Complaints about the blinding sparkle of the headlights of large vehicles have been intensifying in recent years. A quick Google search assignment reveals different pages with articles that discuss how the headlights on new cars are dangerously clear. They are so clear that they can be blinding, but only because the headlights on other vehicles are blindingly clear does not mean that you have to ride with your high beams. As the old saying reads: “An eye for an eye and the world becomes blind.”
Many modern cars are equipped with LED headlights that broadcast more concentrated light rays than older halogen headlights can, and the color of the light that emits LED headlights is heavier on the human eye. Another factor that contributes to the blinding nature of modern headlights is that most new vehicles are larger than older models, so their headlights, even when they are well focused on the road, tend to focus directly on the rear view mirrors of smaller vehicles. Often the worst offenders have mounted aftermarket bulbs on a car that was not designed for them, causing them to blind other drivers. Regardless of the cause, driving high rays makes everything worse.
When should you use your high rays?
The primary differences between your high rays and your low rays are their brightness and their angle. High rays are brighter and illuminate a further distance for your vehicle by being higher than the low rays. Low trees are aimed at the road for you, so they illuminate what your car is advocating without blinding upcoming drivers, and high rays are straight ahead and they better illuminate rural roads and other poorly lit roads, but that also means that they are blind opposing drivers.
In the end it is fine to use your high beams on every road, as long as you don’t see any other cars on the road. If you have your high rays and you notice that a car is driving towards you, turn off your high rays and only use your low rays to prevent the other driver from blinding.
If you are wearing your high rays and you pull or notice that you are approaching another car, turn off your high rays and use your low beams. This prevents your headlights from reflecting and blinding the mirrors of the other driver.
Here is how high rays work
I have done mental gymnastics to understand how or why people drive their high rays, and a potentially simple cause can be that some people are not aware that their high rays are on. If you see a light on the dashboard of your car that looks like a little blue jellyfish that swim sideways, it means that your high beams are on. When you switch on your low beams, most cars have a green light bulb or other green pictographer that illuminates in the meter cluster of your car.
In most cars, the same stem controls that you turn up and down to activate your spin signals also your high beams. To turn on your high beams and to leave them on, push that stem off your way and it must activate your high beams. To flash your high beams, pull the stem towards you and let it go. To switch off your high beams, pull the stem towards you and let it go.
If you see the blue light light on your dashboard and you see other cars on the road, pull the stem from the bend signals to you so that you do not blind other drivers. If you are confronted with a driver whose headlights are very clear, try to concentrate your gaze on the right side of your lane, but continue to use your peripheral vision to check those oncoming vehicles.
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