Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Tuesday Tirade: Blinded by the Light(s)

It's dark, it's cold, and you just want to get home.

You see lights ahead of you,..Suddenly, from around the bend in front of you, blinding light!

You can't see the road, you can't see anything, and you're pretty sure you must have missed the signs and drove onto the set of a Close Encounters of the Third Kind re-make.

Then you drive into the rock the road curves around and really DO see the light...
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Extreme? Not really, especially not for anyone who has driven in the Texas Hill Country at night.

I was googling for a pic or a reference for this post and all I was able to find are articles, primarily on auto insurance websites, touting the benefits of upgraded headlight bulbs. No one talks about the down side.

I am light sensitive and tend to wear sunglasses even on overcast days. Driving at night is easier for me because, generally, I see better. Until some dippo with super-bright blue or purple headlights pulls up just far enough behind me that their lights glare into my car via my side mirrors. Or a situation like the above with opposing traffic comes up. I've hated these damned things since they hit the market. Now that I no longer drive a SUV and most headlights are eye-level with me (see previous rant re: trucks and people who don't need them) it's worse.

Sure those lights improve visibility for the driver of the car equipped with them. That's awesome. That way they'll have a nice clear view of the compact car as it runs into them when the driver is blinded by said flippin' super-bright headlights.