The last few weeks I have noticed more that oncoming drivers are not turning off their full beam soon enough and I’m constantly being blinded and then having to curse and rant at them. This also applies to cars behind me whose headlights are dazzling me in the rear view mirror. Then today my wife made an interesting observation. Is this because cars now have automatic full beam and so it’s not the drivers fault but the car not turning them off quickly enough or not at all. Just interested in peoples thoughts and whether this has become an issue for them too?
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Always hacks me off the numbers with full beams on, or no lights at all, in areas of street-lighting.
I don't know the reason.
Some cars sit higher than others. Maybe that has something to with it. And maybe it is related to the switch to LEDs etc.
Either way, it's fucking annoying, and will lead to more road deaths ... probably as a result of me losing my rag.
I agree it's the Xenon headlights but I haven't noticed too many being on full beam.
I've also noticed less street lights being on or the street lights not being as bright as before. I know some councils had a policy if turning them off after midnight to save money or having less on.
Halogen is dead technology. (As evidenced by the ban on their sale for domestic use.) My assumption is that xenon will go the same way.
LEDs are great. My car has adaptive matrix LED headlights. They offer 200% greater field of vision than halogen lights. They also turn corners with you and respond to other road users to avoid dazzling them. The reaction time is less than 2 seconds for a vehicle between 100 and 800 metres away, and less than 1.25 seconds for any vehicle or person within 100-metres.
On a side note i have been in Kent all week visiting family, i cant believe the standard of driving in the Medway and north Kent area in general.
Everyone is in a rush to get everywhere, everyone rides up your arse, nearly everyone is in the wrong lane at roundabouts trying to cheat the queues, no-one has the courtesy to let you out, they flash you if you arnt breaking the speed limit.
Too many cars in that area and its too over populated. Try circumventing Dartford area at either end of the rush hour.
Thought the M3 and M25 was bad enough but nothing compared to the A2 and surrounding area's.
It does amaze me there aren't more accidents.
Its got to the point where my sister who lives in Dartford is now getting the train to Gravesend where i can pick her up, rather than me drive up the A2 as its much quicker.
*other than on BMW's of course, cos they're never on anyway.
It would blow my mind when I worked out of South London, I think everyone accepts in London if there is a gap you take it and by and large whilst being a bit frantic everyone accepts the method of driving, I'd spend a day driving round there and come back to Medway to discover people were more keen to have an accident than in somewhere like Streatham.
Medway and Maidstone are insane, as you say people driving up your arse to get 1 car length ahead, roundabout discipline is non existent and courtesy is also a complete afterthought
I have an engineer who is 51 and hes always moaning about the people in front of him doing 40/45 in a 50 which is the speed of most of the roads from his home to work. I ask whats wrong with that, he forgets in a few years time that will be him doing it especially at night.
100% - that roundabout is like wacky races at times.
This must have happened for at least 6-8 lessons before my instructor finally realised and gave me a telling off. To this day I've still no idea how he didn't realise or why more people didn't flash me.
On the point about driving standards in Kent, I thoroughly agree that things have got worse. Overdevelopment in Kent without improvements in road infrastructure has created the mess that is the roads in Kent. Hardly a day goes by without one of the motorways having at least one bad accident.
Getting around Maidstone and Medway has never been easy, but the huge increase in population, caused by so many housing developments has made the situation far worse.
I do think that congestion could be reduced if people moved off a bit quicker at traffic lights. People do not seem to anticipate a change in lights and take ages to get going. If I'm at the head of a queue I get myself ready to move off as soon as they change. I don't jump the lights or exceed the speed limit, but often I find myself about 200 metres up a road before the next person has started moving.
I also find it annoying when drivers leave huge gaps between their vehicle and the one on front, when there are long queues stretching back past several junctions.
The issue with traffic lights is the opposite of your last point. People queue at traffic lights too close to the car in front - you should be able to see the bottom of the car in front's tyres. Too close and the car in front has to pull away before the car behind can move - staying a little bit back allows the car behind to move at the same time as the car in front avoiding the concertina effect.
I just go a bit slower in that situation!
There is no excuse for moving off so slowly, many a time I see people crawling away from traffic lights, resulting in only a few vehicles getting through before the lights change again.