On 5 Oct,
Dave wrote:

Are they all taught to stand on the foot brake when they come to a stop
in traffic, instead of using the hand brake and are they not taught to
use the gear box for slowing down, so they are in the right gear at all
times?

I had one in front tonight in a new BMW, with four rows of superbright leds
as brake lights. It definitely dazzled me on at least two occasions. Are
there not rules on maximum brightness, and not dazzling other drivers? If not
there needs to be, if so they need to be enforced.

--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply

On 06/10/2011 01:00, wrote:
On 5 Oct,
wrote:

Are they all taught to stand on the foot brake when they come to a stop
in traffic, instead of using the hand brake and are they not taught to
use the gear box for slowing down, so they are in the right gear at all
times?

I had one in front tonight in a new BMW, with four rows of superbright leds
as brake lights. It definitely dazzled me on at least two occasions. Are
there not rules on maximum brightness, and not dazzling other drivers?

They have to meet EU regulations and to be marked as doing so. All
lights on production cars will meet the regulations.

Colin Bignell

On Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:51:49 +0100, Nightjar wrote:

I had one in front tonight in a new BMW, with four rows of
superbright
leds as brake lights. It definitely dazzled me on at least two
occasions. Are there not rules on maximum brightness, and not
dazzling
other drivers?

They have to meet EU regulations and to be marked as doing so. All
lights on production cars will meet the regulations.

I suspect it's the regulations not keeping up with technology. Old
incandescant brake lights used reflectors and lenses to direct the
light and the source area was quite large. The modern LED things may
produce the same measured light level at x m on y axis but it comes
from a, or series of, *very* bright pin points. It's this change in
source size that produces the dazzle.

I'm not a great fan of some LED car lights, the flicker annoys me,
then they tend to be bright point sources that dazzle (I wear
glasses, which possibly doesn't help but then *lots* of drivers wear
glasses).

LED traffic lights at night are also too damn bright. You can barely
see where to drive against the green glare from the set at Langwathby
bridge when heading into the village from Penrith. It's not really
dazzle just the sheer amount of light causing your iris to stop down
so dark things, like the entrance to the bridge, "disappear". Once
past the lights your iris opens back up and you can see again.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In message o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:51:49 +0100, Nightjar wrote:

I had one in front tonight in a new BMW, with four rows of
superbright
leds as brake lights. It definitely dazzled me on at least two
occasions. Are there not rules on maximum brightness, and not
dazzling
other drivers?

They have to meet EU regulations and to be marked as doing so. All
lights on production cars will meet the regulations.

I suspect it's the regulations not keeping up with technology. Old
incandescant brake lights used reflectors and lenses to direct the
light and the source area was quite large. The modern LED things may
produce the same measured light level at x m on y axis but it comes
from a, or series of, *very* bright pin points. It's this change in
source size that produces the dazzle.

I'm not a great fan of some LED car lights, the flicker annoys me,
then they tend to be bright point sources that dazzle (I wear
glasses, which possibly doesn't help but then *lots* of drivers wear
glasses).

LED traffic lights at night are also too damn bright. You can barely
see where to drive against the green glare from the set at Langwathby
bridge when heading into the village from Penrith. It's not really
dazzle just the sheer amount of light causing your iris to stop down
so dark things, like the entrance to the bridge, "disappear". Once
past the lights your iris opens back up and you can see again.

I find it difficult to pick up LED indicators inside the rear light
circle.
--
hugh