If you’ve ever been annoyed and dangerously distracted by blindingly bright headlights, you’re not alone: Earlier this month, the BBC covered a “major study” that determined “nearly everyone” found the increasingly common vehicle feature a nuisance.
In that research, conducted by the United Kingdom’s Department for Transport, the consensus was staggering. A full 97% of those surveyed hated bright headlights, a level of agreement almost unprecedented in public opinion polling.
In the United States, headlights that outshine the sun are not uncommon. But unlike in the U.K., American drivers are more likely to be behind the wheel of a gargantuan, lifted pickup truck.
Consequently, not only are night drivers prone to sudden, blinding flashes, but those instances are likely to involve a vehicle with its headlights raised, pointing directly into drivers’ windshields.
A user on Reddit’s r/MildlyInfuriating recently illustrated this precise problem, and the title of their post said exactly that: “There is no reason these lights should be at eye level with sedan drivers.”
“They’re taller than I am,” the original poster lamented, adding a “sobbing” emoji for emphasis.
The attached photograph truly emphasized how dangerous the feature was. Taken in a parking lot in broad daylight, the car parked opposite the poster was a gas-guzzling behemoth, and its baking-sheet-sized headlights would have blotted out the sun had they been on.
Maine’s WGME reported that drivers across the state found the trend dangerous and frightening — but then-recent findings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety asserted that “glare is implicated in just a tiny fraction of nighttime crashes.”
That data, of course, was based on human activity, but animals cannot provide verbal testimony. According to DarkSky, an organization that works to combat light pollution, the glare from artificial lighting at night is catastrophic to wildlife and ecosystems, including wetlands.
Research scientist Christopher Kyba told DarkSky that areas of dense habitation, like cities, are hundreds or thousands of times brighter than in preindustrial times, and scientists are “only beginning to learn what a drastic effect this has had on nocturnal ecology.”
“After a lift, the headlights are supposed to be readjusted, but rarely are,” one observed.
“I can’t drive at night anymore for this reason,” another admitted, one of several who’d been chased off the roads by bright headlights.
“I feel bad for kids in the backseat. Brings a whole new meaning to ‘gameboy with backlight,'” the original poster remarked.
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