Comment from Robert Moore

I live in South Carolina, a state without road shoulders, nor vehicle safety/emissions inspection. In addition, we are fond of tall pickup trucks. Last I worked in automotive service, the only approved headlight was the sealed-beam, and the common means of aiming was via the T-3 nubbins on the glass lenses. Pickups were low and lower as actual working vehicles, and cars were about the same headlight height. The standards called for headlight beams to be aimed entirely withing the lane ahead tending toward the shoulder ahead, and the angle of decent was specified, resulting in low-beams illuminating maybe 150 feet ahead and slightly further along the right shoulder for most vehicles. Elevated forward-facing white lighting was illegal. The increased height of vehicles, specifically pickups, was not anticipated nor addressed, as the aiming standard did not compensate for the height of the headlight, only the angle of decent. The coverage of the integral high-beams was not considered, and courtesy demanded dimming them to low-beams when oncoming traffic was encountered. Certain brands/models of domestic cars offered auto-dimming that sensed oncoming traffic and switched to low-beams. Even so, most drivers much preferred the separated four-lane interstate highways over the common rural two-lanes for comfortable driving at night. The relatively dim sealed-beam headlights gave sufficient vision for most circumstances, and the halogen sealed-beams just made things a little better, while still limited to the 55 watts (?) allowed. Only the deeply involved ventured into European standard lighting, but they found the light pattern to deliver more light where it mattered for vision, and less glare toward oncoming traffic. What's wrong with this picture. Eventually the spec sealed-beam standard was repealed, but the available intelligence from abroad was not incorporated along with it. Now, it's the wild west. If you can see a clear shadow of yourself against your interior, or you feel as though you could unfold a newspaper and read it in the illumination from behind, the vehicle behind either has his high-beams on, his headlights mis-aimed, or is lifted to the point that it defeats the intent of the regulations. Nothing, aside from law-enforcement, can be done about the first, but sensible standards and periodic vehicle inspection can address the others. If your low-beam headlights illuminate the car ahead above their tail-lights (license plate?), you are a candidate for aiming. If, while stopped at a traffic control, your lights illuminate the interior of the car ahead, you are driving a vehicle that is illegal by manufacture and should be retrofitted to comply with driving norms. Consideration of absolute lumens or color temperature do need to be addressed, but let's start with the simple things that can be controlled. Those aspects can be evaluated scientifically and adapted accordingly. For now, let's just keep our headlights out of other drivers' eyes. Just as my property lighting should not be directly visible to my neighbor, my headlights direct beams should focus on only the road ahead in my lane, and never be seen directly by another driver.