Because when they're not blinding everyone they work really, really, really, well (to the safety and convenience of the users) and so anyone who tries to "do anything" will be caught trying to mediate between the two groups of screeching idiots and this is a fairly mundane issue so the upside is pretty small. Nobody's career takes off because they brokered a revision of headlight rules.

The whole situation reeks of the kind of thing that'll be mostly solved with technological progress over time (one of the german makes already has something that exempts a car in front of you from having the LEDs focused on it, I assume development is ongoing) and it really just remains to be seen if we get some law (which probably won't be decisive since this is a fairly subjective issue with no "obvious" answer) along the way.

> Also, I think it was a mistake switching street lamps over to cool color tones, something that happened amid the clean energy push.

I believe this was a combination of coincidence (newer lighting technologies just happening to be a cooler white) and other intent (cooler light being supposed to keep you awake). I'd say the connection to clean energy is strenuous at best.

Also there are AFAIK various initiatives to go to more yellow LED lighting.

> Also, anyone driving in the city with their high-beams or fog lights on should be ticketed at an increasing rate.

At least in my neck of the woods, it seems like lighting enforcement has gone from slim to none. I regularly see vehicles with only one of three brake lights functioning... and sometimes I've seen the same vehicle with the same lighting issue for several months.

If there's no enforcement on vehicle lighting from behind, there's definitely not going to be much on the front lighting, because an officer would need to see the lighting, turn around and give chase. Well, that or inspections, but the vast majority doesn't want inspections because they cost money.

All that said, what's the problem with fog lights? They're not actually useful, but they don't present a safety hazard and it's always fun to wonder how long a car has had one fog light out, and if they'll figure out how to turn the fog lights off before the other one burns out.

I'm in the big city. I've experimented with using my running/position lights only on slower, congested streets at night when the street is well illuminated. I know I have a car with annoyingly bright LED headlights, so it feels like I'm being courteous. The LED position lights are surprisingly bright too, but at least it' s diffuse. When the street is less illuminated or traffic is more sparse my regular headlights go on.

This does not influence the behavior of oncoming traffic with high-beams on, whether due to ignorance, entitlement, or because their low-beams are burnt out and they can't be bothered, or afford to replace them.

It's also not legal to do what I do, so it's ironic that I'm probably at higher risk for ticketing for not driving with headlights than people with high-beams or broken lights (to be fair not a lot of people get ticketed for basic violations in STL city).

I do wish I could have them angled down on demand, or follow a set level point regardless of vehicle tilt (like on hills, speedbumps, etc). They do have a feature where the lights steer into the direction of travel, if only they did that vertically too.

Not polarized since glasses, but I've start wearing specially made night driving glasses at night. They have a yellow tint, and so they strive to reduce glare. Doesn't solve the issue of some asshole in a Tesla who tunes his lights to be aimed as high as possible, but it helps

I would suggest you check your eyes as well.

Age progressively adds deposits in the lenses in your eyes, and at some point cataract surgery replaces the lens with a clear one.

Thing is, these deposits work like a dirty windshield in sunlight - you can't see because of the glare. The glare is just off-axis light hitting a surface and scattering - it illuminates the entire surface reducing contrast.

The more deposits and/or the brighter the light, the more it behaves like an completely fogged windshield.

(there is also another kind of glare that affects young eyes - a very bright point of light can cause pain in the retina where it focuses)

Umm, as a frequent bike commuter for a lot of my career, hell yes I complained. Every time going across Seattle’s I-90 bridge to Mercer Island, for starters. Where ever did you get the idea that cyclists aren’t complaining about headlights that easily overpower whatever 500 lumen light they’re using on their bike?