Old guy F-250 question

With modern HID, LED and even Laser lights - coupled with my declining night vision - all cars seem to have their brights on to me.  I gave up flashing at people, I just assume its me getting old and cranky. 

That said, does anyone have an F-250 or F-350?  I am wondering about the headlight setup.  I come from an era where low beams meant 2 lights on, and high beams meant 4. Every single F-250 I see has 4 blinding lights on at all times.  Commercial versions seems to have them on 24/7.  Is this normal?  

No, it's jerks with their high beams on.

The new Super Dutys do have all 4 lights on even on low beam. They are quite blinding coming at you, they are LED lights, which may be part of it. Flashed one on a country road and they flashed back the high beams, which weren't any brighter, just aimed a bit higher.

In reply to pinchvalve :

Annoys the heck out of me also

I've always had a problem with headlight glare.  And since I grew up in the south and we went hunting and fishing a lot we were often times driving on deserted two lane country roads at night.     I remember reading an article in Car and Driver with driving tips.  One that I immediately adopted and have used since the 70's is, of course, don't look at the lights, but the key is to stare at the solid white line at the edge of the road on the right.  Or at least the edge of the road or curbing.  This keeps you on track while the opposite guy passes.   Saved my butt more than once when the opposite guy refused to dim his brights.

The other tip I still use is when approaching an intersection where the traffic has a stop sign but you don't is to watch the front tire of the car, not the car itself.   You may not perceive that the car about to pull in front of you is moving but you will definitely perceive the wheel rotating.

In reply to 81cpcamaro :

Seriously? That's so dumb and illegal in many states. Stupid.

In reply to jharry3 :

The white line is a good trick- I’ve taught it to all of my kids. 

I have also taught them to never flash their high beams at an oncoming car. The only thing worse than 1 blind driver is 2 blind drivers headed toward each other head-on. 

In reply to jharry3 :

I remember my mom teaching me both of those tricks pretty much as soon as I got my license.

Even at 28, I find myself getting more sensitive to headlights at night, and most modern headlights are stupid bright, poorly aimed, hyper sensitive to any change in angle (like passing over a rolling hill,) and, in general, borderline obnoxious. Especially so for trucks and SUVs, which place the lights directly at eye level driving my RX7 or FRS. The current Stupor Doodies do seem to be especially bad.

Clean the inside of your windshield regularly and well. Nothing makes headlight glare worse than even a slight film on the glass.

Javelin said:

No, it's jerks with their high beams on.

And I'm pretty sure that it's (probably) not your eyes going sensitive, because a couple weeks ago I encountered an 80s Fox-body on the road at night and I could look straight at it without feeling like I was welding without a mask, just like the days when those were common.

Lights are just getting stupid-bright for some dumb reason.

You know it is bad, and the lighting engineers know it's bad, when cars are designed with "city lights" that by themselves are even brighter than headlights, and are so bright that the software turns them off on that side when you use the turn signal.

Javelin said:

No, it's jerks with their high beams on.

My new F150 has impossibly bright lights, I have people flash me all the time but I’ve never had the brights on. It doesn’t need them.

I have found if you pull the visor down and keep it just above the oncoming lights, it cuts down a lot of the glare. Also look at the right line as they get close. What ever you do don't be following too close to the car in front as it does block forward vision, it has worked for me on dark country roads. Has anybody tried the clip on anti glare visors?

tooms351 said:

I have found if you pull the visor down and keep it just above the oncoming lights, it cuts down a lot of the glare. Also look at the right line as they get close. What ever you do don't be following too close to the car in front as it does block forward vision, it has worked for me on dark country roads. Has anybody tried the clip on anti glare visors?

 

None of that does anything if you can't see where you are going because the inside of your car is lit up, destroying your night vision.

I wish any of my cars had a power sunshade in the back like Mercedes used to have, so I could replace it with a mirror.  Don't like it?  Buy a different truck, or pass, or turn your lights off.

Glad I’m not the only one that thinks a lot of newer vehicles have blinding headlights.  I can see it (pun intended) as a safety factor in certain situations.