I drive a small car, I absolutely hate it when pavement princesses come up from behind and blind me. In general I want to give the cops as little reason to issue tickets as possible. Retroreflectors are why we can see signs from a distance when it's pitch black, so it's a good option that doesn't technically break any laws even if the law is basically completely unenforced
Yeah cops don't even pull people over with unaimed blue HIDs in halogen housings even though they can be spotted from miles away. The dispatcher also just wouldn't believe you if you reported someone for having a James Bond gadget on their car.
Can confirm. Inspired by this comic, I installed such a light bar in my car. Of course the very first tailgater I used it on so happened to be a cop. He just laughed when I explained why I did what I did, and then told me to never use it again. That was it. No ticket, didn't force me to disable it in front of him. I just promised him "never again" and was sent on my way.
The plates use retro-reflectors. Does not help much.
You see, if you have good/accurate retro-reflector, it reflects back to the light source. You need scattered reflector, but then, it is not as bright as to make incontinence for whoever uses high beams.
Honestly I just want a display in the back that has a few preset messages set to a button in the front. Stuff like "Please give me more space" or "Your headlights are too bright".
Barring that, would love a mirror that redirects headlights back to the driver's face. If I can deal with it, you can deal with it too.
I have this, you can buy a programmable LED sign off Amazon for a chunk of change ($150 for a decent sized one that's bright enough for daylight use), stick it in your rear window, and then make your own custom messages to display. My favorite is "Move over" after passing someone on the right I've been stuck behind in the left lane for the past two miles.
I want one of those, too. Ironically, I think I'd be using the "it's dark; turn on your headlights" preset more often than the “your headlights are too bright” one. (I blame daytime running lights: drivers see the ground lit up in front of them and don't realize they still have to turn the headlight switch in order for their taillights to come on too.)
A Mercedes-Benz chassis code W202 (90s C class, other E and S likely work too) can do this with minimal modification, only needing the lights to activate when near vertical (or just reflectors, no mod required). The car has no check for if the car is in motion or at what speed when the trunk is popped open via the center console. This also lifts up the license plate, obscuring it from view. You can travel about 45mph (72kph) before the wind resistance starts to push the trunk down. The springs are strong so unknown how fast you'd need to go before it was ineffective for this purpose/target car, or to attempt an 'auto close'.
Some truckers have this. Years ago I hit a deer with my Buick regal. The only thing wrong was the front right headlight was pointed upward. Picture the laziest eye you've ever seen... Before I got it fixed I must have pointed the thing right at a trucker's mirror and he turned his 1500 jigawatt spotlight on me and moved into the center to block me from passing. I was leading ~10 cars up the passing lane at the time. I'm sorry for blinding you dude, but now everyone on the road is blind with no way to resolve it. I can't get my headlight out of his mirror until I overtake. I guess he assumed I had my high beams on and was waiting for me to turn them off. Real 4d chess move...
I mean, you could've jury-rigged the light to point in roughly the correct direction, disconnected it, or even just not driven at night until it could be repaired. You didn't have to create that dangerous situation.
Can't do that while on the road, the trucker in this case was being a monumental asshat. That trucker is probably causing all kinds of fucked up dangerous situations at other times acting like that.
Thats why I stopped using the fog light to fuck up high beamers. It’s just another fight you‘re waiting to get in. People will overtake and brakecheck you or do the same just to get back at you. A large portion of the polulation is literally braindead. I just step off the gas now and make them overtake since they think I‘m too dumb to find the gas pedal. Less hustle, faster solution.
A large portion of the polulation is literally braindead.
Yup. Just joining a dating app revealed just how many trump supporters and Covid deniers are out there. Tonnes. And not even in America. Fucking scary.
Side note: If you find smart people, do not let them go. FOMO will just get you alone and deny good shit from happening.
easier to just install an LED marquee display in your back window that runs off of an arduino, and have pre-programmed messages that scroll like "turn your high beams off" or "put your phone down". wire a couple push buttons to it and you can really get your point across on demand.
That doesn't work for the 6 foot tall f150 blinding you with their low beams. Also, not as satisfying. Or deadly. A little collateral damage is just something we have to live with.
But on most cars the rear fog light is one (sometimes two) 21 watts incandescent bulb behind red plastic. Same as a single brake light. That's not going to bother someone with blinding LED headlights.
Which is why I installed the light bar in my rear window instead.
P.S. If you install one of these, it only has the desired effect 10% of the time. 90% of the time it will only make the asshole tailgate you even harder. A more effective solution is to trade in your vehicle for a sports car, and implement the "drop a gear and disappear" technique.
My thoughts exactly. It’s just not worth it. Either stomp the gas pedal or take your foot off entirely. That usually makes them overtake and piss off. Only retaliate if you‘re ready to see it through.
Every lane except the rightmost is the passing lane. You only need to be in the third lane over if you're overtaking a car that is itself also overtaking a car.