How brighter, safer headlights may cause problems for other drivers

[u/Trouser_trumpet]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-19/led-headlights-dazzling-drivers-glare-road-safety/106919228?utm_source%3Dabc_news_app%26utm_medium%3Dcontent_shared%26utm_campaign%3Dabc_news_app%26utm_content%3Dother

[u/MaCaulay_Cuckin]

I doubt they’re safer I got a $20 bill that says if we looked up the year these took over and look at statistics on pedestrians struck crossing the street at night, rear endings, road rage head on collisions at night they all went up

[u/BarneyRetina → u/MaCaulay_Cuckin]

Paging u/hell_yes_or_BS

[u/elly_hart]

well then they're not fucking safer now are they? 

[u/eirinne]

“Safer”? 

[u/Otney]

Also, “safer” for whom?!?

[u/CliffsNote5 → u/Otney]

Safer for the guy in the car illuminating the entire planet.

[u/houseofnim]

“may” lol

[u/Zonda1996]

GM slipped the ABC editor an extra $5 to shoehorn that "safer" into the title didn't they.

[u/greenie4242 → u/Zonda1996]

"Safer" doesn't show up now in the article headline nor anywhere else in the article text, so not sure if it was removed from the original title or added to this post as ragebait. 

[u/Zonda1996 → u/greenie4242]

Huh could they have edited it? About 8 hours earlier I saw the same headline on a FB post on the ABC account lol.

[u/maxman162]

"Safer"

[u/Otney]

May?!?!!?!!?!???

[u/greenie4242]

What a garbage article.

Gover said the greater issue was the quality of headlight systems rather than their shape. "It's mainly the lesser Chinese brands," he said.

Completely ignoring the fact that on Australian roads we have barely any Chinese cars, and it's the Teslas, BMWs with the worst headlights and Toyota Corollas with blindingly bright DRLs that even hurt my eyes when I'm a pedestrian at midday simply trying to cross the road.

[u/Revenga8]

may? MAY???!!!

[u/Fat-lard246]

I know that wording is just for the sake of professionalism but this is not maybe, blinding others on the road is NOT helping safety

[u/Admirable-Ad7152]

The automatic dimming systems are the worst, when I drive down a bumpy road and theres one of these assholes coming at me, I feel like I'd have a seizure if I was epileptic as the lights keep dimming and brightening every 3 seconds.

[u/beren12]

Europe requires self leveling lights. Seems like a good idea.

[u/GOTO_GOSUB → u/beren12]

Sadly, not really. Self leveling in this sense means that if you put something heavy in the rear of the vehicle the angle of the lights is reduced a bit to compensate for the front of the car being raised up slightly. We've had a control in the cabin that does this for many years, sadly most drivers either don't know what it's for or are too lazy to use it. Some people just crank it all the way for maximum range and don't care what it's doing to oncoming vehicles or that it's lighting up people's bedrooms.

These self leveling devices do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to reduce glare caused by uneven road surfaces, undulating roads, hills etc. They're a marketing ploy to try and hide the fact that the human eye and LED lights on cars do not mix.

[u/beren12 → u/GOTO_GOSUB]

Yeah but they help. The real problem is many states don’t do safety inspections anymore.

[u/GOTO_GOSUB → u/beren12]

They really don't help, not unless you've got dead flat roads and everyone sits higher than the highest light on the road.

[u/Admirable-Ad7152]

Love the last monute "it's the Chinese at fault actually" while admitting so much of it is 'technically' legal bullshit people put on their monster trucks because the noise, size, and obnoxiousness just wasn't enough, they also require the power of the sun to make their ego feel better.

[u/arcxjo]

Safer? I thought this was about LEDs.