[nine_k]

A large cloud of glitter would do the same for optical systems, e.g. human drivers. Shining intense light at drivers is also known to cause havoc and incidents. Now imagine a night road lit by a dancing hall light show; many human drivers would find themselves discombobulated.

[shiroiuma]

>Shining intense light at drivers is also known to cause havoc and incidents.

This is absolutely normal when driving on American roads at night these days.

[actionfromafar]

Also, blue-tinted, blinding LED headlights everywhere, maybe that's what you meant. The laser lights maybe aren't blue-tinted but blinding nevertheless.

[dghughes]

I'm in Canada and any discussion I have everyone agrees how every damn car now has blindingly bright headlights. It's not the bluish ones it's pure white lights they're incredibly bright. Someone dropped the ball on the regulations for modern headlights.

My cousin got a new truck and he said everyone now flashes their lights at him but his lights are on low. His previous truck was fine but this new model is terrible. It's not just trucks it's cars too.

I'm ready to go to my member of parliament to ask WTF?

[jacquesm]

That's because the headlights got ever smaller, they are now point sources that output as much power (or more) than previous generations but from a much smaller spot. The fact that it is all direct light now rather than indirect via mirrors also doesn't help, that means you're looking straight at the lightsource instead of at a reflection across a much wider area.

There is some talk about regulating minimum projected area for a given amount of power to reduce this effect somewhat.

[BizarroLand]

I think what would help would be some way to turn down the brightness of the headlights that could be calibrated at the shop when you get tires rotated.

Set some rules for how bright lights are allowed to be.

[zikduruqe]

As a cyclist, I hate peeking over my left shoulder and seeing two red lights at a distance behind me, then all the sudden some Jeep (or r/Heep) blasts by me.

Oh, that Jeep was running red lights on the front. I thought that vehicle was heading away from me.

[kwhitefoot]

Red lights on the front? Is that a common thing, I've never heard of it. Surely it's illegal?

[zikduruqe]

Red, green, blue, etc...

Every state has laws that when a vehicle is in forward motion on a road, that the only permissible colored lights are white and amber. Yes illegal.

[shiroiuma]

Yep, that's exactly what I meant: all the ridiculously bright headlights that are always on the high-beam setting, plus also the huge off-road light bars that pickup trucks commonly have and use on the highways.