Nearly all UK drivers say headlights are too bright

Regulations, loopholes, and weak enforcement

• Multiple commenters note that headlight brightness and placement are regulated in the US, UK and EU, but rules are outdated (e.g., wattage limits written for halogens) and easy to game.
• Modern LED systems can be engineered with a dim “measurement spot” while over-illuminating the rest of the field.
• Enforcement is patchy: many US states have no real safety inspection; others barely check aim. EU/UK MOT-style tests are stricter but still miss a lot in practice.
• There is broad support for tighter rules on maximum brightness, color temperature, and especially headlight height, plus stricter control of retrofit LED/HID kits.

Why glare feels worse now

• LEDs and HIDs are brighter, whiter/bluer, and more point-like than old halogens, creating harsher glare and more perceived brightness for the same lumens.
• Rising vehicle heights (SUVs, pickups, lifted trucks) put low beams at or above the eye level of drivers in normal cars and of pedestrians and cyclists.
• Misalignment is widespread: factory mis-aim, owner ignorance of leveling controls, suspension changes, and illegal retrofits into halogen reflectors all spill light into oncoming eyes.
• Auto high-beam and matrix systems often react late, don’t detect bikes/pedestrians, and can still hit drivers or walkers with full intensity over hills and around bends.
• Aging eyes, cataracts and astigmatism make the new light profiles especially debilitating for many.

Safety tradeoffs and disagreement

• One camp says brighter lights are vital on dark rural roads with no markings, wildlife, potholes, and pedestrians in dark clothes; they argue high beams and strong low beams are genuinely needed.
• The opposing camp argues that modern low beams already approach or exceed old high-beam brightness, destroy night adaptation, and make others more likely to crash; they see speed reduction as the correct response, not more lumens.
• Several note that sharp beam cutoffs plus extreme brightness can actually reduce useful visibility off to the sides and beyond the cutoff.

Other lighting offenders

• Over-bright LED brake lights, taillights, animated indicators, strobing bicycle lights, emergency vehicles, and LED billboards all contribute to “HD daylight at night” and lost night vision.
• Some drivers and cyclists adopt countermeasures (amber/yellow glasses, anti-glare mirrors, manually dimmed screens), but others see these as coping with a systemic design and regulatory failure rather than a solution.