes is prevalent in Liverpool. It's not so bad when driving around in the heavily lit areas, but when in the more poorly lit regions it is rather straining on the eyes. I think it's partly down to laziness, and partly down to new technology. With torque converter autos, you could put the handbrake on while the car was in D, and the handbrake would hold it. With the DSG boxes, if you put the handbrake on while in D, the gearbox doesn't recognise the handbrake is applied and starts engaging the clutches so you end up holding the car against a rather forcefully engaging clutch. Not sure how it works with electronic handbrakes, but that's how it seems to be with manual handbrakes and DSG.

Furthermore, a lot of cars which have handbrakes that auto engage for you at traffic lights etc seem to keep the brake lights illuminated even when you take your foot off the brake and the handbrake is engaged.

But the scrolling indicators doesn't bother me. If anything, they definitely attract the attention which is pretty much what you want when indicating, surely? With regards to indicators, my main gripe is with the brands (nudge nudge Nissan, with your stupid Quashai DRL designs) who put the front indicators inside the headlight cluster, or position them next to DRLs meaning they're more or less useless because they get washed out by the bright DRLs/headlights.

Once upon a time, before EU lighting regulations took precedence over UK Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations (RVLR), I remember that every one of the lighting designs mentioned would have been illegal. The size, shape, position, proximity to other lamps, colour etc were all very well defined. Sadly all gone now in what appears to be a "designers free-for-all" and the customer is happy because, "hey, my indicator scrolls sideways, innit".

AUDI is acronym, and appears to be an increasingly apt one.

Another gripe with modern lighting are 'cornering lights'. They are even appearing on motorcycles now

Watch some cars come round a RAB and it's like a disco. First the left 'fog' light goes on, then goes off. Then the right one comes on. The goes off. Then the left one comes on and then goes off. Then in parallel, IF they are indicating, the DRL goes go off/on so you can see the indicator.

For someone like me who is colour blind, as is a large percentage of the male population, I go by the position of a light a lot of the time. In that momentary glance at the RAB all these lights going off and on can give the impression of the wrong signal. Just as well I enter based on the trajectory of a vehicle and won't go because a light, of some sort, has momentarily come on.