Futile quests for validation no. 9: modern car design.

[hirez]

I punted this one around the office after nearly flattening some poor and callow youth in a learny-learny Fiat 500 - they were probably agreeing with me out of pity.

So.[Poll #1769584]

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

No idea. One of the (many, wise) reasons I don't drive is that I dazzle very easily, so any sort of lights on an approaching car are likely to make me blink.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

It would not surprise me to discover that it's only a problem for the tired. When right knackered, my ability to deal with high-contrast things (f'rinstance some bollix in a BMW with iodine headlights, or anything with white LEDs) goes to pieces.

Obviously, being able to see better in poor conditions is a Good Thing, but if it means the poor sod in the other car's going to drive into you'rn while blinded it's a bit of a fail.

See also the bike light arms-race. Perhaps we'd be better off with lighting that goes up into the IR end of the spectrum and complicated spectacles.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Being a migraineur, I hate iodine or blue-white halogens with a vengeance. Even when I'm not migraining, they seem to just punch straight through my retina like a white-hot laser - it's an instant stab of pain that's knocked me off my bike in the past on more than one occasion. Even as a pedestrian I hate it. And tinted glasses seem to do fuck-all about it either.

[nemesis-to-go.livejournal.com]

Coloured bulbs behind clear lenses are poor in any kind of daylight IMO. In bright sunlight they effectively cease to exist.

What I find even worse is the trend to mount indicators right next to headlights - even inside the headlight unit itself on some cars, such as the BMW Mini. When the headlights are on, they swamp any other light and render the indicators invisible.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Also and exactly that. At least one migraine was triggered by some bloody BMW up the Fishponds road.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Quite. Also, the bloody things are inboard of the headlights on some cars. Gah!

[the_axel]

I thought all cars in the UK had to have turn indicators on the side of the vehicle as well as front & rear?

On the plus side, at least you don't have to deal with rear indicators coming in red, so they are the same colour as tail & brake lights.
Or even more annoying, having the rear indicators being the tail lights flashing...