I wanted to visit parents last night up near Dundee, weather looked good except some potential fog later in the night. Hopped in the MX-5 and about 15 minutes into my journey I wished I had just taken another car.
Headlights are insanely bright, you can tell from half a mile away that the car coming towards you is a BMW/Mini which seem to be the worse offenders. All the Range Rovers and cross overs with faulty a faulty light that points directly into the cabin of every car.
I usually just say to myself “my car is low, it’s not that bad” but after driving for 30 minutes on a country road I came to realise that a lot of these cars, even if their headlights are dipped, are lighting up everything 30m in front of them in a 180 degree arc.
It really ruined my drive to visit my parents, and there is literally nothing I could have done about it except turn back sooner to change cars. I had a splitting headache from the lights and a sore neck trying to get higher up in the car so I wasn’t blinded.
I do know what you mean, having done around 50 ‘pitch black’ driving miles along mainly country routes this week in the '5.
But not to the severity that you’re experiencing, although my feeling was that there were certainly more cars with LED based lighting around! And you’re right, the height that the MX-5 sits on the road does pose some extra challenges. I had a particular instance with an oncoming vehicle, LED headlights fitted which were clearly mis-aligned. I had to have my own LED lights adjusted a few weeks ago on my daily driver, so it can be an issue and I think there are definitely issues with fairly new Range Rovers and some BMW/Mercedes SUVs, that clearly haven’t been setup/aligned properly, prior to handover.
What I find works well is if you look away slightly and focus on the nearside kerb, when you sense bright lights coming towards you. That was an Advanced Driving night driving tip offered to me some years ago, that helps for me.
Additionally, consider your own eyesight and have a check-up if you haven’t had your eyes checked in the last 2yrs (or sooner if you’ve noticed this more recently). Some night driving glasses with a tinted lens also might assist, even if you don’t wear glasses usually: Specsavers - Driving Glasses
I found this more of a problem when I had the Porsche Boxster, however there is a growing problem with some of these headlights. Newer headlights are designed for efficiency and brightness, but the blue-rich spectrum of LEDs can pose significant glare issues for older drivers. The impact is magnified at night, making driving more stressful and reducing reaction times in potentially hazardous situations. This may be due to:
This is my first winter in the car so first darker evenings I am driving it. Yea it’s annoying as hell. Especially when a Range Rover or a van stops a foot from your rear and you get blinded in all three mirrors.
I appreciate the people giving constructive replies, I was on a bit of a rant and wasn’t expecting a discussion to come out of this.
To answer a couple of people here, I have astigmatism in both eyes which make this worse but I have corrective lenses so it should be mostly negated.
The most sketchy circumstance is when there is a car coming over a crest, this was a straight up “slow down to 20-30mph and hope I’m still on the road once I can see again”.
There was a particular car that was coming towards me that had LED lights, and they were perfect. I believe it was a Kia Sportage with the vertical headlights.
Just check how the lenses on your glasses are affecting the view.
Plastic lenses become ‘scratched’ very quickly even with a scratch resistant coating and when covered in micro scratches can present the light in a bad way.
When stationary, try removing and replacing the lenses and see how the glare in the image changes. You may need new lenses.
Due to work time, I pretty much learnt to drive in the dark, so the instructor trained me to look off to the side slightly. But headlights are a lot brighter now than the winter of 1980/81!
Not infrequently I get flashed in my ND that people think I’m not on dipped, so it’s not just the lowness of the car, of course SUVs are worse.
As to headlights in the mirror, I flick the tab under the rear view mirror. This reduces the amount of reflected light. This is on an NA. not sure if other versions had this option.
If you are trying to be rude then, guess what, you have succeeded. I think you need to learn some manners.
‘Not infrequently I get flashed in my ND that people think I’m not on dipped’ is from the post that I replied to, and, helpfully I have informed him that you can manually adjust them so that this does not happen.
I see no reason for your aggressive reply which I consider to be outside the rules of the forum.
“look away slightly and focus on the nearside kerb when you sense bright lights coming toward you”
I was given the exact same advice by my police trained driving instructor back in 1979 and it’s worked for me ever since regardless of what type of vehicle I’ve been driving
I also have a stigmatism in one of my eyes and have never been a fan of night driving especially on narrow, unlit country roads or snow or torrential rain
But I’ve also found if you know yourself then you compensate automatically to differing driving conditions and either avoid driving in such conditions if possible or just drive much more slowly and much more alert …e.g. switch off the music/ask passenger to keep still/quiet so you are 100% concentrating on your driving
I’ve been slowly moving from short-sightedness to becoming long-sighted but scratched or dirty spectacles distract me no end …I use a product called Solution 30 Lens Cleaner
Also on the NB I want my windscreen and side windows and heated rear window plus mirrors very clean…because that is how I was taught back in 1979 and Bullit doesn’t have modern tech like all around cameras !
The government is currently launching an independent consultation into the brightness of LED lights, and their effect on oncoming drivers.
Of course, how long it will take to report back, what action (if any) will be taken based on the outcome, and how long that action would take (I can’t imagine that there will be any retrospective requirements for vehicles already on the road) are all another matter. Don’t expect the problem to go away overnight (see what I did there?)
This works for me too - as do special pale grey tinted, anti glare coated prescription glasses for night driving (arm and a leg - but so worth it) a clean windscreen inside and out.
Also my trusty ND dipping mirror - all SUV etc following me, blind me otherwise, with the lights which sit at exactly the height of my rear view mirror, particularly if they’re on the boot! I find dual carriageways the worst for this.
Fortunately as an ex white van lady I use the wing mirrors in preference to the rear view one.
Night Drivers unite! Check out Philip’s suggestion.
Its not just an MX5 problem even driving a normal car these stupid over bright headlights on modern cars are too bright. How stupid are these manufacturers that make these vehicles. Back in the 80s I used to run a rally car with Cibie spot lights as well as 100 watt headlight bulbs. If drivers coming towards me failed to dip their headlights one flash of the Cibies did the trick.
I often wonder why, with every safety nanny on cars these days, why no one’s looked at the brightness of car headlights and their impact on other road users. Pedestrians too.
