Blinding stock LED lights of newer vehicles, how do you deal with them?

I Hit The Target?

It didn’t - we were using acronyms on our desktop computers back in the BBS days before the internet was even widely available, before most people had a cell phone, and long before someone decided we should be able to write notes to each other with our telephones. :wink:

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I just can’t stand TLAs

:wink:

Or you can go back to the 30s, CCC, WPA, SSA, etc!
But with predictive text on your system I consider only using extremely common BTW and FYI.
DW is obscure makes me think of DFW.

The only pulse I keep my finger on is mine, if it is still beating in the morning, I get up.

I did not know a single acronym in the above posts.

If someone uses acronyms I don’t know, it is their problem not mine, they are the ones seeking opinions, advice or help.

The only cell phone I ever had had no keyboard or even screen and it weighed about 3 pounds. I gave it away the day I retired from trucking in 1995 and have not felt the need to be instantly available since. I don’t mind people calling me when I am out for dinner or taking a walk by the river, I just don’t want to know about it until I get home.

My solution to the headlight glare is twofold. I don’t drive much at night anymore and when I do ,I wear some polarized yellow tinted glasses designed for night driving.

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I was taught lights off then back on is the signal to someone who has forgot to turn their lights on.

Me, too. I use it for that, too. It usually works to cause another motorist to check his/her lights, make them aware of them when not paying enough attention. Flashing brights at a car with lights blinding one driver just makes for 2 blinded drivers, converging head-on, not the best arrangement. If my procedure doesn’t work I just bite the bullet until I pass.
CSA
:palm_tree::sunglasses::palm_tree:

The operative word being flash. I have yet to be blinded by someone flashing their lights mistakenly thinking I had left my brights on. Whereas leaving bright lights on continuously as we converge is far more affecting. A short flash usually does the trick and then neither driver is blinded. I’m not going to risk driving off the road or hitting someone or something on the side of the road because some numbskull isn’t aware enough to know their brights are on. It is far more distracting to the driver to turn lights on/off than to briefly flash them. That’s why they built that feature into the stalk that control low/high beams.

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From 1953 until well into the 60’s, GM offered, as an option on their premium car lines ( Cadillac, Buick, and Olds) a device known as the Autronic Eye, which dimmed the headlights when it detected oncoming vehicles and then put the high beams back on when they passed. With today’s electronics, it would be simple and inexpensive to add it to all vehicles. Why not require it as a mandatory safety feature on all new cars?

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I remember that on my parents’ Oldsmobiles, 1959 or 1961?. I think its present-day version is on some new vehicles nowadays. I’d hold off on “mandatory” though.

That all sounds good, but let me enlighten you



I own half a dozen cars and not all of them allow for an instant flash. I can’t even sit here and tell you which ones do and which ones don’t.

Some vehicles require the headlight dimmer (high/low switch) to be changed with one stroke and then changed back with another stroke.

It’s far from an instant short flash and many drivers would interpret that action and duration of high beams to be an act of aggression without the desirable outcome.

Years of experience with these vehicles informs me. :wink:

CSA
:palm_tree::sunglasses::palm_tree:

Anyone else remember the dimmer switch on the left side of the floorboard, and the rapid double click/thunk sound it made when you flashed your brights?

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Communication with other drivers is pretty much limited to lights, hand signals, and horn. In my state these are limited to warnings as opposed to punishment although I have yet to hear of anyone being cited for punishment. It reminds me of a 1964 or 5 Tonight Show. During Johnny Carson’s monologue he stated: Wow! It was cold yesterday! Ed McMahon dutifully asked: How cold was it? Johnny replied: “It was so cold a cab driver made a suggestion to a pedestrian and his finger froze”! I exited a curve on a rural road to find it occupied by yaks. Yes! Yaks! I safely stopped. There were 2 that were finishing crossing. 1 That was undecided and the large bull standing crosswise on the center line. I decided the best way around the bull was in front as being behind could frighten it. That worked. I knew there was a 10 to 15 acre ranch where for some reason they raised yaks so I was not overly surprised. I shortly encountered 2 oncoming cars. It was a bright sunny day so my lights were off and windows down. I flashed the lights with the stalk (I like that feature) and extended my arm out the window palm down and lowering it twice. They understood with brake lights on. I safely pulled over and called 911 expecting to be scolded for a crank call. The dispatcher said mine was the third call in 3 minutes concerning the yaks and help was on the way!

I do not know what kind of new ideas are floating around, but it seems in Northern VA some drivers now drive all the time with high beams on, day and night, which I find unsafe and extremely disturbing.
What other remedy other than flashing or using your own high beams as a punishment community finds acceptable?

Reminds me of a vacation I took in Maine. Driving at night on a twisting road through the forest. Came around a corner face to face with a huge moose. I slammed on the brakes and stopped about 20 feet from him. He just sat there glaring at me. Pretty obvious he was thinking “What the @#$ are you doing on MY road?”

We stared at each other for awhile, then I slowly went around him on the shoulder, thinking the whole time I’d spook him and he’d ram my car, but I got away with it.

+1
Back in the late '60s, my mother worked with an older woman who drove a spectacular, immaculate '55 Chrysler New Yorker. One night, she got a ride home from that woman, and after being “flashed” by an incredible number of oncoming cars, my mother glanced at that woman’s instrument panel, and immediately noticed that the Chrysler’s high beams were on. (Back in those days, it was a red warning light, rather than the blue light that we are used to.)

Mom said, “Anne, your high beams are on. You need to hit the button on the floor to turn your lights back to low beam”. Bear in mind that my mother was not a driver, but was a very knowledgeable and very observant person.

Anne’s response was, “Oh dear, I had been wondering for a few years about what that red light might have indicated”. Clueless Anne had been driving for at least 40 years at that point.
:roll_eyes:

Sure. The last new car I had with one was my 68 Dodge GTS.

I really liked the floor button for low to high back to low headlights. Soooo simple and easy.

Also, my '87 Olds had a simple toggle switch on the dash just left of the steering wheel cloumn for turning lights on and off with or without parking lights. Low to high beam was controlled by the stalk on the wheel column that also controlled the wipers.

Military correspondence rules: If using an acronym in a document it is first spelled out followed by the acronym in parenthesis. The acronym may then be used for the remainder of the document. Text speak people seem to think everyone knows every acronym. Pay for minutes cell phones. What a bad joke. I would love a cell phone where I could pay for whatever minutes I chose for emergencies until they were used up. If you use zero minutes you still have to add more minutes every 60 days or whatever. My solution to excessive headlight glare is similar to what you do. I also avoid driving at night when possible I found made for TV ‘Blue Blocker’ goggles at a department store that fit very well over my prescription glasses. I don’t have to use them in the city or residential areas. Also the 4 lane highway which has a continuous center turn lane which is rarely used so headlights are not directly in my eyes. The 2 lane 7 mile somewhat curvy state highway to my house is a bright headlights problem. Usually I have to wait to turn on it so I can install my goggles. On rare occasions there is no oncoming traffic but a safe place to pull over where I can install them.

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That is also the standard procedure when drafting legal documents.
:thinking:

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