night time driving
 

Is it just me or is night time driving getting increasingly unpleasant due to super bright headlights on modern cars especially 4 x 4's that constantly blind you with not just their intense brightness but to me bad alignment or am I being an old fart !

You are right, it is horrible and everyone is very important and in a rush so just the quality of driving alone is terrifying enough.

I cannot understand why everybody seems to be such in a big hurry and has to get in front of you no matter if you catch them up at the next junction or traffic lights-madness. The standard of driving is very often shocking-to say the least.

No, you are absolutely right; night driving is becoming extremely unpleasant.
I used to blame the brightness of modern lights, but now realise it is the aim that is the issue; I frequently drive a Mercedes Sprinter van and the increased height of the driving position makes things much easier and more pleasant, whereas driving along the same roads in my V90 can be very difficult.
Modern lights have a very sharp cutoff, which seems to be just below the normal eye level when driving towards them, so slight dips and rises in the road cause them to lift up and blind oncoming drivers. No doubt it is not helped by the poor maintenance of cars these days; misaligned and faulty lights are very common.
And don’t get me started on the use of spot lights in good weather.....!

It's not just you, I drive nights for a living and the number of vehicles with poorly aimed headlights is appalling (even from the higher view point of a truck). One possibility occurs to me which is that modern headlights seem to have plain lenses and use the reflector to make the beam pattern, if the bulb is not fitted correctly or is a cheapo replacement which isn't quite as accurately made the beam pattern soon goes awry.

I have just been to the opticians for a checkup and ended up ordering new glasses, the new ones will have a new type of lens which blocks blue/UV light which is supposed to be helpful when driving at night with so many people having new style headlights, I'll have to wait to see if they do work.

I will be due a check up and possibly new glasses in the new year, I would be very interested to hear if you find your new lenses helpful.

the "blue light" from LEDs is well known to cause "glare" ,ask any optician,
add in as said the Crap to non existence of maintenance , badly aligned headlights
Moronic driving, and worse of the lot moronic drivers shoving LED lamps or HiD into the WRONG sort of light unit,, "SUV" driven by "self entitled arseclowns" with the lights height And badly aligned at that,,

its Not just you,

Apparently Zeiss Drivesafe lenses are good for reducing glare without otherwise affecting vision, the downside being that they are rather expensive..

jor

I have worn Zeiss Drive safe glasses for just shy of two years now, and have recently got my second pair as I needed a new prescription. They cost me £485 using a sub £100 frame. That may sound expensive, but works out at less than a fiver a week over the two years - the price of a daily newspaper, say.

My subjective view is that they reduce glare by about a third, which chimes with my optician's claim of 30 to 40 per cent.

I agree that night driving is becoming less pleasant every year, and, while I avoid doing so whenever possible, feel in need of all the help that I can get when I do.

I can only say that, for me, they are worth every penny!

Regards. John.

Badly aligned headlights
 

Any one ever tried replacing the headlight bulb on a P3 v or xc70 ?
Easy job, just pull out the 2 pins, remove headlamp , replace bulb and refit. There you are job done. EXEPT it ain't. I defy anyone to get the bulb back into the same position in the spring holders. Know after 8 tries I got the tools out and adjusted the alignment so I was not blinding people coming the other way and booked the car in to have headlights realigned.

As for night driving, do it regularly, as with all life's changing circumstance you just adapt and cope with it.

Paul.