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I've suffered this even as a pedestrian. A few months ago I was walking east along Walnut Street toward Broad Street in the early morning when it was still dark and had to squint, because some jackass in an emotional support pick-up truck had his high-beams blazing down the almost empty street toward me.

I've noticed that this has become a common complaint all over. It seems that high-beam etiquette is another casualty of the pandemic. I haven't driven in longer than a decade, but when I did, my understanding was that one should be very careful about interfering with or antagonizing the ability of other motorists to see with high-beams. As with some other courtesies of the road, that seems to have been subsumed by 'fuck it and you too, buddy'.

Would you rather have them driving around with their high beams on or no lights on?

The number of people in this city after sundown who are just cruising around no lights on or just their running lights is amazing. Going down 76 in the left lane and seeing across the road every 20th car with their headlights off high beams yes I see a few but much more in the neighborhoods.

Are you sure it's high beams some newer cars especially trucks lights are as bright as my high beams on my old beater

we can all hope people drive responsibly, it doesn't have to be an either/or

Really wish cops would ticket the dhs with ridiculously bright lights. Create some sort of ‘review station’ with the PPD. Drivers have 30-45 days to fix their bright ass lights and if they can demonstrate at one of these ‘review stations’, the PPD can directly dispose of the ticket on site. Policing like this could be so simple

Only 1? I feel like I'm losing my ability to see at night. Granted, I'm probably driving for a longer time than you on account of doing uber/lyft. Still, yeah, the bright headlights are a real problem, especially on a night like this when I can't see the damn lane lines because of the rain and the lights and the fact that Philly/PennDOT does a horrible job of repainting lane lines.

I know!!! This has been driving me crazy lately. I've been seeing it more and i don't get it. Unless maybe you're deep in some empty part of Fairmount Park, there is nowhere in the city where you need to use your bright lights! Recently I had a Lyft driver that kept turning her brights on... like while driving up Broad St and JFK, and then on 76. It was ridiculous 🤦‍♀️

I drive through olney on 5th street to work daily and twice last week this huge ass white truck had his high beams on for NO reason. Just out there blinding me at 720 am. He’s a union guy though 🫠

Yes.

No lights. I can see you under the el. You don’t need high beams on.

Here here.

Agreed. Little to no reason on city streets in the grid.

Some guy on the vine st expressway kept flashing his highs in my rear view this evening.

My dude its raining, theres traffic and we're all doing 25, there no need for this aggression.

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I relate it to the tinted windshield crew. They tinted their windshield to look cool but then can't see shit out of it at night with low beams, so they have to drive with the high beams on.

When it became ok to blackout your windshield is another question.

sorry i suck at driving

I see drivers doing that multiple times a night and sends me into a full blown rage.

That and people who don’t turn their lights on. I don’t get it.

I interpret flashing as a means to slow me down

I noticed an influx of tinted windshields somewhere around the time the lockdown was over and when the cops stopped pulling people over for minor traffic violations

LPT: if you own a newer vehicle, the 'AUTO' option on your headlight switch should always be selected. You'll never have to touch that switch again if you keep it on this setting. Even when you turn the car off and lock up and walk away, the lights will turn off.

My car has auto high-beam so I really don't have to touch anything.

I was surprised how well this setting works but it is really good.

> this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2023 > 53 points (88% upvoted)

I see 12% of you are the high beam dickheads.

Oh my god. I caaaaant with the high beams. I also feel like it’s multiple cars on most of my drives recently. Literally some are borderline blinding for me. God it makes my blood boil 🤬

Edit to add: was just temporarily blinded by said a-holes. how quickly I went from 1 to Dennis Reynolds-level rage was startling.

It's also because people are swapping their headlights out with something non-standard to what the car shipped with.

So then you end up with people putting high-end halogen, xenon, or LED bulbs in the headlights, and they're not realizing that the light profile for these is different and requires the headlights themselves (the casing, not the bulbs) to be realigned for optimal spread.

If the upgrade is done professionally (at a legit shop, not Tom's backyard oil change) they should be taking care of that as part of the service.

When it’s done from behind I think it means “drive faster.”

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I feel this is more and more true every day

Was just telling my neighbor how much I hate idiot drivers and the fact I have to deal with them everyday as my job involves a lot of driving around the city. It seems since 2020 the amount of idiots on the road has increased tenfold. Coincidentally or not a lot of them are from New Jersey.

Was driving home after signing the paperwork for my car. I'm driving down some farm roads in suburban Sacramento and suddenly the high beams come on. I was a little weirded out by it at first but realized how awesome it was.

Unfortunately the regular lights are really bright and going down those same roads I'd get flashed high beams as others thought I had my high beams on

That's silly.

Such a move doesn't exist if I'm driving as I should.

Unfortunately my wife knocks the high-beams on all the time while using her turn signals and doesn't notice it so its up to me notice that the stalk is further away from my steering wheel than it should be. Luckily we also have auto-headlights and high beam so its never a problem for other drivers.

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Though with as infrequently as I see turn signals being used in Philly I can't imagine that its causing the issue with most of the high beams being seen out there.

I wish I could order a pair of those blue blocker sun glasses for night driving

Headlight alignment should be part of yearly inspections, rather than just "do they work"

No the brightness war is ridiculous. I made a left turn onto a road and literally almost ran into a low 2 inch divider thing. Couldn't see it over all the bright ass lights everywhere

Yeah it's dumb and entitled, but at least they were using their lights. Saw a moron last night not using their lights or wipers. Could barely see them.

A big group of the people we think have high-beams may only have aftermarket replacement LED or other high output bulbs not rated for their vehicles light reflectors. High-beams are not always brighter but are only made to flood more area with the light compared to running lights that are made to be focused on the road.

“LED bulbs make the problem worse. While halogen filaments deliver 360-degree illumination, LED bulbs typically emit light with a pair of back-to-back 180-degree planes. When LED alignment gets skipped, oncoming drivers are blinded, as are drivers ahead of them in traffic. Poorly aimed headlamps are especially bothersome with pickup trucks and SUVs due to the vehicle height.” https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/03/how-do-we-stop-people-blinding-other-drivers-with-aftermarket-leds/amp/

Alignment of these lights is a major issue too that I think should be addressed at every inspection as that can show if a cars lights are working properly and not just blinding oncoming traffic.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a257/how-to-adjust-lights/

If find that the light is very glaring or hard on your eyes especially during early in the morning or late day you should see your eye doctor about any possible issues. My father (77) realized he had an issue when he kept thinking people had their high-beams on. Turns out he has cataracts.

Also Astigmatism is a possibility for people that feel everyone’s high-beams are on. You should see your eye doctor as it can be corrected. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/8576-astigmatism

I have a astigmatism that is annoying driving at night.

I agree. But the lack of lane reflectors (I’ve learned the British call them cat eyes) and the terrible state of the painted lines makes the brightness problem even worse. Rain plus bright lights everywhere makes the road a free for all in lots of places.

I ended up having to buy night driving glasses because otherwise I get massive headaches whilst driving at night because of the bright LEDs

Happened to me last week! Rainy, hard to see, turning left into a parking lot. I actually... turned onto the sidewalk!!! I couldn't see shit, but there was a widening of the road like you would expect for a turn into the parking lot. No markers. I was about 50 feet early, and a curb that was like 2-3 inches.

Drove right over the damn thing without realizing because it was just about the same as a bad parking lot entrance, until I hit grass

fucking A

Yeah, it's not fun trying to judge these things while practically blind, even worse when you have a paying passenger in the back seat o_O

I really wish they would put more reflectors on the road.

that and/or "get out of my fucking way because i'm a huge asshole"

Sometimes if I'm in front of someone with high beams on I like to turn off my lights and see how long my shadow is.

I drive slower.

I mean, I get that LED lights are bright as hell and often misaligned, but I can also tell when folks have two separate banks of lights and the brighter of the two are on.

Also, I don't have an astigmatism, as noted by recent visits to the eye doc.

It's become the norm, and it's insane. I assume it's all part of the larger trend towards selfishness and total lack of consideration for others.

Agreed. And I love that driving with no license plate is a minor traffic violation.

I think sometimes their lights no longer work, and since we have no police force, no one stops them.

You would need a police force for that.

or how about a dark grey car with no lights on in the pre-dawn rain?A LOT of that going on

If we hired Black and Brown officers we would have a decent force. Hundreds of Black and Brown folks get cut every year for some ‘random’ ass reasons. Oh and if you’re an Islamic follower, you definitely won’t get hired.

Uber drivers are the worst

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I have been noticing this for a couple years. It makes me so mad.

My two cars, Ford Escape and Subaru Outback have auto high beam, love it. The Ford is much better with detecting surroundings than the Subaru, like cross traffic and going up inclines. The Subaru sometimes will stay on when other drivers are too close.

Heard there are five brown officers looking for some work.

Is this a reference to what I think it is? Hahaha

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I got ones that were meant for computer screens and thats what I use when I drive at night since I work night shift. Works really well.