It's about time. They've been available pretty much everywhere else. Just not in the US. What's really bad is when people put led bulbs in halogen housings. That's what blinds people, and they are illegal. The factory LEDs are not blinders for the most part, but there's a few that are bad, Subarus for example are horrible at blinding oncoming traffic.
Is there a cure for FIBs driving behind you with their brights on yet? Sure the heck isn't driver's ed.......
I find that being blinded is usually from when people have replaced a lamp, and moved the housing at the same time so the light is aimed completely different than it should be. It is most noticeable when they've only replaced one bulb, and on low beam. That article was weird because in the middle of it they randomly threw in a couple of paragraphs about MV crashes and deaths. It would have been fine if they were attributing said incidents to oncoming lights, but it just seemed to be filler material. Then there is this bit, "The new lighting regulation also comes more than 1 1/2 years ahead of a requirement in the bipartisan infrastructure law passed by Congress last year, NHTSA said." But according to the article, the NTSA is allowing adaptive headlights, not mandating them on new vehicles so it isn't a "new lighting regulation". If I go to another source, then I finally see that the NTSA has also established performance requirements - which may be what the quoted sentence was alluding to, but missed. And it is sloppy reporting like this that causes confusions and misunderstandings - and this is a super minor thing (except the cost)
You definitely get it. Unfortunately many read things at face level and don't catch the inaccuracies they spout. It's a huge pet peeve of mine.
Well, sometimes I just forgot they were on and then felt horrible when I realized it. Driving for half an hour or more before seeing another car can make you kind of space that sort of thing. I do appreciate that my latest Explorer has automatic hi beams so they turn off when a vehicle's lights are detected. Of course now that I WFH and don't have to drive in the dark, it's kind of a wasted feature, but it has been used twice in the last 7 months. I missed the foot control when it went out of style. As far as I was concerned that was much handier and faster than having it on the column. If I'm scratching, adjusting clothing or whatever, that hand may not be available as quickly as needed. That doesn't' even take into account that my left is normally my dominant driving hand so in any case I still have to change that duty to the right hand before I can hit the lever. I have small hands so depending on the vehicle, it's not always just a matter of extending a finger - so to speak (just like some motorcycle clutches).
I have been guilty of the same thing....forgetting to dim when meeting an approaching vehicle! If there was a microphone in my car/truck, you'd here me mutter "sorry buddy". I have resorted to driving with the dims so much lately, that I blame it on that. Using the dims all the time, there is no need to hit the dimmer switch with approaching traffic.....in case there is ever such an occurrence here! But I am not one to ever have the brights on while following someone! Can't understand WTH those folks are thinking?
