A new community where people can just vent about or actually do coordinate action against the pest of ultra bright LEDs.
A place to post new communities all over Lemmy for discovery and promotion.
The rules for behavior are a straight carry over of Mastodon.World’s rules. You can click the link but we’ve reposted them here in brief, as a guideline. We will continue to use the Mastodon.World rules as the master list. Over all, be nice to each other and remember this isn’t a community built around debate. For the rules about formatting your posts, scroll down to number 2.
1. Follow the rules of Mastodon.world, which can be found here.
A. Provide an inclusive and supportive environment. This means if it isn’t rulebreaking and we can’t be supportive to them then we probably shouldn’t engage.
B. No illegal content.
C. Use content warnings where appropriate. This means mark your submissions NSFW if need be.
D. No uncivil behavior. This includes, but is not limited to: Name Calling; Bullying; Trolling; Disruptive Commenting; or Personal Criticisms.
E. No Harrassment. As an example in relation to Transgender people this includes, deadnaming, misgendering, and promotion of conversion therapy. Similarly Misogyny, Misandry, and Racism are also banned here.
2. Include a community or instance title and description in your post title. - A following example of this would be New Communities - A place to post new communities or instances all over Lemmy for discovery and promotion.
3. Follow the formatting. - The formatting as included below is important for people getting universal links across Lemmy as easily as possible.
Please include this following format in your post:
[link text](/c/[email protected])
This provides a link that should work across instances, but in some cases it won’t
You should also include either:
Q: Why do I get a 404?
A: At least one user in an instance needs to search for a community before it gets fetched. Searching for the community will bring it into the instance and it will fetch a few of the most recent posts without comments. If a user is subscribed to a community, then all of the future posts and interactions are now in-sync.
Q: When I try to create a post, the circle just spins forever. Why is that?
A: This is a current known issue with large communities. Sometimes it does get posted, but just continues spinning, but sometimes it doesn’t get posted and continues spinning. If it doesn’t actually get posted, the best thing to do is try later. However, only some people seem to be having this problem at the moment.
Image Attribution:
Fahmi, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons>>
They don’t have to look like point sources that feel like they are burning your retina.
What about overly bright LED signs? Like billboards or business signs? Those things also suck.
Or LED’s in modern electronics. I have a wine fridge that insists on telling me its temperature in the brightest possible blue segmented display. And apparently, I must be informed of the temperature at all times because I cant turn it off. Blue LED on the subwoofer brighter than the sun. I had to put a yoshi plushy infront of it to block the light. Wireless phone charger next to my bed… you bet that puppy needs a bright ass light to light up my sleeping area… FUCK! Electrical tape is my best friend today, I use it to cover up any of these stupid LEDs now.
I know this website seems sketchy/scammy AF, but I found that these actually do a good job dimming the LEDs to reasonable levels, but keeping them visible.
https://www.lightdims.com/store.htm
I imagine (mostly because of all the “patent pending” bs) that this is a film you just just buy from somewhere else way cheaper, I just don’t know what it is.
This is why I have a lot of black electrical tape covering a lot of petty lights throughout my house.
Also noises. A lot of household machines like a microwave are unnecessarily obnoxious with noises, with little to no options or choices for it.
Gaffer’s tape is better, it doesn’t dissolve into a sticky mess.
The real stuff (the kind that doesn’t leave residue) can get expensive as hell though.
My samsung microwave has the need to beep 10 fucking times. Shut the fuck up already. God damn it. Instead of giving us the options to turn off these noises and lights, we are given other functions we never use.
And we drive all LED elements at 100% of their rated value, no matter what. there used to be a Youtuber that rewired electronic things and dimmed all the lights as he was going through them, it’s been ages since I’ve see him tho.
The brightness is one thing but also the alignment. These people install new headlights or the manufacturers just do not adjust the lights alignment correctly at all.
I installed entire new headlight assemblies in my car upgrading from weak stock crap bulbs to LEDs with running lights, but I FUCKING ADJUSTED THEM afterwards.
If I am ~50 feet from a wall there is a hard line where the top of my lights do not shine. That line is purposely placed so it won’t shine until cars in front of me unless I am every far away from them or there is an elevation difference. Sitting behind a car at the lights my lights will cut off generally right below the top of the trunk of most sedan models.
I have never seen a headlight that could not be adjusted up and down with a little screw. Maybe the newest cars need an app or something stupid but I would be willing to bet they can also be adjusted.
You haven’t bought eBay replacement headlights before then! I have never been able to get them adjusted properly to the point where they match even close to the factory pattern. I usually end up pointing them away to low just to be kind to anyone in front of them. The only saving grace is a love in the city and want didn’t need to rely on them for proper lighting.
You would be correct. I buy replacement lights from reputable brands with quality parts and adjustability lol
My dad bought some replacement lights for his car recently and he was so angry about the way they were pointed he apparently sent them a super angry letter. I then showed him I could adjust the beams down with my hands and he went back inside to send them another email apologizing hahahahah
Where do you get those? Or is it just for a few models?
My car has nice LED projectors but my old car that my kids are driving has older xenon bulbs that were bright when new but insufficient in the face of modern glare. I’m tempted to get the glaring ones because then at least my kids could see but if I had a way to upgrade the right way I would
If you want OEM look I would recommend: https://www.genera.com/Headlight.html
If you want different styling I would go with: https://www.carid.com/headlights.html
It’s also the height of install. If you drive a subcompact a lot of vehicles will just have lights so high up to you that what’s a reasonable angle for them is directly in your mirror
This is another issue. The ride of the front of certain vehicles. Namely large trucks. I’m 5’11" and there are many trucks sold now that have headlights at my shoulder level. It’s ridiculous.
They need to lower the front hoods of all these vehicles. It’s dangerous for pedestrians and just general road safety but it also would help alleviate some of the headlight woes others experience.
That’s so oddly specific but I love it
[email protected]
Also, you might want to use https://lemmy-federate.com/ to make sure it federated everywhere
When there’s someone behind me with their brights on, i roll down the window and hold my palm over my left mirror so they can see me blocking the light (it has never worked)
Install a rear mounted light bar to blind them back.
I disagree with this.
A mirror of the other hand…
One time on a dark road a pickup truck had super bright lights. I flashed my brights at them to communicate that maybe they had left their brights on. They then proceeded to flash their actual brighter brights at me. Unbelievable lol
Just flash twice!! https://lyricsintosong.ai/music/02a3d10d-b96b-42e4-b839-8d73adeffb97
Since you can’t use your mirror anyway, just adjust it so that it reflects back at them.
This is the way
I always try but I don’t think the side ones move that far, and the center mirror has that auto darken thing and rear window is tinted so it’s not that bright
I think in china they have these scary images on backwindows that shine when lights reflect in there for highbeam users
Ooh, tell me more.
https://www.boredpanda.com/high-beam-reflective-scary-faces-decals-china/
Thanks!
There’s a load of cars with headlights that are overly bright, but there is an even bigger epidemic of idiots driving around with high beams on as part of regular course.
In the city there is no need for those, ever. Let alone always being on.
My problem is that I drive a low car (Ford fiesta) and most other cars are taller, this makes them way more blinding.
Our problem is not that we drive small cars (I drive a Focus). It’s that newer vehicles are enormous, usually for no reason.
Nearly every time I get on the highway, I’m tailgated by someone in some newer massive SUV where the headlights are at the same height as my rear view mirror. I don’t understand why those vehicles are allowed to operate on the same roads as me. They aren’t safe. By default, stock, out of the factory, they blind the other drivers in reasonable cars. I can’t imagine what getting into a wreck with one would do to my car (and me in it).
Oh, there is a reason, and it’s the fucking NHTSA. Those absolute fuckrockets mandate proportionally stricter emissions standards on smaller cars than larger cars. They base it on the area of the rectangle formed by where the tires touch the pavement.
If your car can’t quite pass emission standards, just make it a little wider, a little longer, and you get a looser standard.
Repeat the process for a few model years, and now 2025 subcompacts are larger than 1995 sedans.
Fuck the NHTSA with a rusty bayonet.
Same, and they might even have properly adjusted headlights, but as soon as they tilt up (e.g. due to a speed bump), the flashing lights make it look like they are sending me a light signal. Usually takes a few seconds until I realise they just hit a speed bump.
High beams and fog lights on a beautiful sunlit day.
it’s hard to tell the two apart these days because many cars have regular headlights that are as bright as normal high beams. there have been a few times i’ve been mad at someone behind me with their high beams on, and then they flash their actual high beams because they’re mad at me for not also speeding while blind
god, driving at night used to be so fun, now it’s ruined
I don’t disagree. There are plenty of led upgrade kits that are way too bright regularly and also probably misaligned causing them to be double bad. Brighter than normal and aimed directly into your eyes.
I’m with you though, driving at night used to be a lot different and more enjoyable than it is today with all these extremely bright lights pointed at your eyes.
You seem to have no grasp of how car headlights work, because almost every single car that has ever been produced has high beams that are as bright as their low beams
100% this; I’ll see the same make a model go by, with LED lights, and it will be fine one time the next time I’ll be like 🔥 MY EYES 🔥.
I’ve noticed quite the influx of highbeams in recent years. I simply can’t understand why though. Stupids wanting to see better, by making other’s vision worse? Western Canada here, and I thought it was just me taking notice. Fuckn why??
I mean I guess I’m stupid but I straight up can’t see if there’s oncoming traffic and my brights aren’t on. Doesn’t go for every oncoming car (if its lights are reasonable then I have no issues) but the vast majority of cars have newer, hilariously bright headlights that shine in a way where my normal lights simply don’t seem to cut it.
Meanwhile I’m out here driving a 20 year old car with correspondingly dim headlights and need to have the highbeams on just to be able to see anything when there’s oncoming traffic. My normal headlights are fine when there’s nothing coming the other way, but that’s not really how that’s supposed to work lol. Kinda defeats the purpose of ever turning the brights off! I swear any newer car’s normal lights are brighter than my brights
I don’t see how running high beams held you see when there is oncoming cars with brighter lights. Maybe it has more to do with the fact that older cars are smaller and lower?
I am not disputing new cars have higher brightness on regular lights, that absolutely is true. Though running high beams throws light both forward and up toward the oncoming drivers eyes.
Unfortunately I don’t know the physics, maybe something to do with how lights scatters through the windshield? Idk, all I can tell you is my repeated experience: turning the brights on definitely helps with seeing through oncoming traffic. But you are right, my older car is both smaller and lower, so I’m sure even the modern cars with lights aimed downward are more likely to shine directly at me
Let me get this straight: you are turning on your brights when there is oncoming traffic?
Dude YES. 20 years ago driving in the country you see some high beams in the distance and people would go back to low beams as they get around a corner or crest a hill when they see other cars.
My commute is through a lot of schools and parks and pedestrian crossings and it’s somewhat poorly lit, so everyone has high beams on regardless of traffic but as a result I can’t see shit. If there’s oncoming cars stopped and a pedestrian tries to squeak through I literally wouldn’t be able to tell.
It’s gotten so bad, either people have their brights on all the time or they’re not adjusted properly. In either case headlights DONT HAVE TO BE SO BRIGHT.
My car’s headlights blind me sometimes when they reflect off road signs. I tried to find warmer replacements, but it seems like that’s just not a thing
Yeah, I guess that’s one part of the problem. It’s not like most people care that much. But if that’s the only replacement lights you can get… :/
So I drive an Old car (Audi 80 build 1994) and it’s so annoying when people behind me drive with an automatic High beam. My front and rear lights aren’t as bright as newer cars so their car detects me way to late and blinds me every time there is no oncoming traffic. Sometimes I then start turning my bright foglight (on the back) on to make thier car think I’m closer.
Automatic high beams are a new hell. I thought people were just retarded until I hired a newer car recently. Then I realised what everyone else was doing… trusting faulty technology, and possibly being lazy in the process.
The AHB on my Tucson works great, until it doesn’t. Usually when theres a few widely spaced cars on a 2 lane country road… Biggest issue is some genius decided to program the module to not let you turn the high beams off in auto mode unless the high beams are on. So when the system is doing dumb shit you have to let it flash people or do a hard reset by turning the lights completely off and back on.
That’s the kind of freedom I love not to have in Europe (it’s regulated).
For the ones wanting proof (fair):
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/48(2)/oj/eng
One such regulation. It’s not perfect.
For me mainly bicycle lights are sometimes brighter than cars but mostly far too high and some on the back blinking too (illegal here, but still seeing it often).
Regulations not being enforced is another issue…
I’m from Europe and headlights suck here too! It’s spectrum of LEDs and tall cars and probably bad regulations too.
What?
Seems heavily country v dependent then.
But there def is regulation (even candles at different distances) & technically a car isn’t road worthy if its blinding oncoming traffic.
I haven’t seen it much enforced by the cops, just by the mandatory scheduled road-worthiness checkups.
Also, how tf is automatic headlight leveling not standard equipment? It has been on the market for like 20 years now (& I think we need it bcs of people, not bcs that lil 1-5 scroll switch of the olden days wasn’t sufficient … do people not see their own lights shining in peoples faces?).
However I do wish cops would regularly stop & fine people (foreigners :)) with misaligned headlights (the needed equipment is ez & smol, tho level ground is needed) … or those fuckers cruising with fog lights “bcs it looks sporty” or whatever.
Some cars now even have break lights that shine brighter than the light of a thousand suns. I don’t get it, there ought to be some regulation for this. This is Germany speaking.
Yes, some specific cars and lights are surprisingly bad, but in general it’s not comparable to the US. Maybe also depends on the specific country, too, of course.
Regulated? In the Netherlands I can’t tell.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/48(2)/oj/eng
Not saying it’s perfect.
It technically is in the US as well, but this is a corrupt, late stage Capitalist shithole, so, no one with power cares.
As a Tesla driver (yeah yeah) I’ve noticed in my heavily-Tesla area that 80% of the time when I think someone might have their highbeams on but it’s borderline that it’s a Tesla. It makes me uncomfortable about how bright my own lights are to others. My only consolation is that my car is 6+ years old, so there’s a (slim) chance that the new cars that are being rolled off the line are more poorly aligned than my own. Anyway I don’t know what I could do about it regardless.
Trade it for something a little lies swastikar-y.
Honestly I kinda wish I could, but financially it’s not in the cards.
removed by mod
Yeah, I’m so morally bankrupt that I am worried about how my headlights might blind other people. At least I’m not so morally bankrupt that I make other people feel bad on the internet.
Look through the manual to see if there’s a way to adjust the angle of your lights, or take it into a service center to see if they can adjust it. I’ve never owned a Tesla so I can’t speak on that with any certainty, but all the other cars I’ve driven have had relatively easy ways to adjust the headlight angle.
It’s something I have noticed too. 9/10 times an oncoming car is blinding me, it seems to be a Tesla. And not because their high beams are on. It might be confirmation bias, but it just seems like Tesla headlights have dogshit beam control optics on top of having fairly bright light sources.
Nope, not just you. I live in the greater Seattle area (nearly the tesla capital of the world) and 8/10 times I’m blinded is a tesla in oncoming traffic.
Rivians are also terrible, and most crossovers in the last 2-3 years have been increasingly bad.
Driving a lowered sports car with no windshield tint has made driving at night a horrible process. I’m debating getting a low % window tint just to take the edge off of the headlights.
Oh, it’s bullshit. It’s a bunch of cockfucking bullshit.
You’re sitting, waiting for the bus, trying to look down the street to see if you notice the bus coming. What do you see instead? White. Just an all encompassing blinding white light which just consumes all reality and everything you’re experiencing right now.
NOW how am I supposed to know if I should be getting my bus pass out? Also, 50% chance my retinas were just singed to a crisp.
I agree, fuck those headlights, but I don’t understand the point of a community for it.
Somewhere for me to go and make myself annoyed?
It is like road rage videos. I hate road rage. I hope they lose their license. But I can’t watch them because they pointlessly get me worked up.
Welcome to the Internet
Have a look around
Anything that brain of yours can think of can be found
I’mma get some downvotes for this. But is this community also for the headlights of bicycles who like to shine into the face of other road users instead of illuminating the road?
Totally, I’m commuting by bike almost every work day of the year and it’s infuriating how many cyclists have their headlights misaligned.
Oh god yes, especially now that all of them use led lights. Mine still uses an old-fashioned light, which is great when you’re alone on the road because your night vision can deal with the rest. But I turn completely blind when an oncoming bike shines one of those led-lights directly in my face.
I’ve already ran off the path twice so far because I couldn’t see where I was cycling (it was at a bicycle path through the park without street lights)
Yesterday, some idiot on a bike came right at me with a strobing light pointing at my eyes. Fuck you…
What I currently do is to take out my own headlight from its holder and deliberately point into their eyes. At least the message should be clear.
❤️ StVZO-compliant illumination ❤️
No downvotes from me. I cycle every day, it’s my only mode of transportation, and the number of poorly adjusted lights on other people’s bikes is staggering.
Ugh yeah that’s been an increasing problem too. I had some guy last year just as dusk was starting to set with a bike headlight blinding me on the bike trail.
I still get mad about this aftermarket center high beam. way more blinding in person than the photo, also makes it impossible to see the plates
That is definitely “please ticket / pull me over officer”
Aircraft approach lights level.
It’s a probably a cop driving it.
I wouldn’t be surprised. After seeing that video interviewing a guy that goes around his town and fixes plate obfuscations, many being on cop cars, I noticed that in my city too. Stuff like muck on just the plates or the colour of the lettering buffed off.