[stinos]

Ok I know this is totally off-topic, but recently it indeed seems as if something changed (and I'm in Europe). Either the newer LED (or whatever they use in cars) are brighter, or they are aimed differently (that makes a lot of difference), or the rules loosened, or a combination of those, or something else which I can't figure out. It's not normal to be blinded when looking in your rear mirror, right?

Slightly related, still widely off-topic: lights on bicycles, same problem. I think e.g. Germany has rules for those, but in countries where there aren't and/or there's zero awareness being raised it's sad to see how many people ride around with LED headlights which are way stronger than required and aimed straight ahead instead of down, completely blinding opposite direction traffic including cars. Now on the commute I do I've made it a sport to (friendly) shout to them telling to put their light down and it seems to have effect. But there's still a long way to go.

[close04]

Headlights got brighter (no new car uses anything like a classic bulb, going for Xenon or LED most of the time) and cars got a lot taller on average (SUVs are more popular than ever) so you're getting more light even when the car is further away behind you. I don't think regulation changed much regarding this.

[NeedMoreTea]

Also on some of the cars with EU daytime running lamps, they put the LEDs really low, where only fog lights were once permitted (fog lamps were illegal to use when not foggy), presumably firing up or entirely non directional. These are surprisingly good at dazzling, especially when roads are wet. There's a few makes doing this, but a couple of models are particularly problematic.

[close04]

All EU cars have DRL now. But the LEDs are basically what used to be the marker lights on any headlight (the first step in turning on the headlights). More commonly now they are overlapped with the signal lights so when signaling the LEDs just turn from white to yellow. But they're almost always still in the headlight block. When for some reason a manufacturer decides to put them in the fog lamps they run at reduced intensity. Just like when the fog light turn on towards the side you are cornering to help with more light.