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night time driving

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Old Dec 13th, 2018, 10:38   #11
john.wigley
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Originally Posted by green van man View Post

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

Paul.
After many years of having to drive during the hours of darkness, Paul, now that I no longer need to, I avoid doing so as much as possible.

Yes, you are right, people do adapt and cope with changing circumstances, but equally do not need to go to the North Pole to know that they will find snow there. Part of my coping strategy is therefore to avoid night driving if I can, but to use the best possible gasses if and when I have no alternative but to do so.

'noscralc', '360beast', '60041' and 'DaveNP', a professional driver, all agree that night driving is more challenging than it once was. They cannot all be wrong and should not be obliged to adapt and cope.

I do agree that modern styling cues combined with engineering complexity do make changing a bulb more difficult, which is one reason there are so many 'one-eyed monsters' on the roads today as well.

Surely we owe it to those who have to drive at night, especially professionals like 'DaveNP' and your goodself, ferrying nurses in difficult conditions, to do so in comfort and safety without the need to adapt and cope. I imagine that you have enough to cope with already without adding unnecessarily to the burden.

Regards, John.
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Old Dec 13th, 2018, 19:32   #12
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Agreed John, but I learned a long time ago the world don't change for Paul so Paul has to cope with the changing world wether he agrees with the changes or not.

No the moron who designed dlrs on the front only would be shot if I had my way.

In a narrow lane after dark came against a Mercedes coming the other way uphill with led headlights. It was impossible for me to reverse as I could see nothing against his blinding light. After 10 minuits of me sat there with my high beams on he finally got the message and turned them off, thereafter I was able to reverse back and allow him and the by now 4 other cars to pass. In order for them to do so comfortably I also dropped to sidelights, though was very tempted to give the merc driver a blast of high beams and spotlights to educate the ignorant bastard.

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Old Dec 13th, 2018, 20:09   #13
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[QUOTE=DaveNP;2475234]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.

And you hit the nail on the head . Spend a fair portion of my time altering headlight aim for MOT . Worst offenders are dealers for failing to set lights correctly at PDI time
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Old Dec 13th, 2018, 20:37   #14
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I agree with the comments in the above posts, night driving is getting more unpleasant with brighter lights and wrongly adjusted beam patterns. Several years ago I tried a pair of 'cheapo' night driving glasses - those yellow jobbies you see advertised in the weekend supplements. What a revelation, no more glare, wrongly adjusted lights - bring it on. Apart from the moron who refuses to dip their lights as they come at you, nothing else causes me a problem.

I have now bought several pairs to keep one in each car and 'er indoors has done the same with clip on pairs as she wears glasses for driving.
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Old Dec 13th, 2018, 21:35   #15
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Originally Posted by ITSv40 View Post
I agree with the comments in the above posts, night driving is getting more unpleasant with brighter lights and wrongly adjusted beam patterns. Several years ago I tried a pair of 'cheapo' night driving glasses - those yellow jobbies you see advertised in the weekend supplements. What a revelation, no more glare, wrongly adjusted lights - bring it on. Apart from the moron who refuses to dip their lights as they come at you, nothing else causes me a problem.

I have now bought several pairs to keep one in each car and 'er indoors has done the same with clip on pairs as she wears glasses for driving.
Yes I have tried a pair myself and have to say they do take the "Sting" out of the blinding lights but the trouble I found was as soon as you hit country lanes or roads without street lights things become darker and you rely on reflection from the road-or main beam-bit catch 22 really but overall an improvement but not a solution
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Old Dec 13th, 2018, 21:58   #16
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Yes I have tried a pair myself and have to say they do take the "Sting" out of the blinding lights but the trouble I found was as soon as you hit country lanes or roads without street lights things become darker and you rely on reflection from the road-or main beam-bit catch 22 really but overall an improvement but not a solution
Obviously we are all different and our eyes react differently. However, I have found the night driving glasses are a solution for me and now don't have any issues at night.
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Old Dec 13th, 2018, 22:09   #17
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that is the rub of it
due to the twonkers who Cant be assed to sort things out We end up suffering, having to find ways to cope with there fugwittery,,,


take em out the car, up the wall shoot em, they wont do that again
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Old Dec 13th, 2018, 22:49   #18
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Part of the problem is the absurd idea that white or blue-tinted light illuminates better than standard off-white or selective yellow, when the simple fact is it's bollocks. Ever tried driving a modern german car (or Range Rover) in the fog with those silly LEDs plastered all over the front end? All you see is mist.

Pop some selective yellow bulbs in an old banger with reflector lamps though, and you're laughing because the yellow cuts through the fog. Also notice how it's the modern cars with white or blue lights that hurt your eyes more? I passed a Golf the other day where the owner had put some selective yellow bulbs in, and even before they switched the high beam off, it still wasn't dazzling me. Meanwhile the early 2000's Audi S3 following it had some blue (HID?) bulbs plonked into their standard reflectors and I couldn't see a thing because of the glare.

A few have mentioned headlamp aim - As of the changes in MOT regulations in May, the limits of headlamp aim have become even more lax than they already were, which may explain part of it. Good friend of mine is an MOT tester and some of the changes in May are utterly bonkers, but he told me it's almost impossible to fail on headlamp aim now. Vans are also an issue simply because the headlights are mounted higher. Factor in the distance an average van driver follows you at, and their headlights are shining directly into your rear view mirror.

In short, there was never any problem with standard reflector or projector headlamps. LED, HID, Xenon and all the rest were a pointless way to charge extra money. In the case of new Mercs, BMWs, Audis and Range Rovers it seems to work because I get dazzled by one every journey it seems.
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Old Dec 14th, 2018, 00:22   #19
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Kerplod , with regards to the old Golf , it may well have had a patterned glass lens . My old Cibie Z beams had an amazing cut off & zero dazzle .

Modern lights have plastic covers that degrade & scatter light output & continue to deteriorate until polished / replaced .
When testing vans I always ensure the top of the beam pattern is defiantely below the top mark of the beam setter , especially if I find the driver has used the internal headlight leveller to lower the headlight aim .
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Old Dec 14th, 2018, 05:50   #20
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Hi, I moved from the uk 13 years ago so I am out of touch with current MOT regs. Here is Spain headlight beam alignment is part of the ITV [ MOT]. Is this not part of the MOT. Spain has gone mad with its regs. Should glasses be worn then a spare pair must be carried in the car together with water, a reflective jacket, triangle and a complete set of bulbs.
I do a fair amount of night driving and I must say that over here I am seldom blinded by poorly aligned headlights. The problem here is drivers travelling to close behind.
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