Constantly Getting Dazzled At Night

Felix79

Felix79

Zorg Addict
British Zeds
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Points
55
Location
Hereford
Model of Z
Z4MR
Since getting my Z4MR, I have been getting dazzled by oncoming traffic at night constantly. Now I do wear glasses, which seems to worsen the situation, but can't be the sole reason?

I've noticed more and more cars now have these really bright aftermarket LED headlights (a very brilliant white light, rather than the more traditional yellow or blue hue). They are meant to be the low beam lights, yet they are way brighter than Xenon high-beams!! If there are street lights, then I am not having a problem, but when on dark A/B roads, I've been really struggling with oncoming traffic.

I'm pretty tall at just over 6'4 and even with the seat all the way down and the rear tilted back, it still feels like oncoming cars have their low beams bang on my bloody eye level. I am getting my eyes checked up pretty soon, as it's my scheduled 2 year eye test. I've not had to change my glasses in 4 years, but I'm going to get a new set as I want ones that darken in bright sunlight, as I am starting to cycle again as part of the fitness program the pain management team have been doing this year, I was shocked at how expensive prescription sports sunglasses are!

Could all these issues with oncoming headlights, just be some bad luck with how low my M sits (standard ride height) and just how high my line of sight is in the car?
 
I think how ever tall or short you are , if you wear glasses or not , if your sight is good or bad , my opinion is that it does it to nearly everyone, as it does it to me , Alan and most of my family, the lights are too bright that it blinds me off on coming traffic :p
 
I get it all the time when I'm in my Zeds. I just take it as "it's just the way it is". I tend to drive with dipped rear mirror and downward sloping door mirrors, and just don't look at oncoming lights.
I find SUV and large van lights the worst because of how high they are from the road surface. I don't tend to get too much of a problem with lorries though.
 
Think its partly the height that zeds sit off the ground that is part of the problem.
You can get yellow lense glasses ( fit over prescription ones) to alleviate the glare.
 
Driving the Z3 at night is always a headlight level in your face problem for me
 
It's a bit of many things. I do the mirror thing with door mirrors like Garry does but mine has an Auto dip interior mirror which I find next to useless.
I also raise the seat to highest setting in winter which also helps. Modern headlights are most definitely something that road safety people should be taking a look at as they make things easier only for the driver if that vehicle.

Tony.
 
Have expensive all singing all dancing prescription glasses Felix and they are worse than the cheap ones I bought a couple of years back at night with the glare. One thing you need to remember is the photo light sensitive lenses do not work inside car with most up to date treated windscreen glass, even in my 99plate Z3 they didn't work. :cool:Great when your walking in bright sunlight outside vehicle, ask your optician if they do the night driving treatment lens. Mine do not work at night and I have to revert to my cheap ones to lessen the impact of the brightness of the new bulb/headlights of modern vehicles. Am waiting on delivery of the latest night driving glasses from the USA to see if this helps. Everyone I've spoken to on this subject feels and suffers the same, age no doubt doesn't help but my daughters at 40 say it's no differant for them. It doesn't stop me from driving at night but it's just another thing that has got worse on our roads over time. Do they really need to be so bright. After comparing driving with 4x Sibie Oscers spot lights in the eightys on closed night rally routes it seems to me some of these up to date lights are too bright. Why have the authorities let this slip. Our MOT checks the beam angle to alleviate dazzling maybe it should be checking for brightness, @t-tony maybe you could throw some light on this one. (Pun intended):wacky:

Rha,Roy.:pompus:
 
I agree, headlight glare is a major issue now. My wife hates driving at night now beause of it. I think that sitting low in a Z could make it seem worse, but to me there are two issues.
Firstly there are more and more SUVs on the roads that generally have their headlights mounted a lot higher than a saloon or hatchback.
Second is the inexorable move to LED headlights. The light they emit has a different wavelength to that emitted by a conventional filament lamp and that's what causes the glare. The colour temperature of the LEDs will also affect the harshness of the light - you can get 'warm' white LEDs with a lower colour temperature that are more like a filament bulb, but the car makers don't seem to choose to use them.
Another thing I've found with LED headlights is that it's often extremely difficult to see whether an oncoming driver is signalling - some cars are better than others here, but on many the position of the indicator within, or right next to, the headlamp unit just makes them almost impossible to see.
 
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I to have light sensitive prescription lenses and as Rha says they do not work when inside car with modern glass windscreen and Windows although they will very slightly darken if the drivers window is down and the sun is that side of the car , work great when top down in the zed , I have tried antiglare coating in the past but found they were not very effective , also find suv's and four by fours a nightmare at night so just close my eyes :eek:
 
It's a shame we can't tint the windscreen slightly. I was driving from Banbury to Headington, Oxford via the B-Road route last night and it was hell on that tight twisty road!

It's SUV's and LED lights that seem to be the biggest problems. I agree you would think the Dep of Transport would have done something to stop these really powerful lights being allowed on cars etc.
 
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When I had my 1.9 it had a shaded area of about 4 inches at the top of the screen I think it was the original screen fitted as you are on the tall side would have probably helped you , unfortunately my 2.8 does not
 
Rha said:
Have expensive all singing all dancing prescription glasses Felix and they are worse than the cheap ones I bought a couple of years back at night with the glare. One thing you need to remember is the photo light sensitive lenses do not work inside car with most up to date treated windscreen glass, even in my 99plate Z3 they didn't work. :cool:Great when your walking in bright sunlight outside vehicle, ask your optician if they do the night driving treatment lens. Mine do not work at night and I have to revert to my cheap ones to lessen the impact of the brightness of the new bulb/headlights of modern vehicles. Am waiting on delivery of the latest night driving glasses from the USA to see if this helps. Everyone I've spoken to on this subject feels and suffers the same, age no doubt doesn't help but my daughters at 40 say it's no differant for them. It doesn't stop me from driving at night but it's just another thing that has got worse on our roads over time. Do they really need to be so bright. After comparing driving with 4x Sibie Oscers spot lights in the eightys on closed night rally routes it seems to me some of these up to date lights are too bright. Why have the authorities let this slip. Our MOT checks the beam angle to alleviate dazzling maybe it should be checking for brightness, @t-tony maybe you could throw some light on this one. (Pun intended):wacky:

Rha,Roy.:pompus:
Click to expand...

Only for lack of brightness from back to bulb type headlight days mainly.

Tony.
 
I have recently swapped from the X1 e84 to the new X1 f48
The e84 had adaptive Zenons, that gave a very good beam directly in front of the car, and the light went into the corners as you turned.
The new f84 has the LED's that seem to light the whole of the road up ahead, the beam seems to be spreading out far more than required. The cornering lights are only now for turning in streets.
I very much preferred the adaptive Zenons.
Yes , I do recall having 4 Cibie Supers on the front of the 1071 Cooper S 2 up 2 down
 
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You can fit a tint strip across the top of your screen as long as it does not restrict the driver's view to the front. It used to be if it was fitted on tbe inside it did not come into the test but these days it does.

Tony.
 
What’s the problem??? You’re in a Z4MR......put the full beam on, shut your eyes and put your foot down and let them get out of your way !!!!!!=))
 
It's a hazard but has several contributing factors.

  • HIDs are much brighter than halogens and cars fitted with them have to have headlight washers. Dirt on the lights causes glare. The problem is that the other drivers can see still so why use up water washing the headlights. HIDS also have to be self-levelling. They might blind you for a fraction of a second until they level out, but, until that happens, you get the full glare as the cars go over bumps etc. HIDs typically also use lenses and the edges of light pattern refract light into their component colours. The lights can be adjusted correctly but there's still spill at the edges. I suspect this is ignored in the MoT because the test equipment is right up close to the light. Further away, that refraction spreads these refracted components further.
  • LEDs are brighter still, but, they don't have to have washers. More glare from dirt as well as a much higher temperature light that makes them more uncomfortable to look towards. I think its simply they are much brighter even outside the pattern area so seem as they are pointing directly at you.
  • Diesel fumes on the inside of your own screen. A buildup of greasy white stuff inside further diffuses light from oncoming headlights. It isn't as bad as it used to be but still a problem. Keep the screen clean to reduce this.
  • 4x4s and SUVs do have their lights higher. This alone shouldn't be a problem because the alignment should be such that they illuminate the same pattern and road area as lower cars. However, it's the brightness and overspill at the edges that still blind oncoming drivers to a greater degree.
  • Glasses - I have all my glasses with multicoated ant-reflective coating. This has a dramatic effect as it stops internal reflections within the lenses but also from your eye-balls back onto the inside of the lens and back in to your eyes.
Two things you can control yourself to help reduce the impact.

LEDs are here to stay. They are much brighter but using less energy. I suspect manufacturers will have to improve the beam pattern to reduce the overspill and maybe also insist in self-levelling and possibly headlight washers too.

I don't see how yellow lenses help other than by reducing the amount of light reaching your eyes. HIDs and LEDs have a much higher spectrum than halogens. Filtering out the bluer colours may help by taking out the higher brightness components. However, you are also potentially reducing the light from your own headlights so you see less too.
 
Most MOT. headlight aim testers have a focal length of only 30cm. so you can imagine how useful that is.

Tony.

ps. That is why it's critical that that the tester carries the alignment test and any adjustments very carefully.
 
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