By Brendan Ulmer
Ulmer Uninterrupted
56th Avenue is no place to be after the sun goes down.
In my short-but-wide 2013 Chevy Impala, I sit at about eye level with the headlights of these modern SUVs and luxury pickup trucks that frequent that street.
Even with the dips in the road that hide the oncoming traffic, I can see the beams from their headlights peeking over the hill like a sunrise. Then, suddenly, I’m face-to-face with it, and a 2023 Chevy Tahoe is shooting two highly concentrated beams of light straight the back of my skull.
To say it blinds me might be a slight stretch; I can certainly see the headlights.
I’m quickly becoming less and less able to discern who is leaving their high beams on, and whose headlights are just unreasonably bright. At this point, there is not much of a difference.
LED headlights are now the standard among car manufacturers, and I think many of us are seeing the difference.
According to the website for headlight manufacturer J.W. Speaker, these headlights are for driver safety.
“LED headlights produce whiter light with better color rendering compared to halogen systems,” The website says. “This improved light quality enhances the driver’s ability to distinguish objects, road markings, and potential hazards.”
I mean, I can’t argue with that. With these new headlights, you’ll be able to see the instinctively closed eyes of oncoming drivers, and their car driving straight at you, in beautiful, crisp, LED white.
As much as I would like it to, I don’t think the LED genie is going back into the bottle any time soon.
The good news is, there may be a middle ground solution between me and those who like to stun oncoming traffic: adaptive driving beams.
Adaptive driving beams are just what they sound like: smart headlights that adjust to the road. If the driver is behind someone or there is oncoming traffic, the headlights dim to appropriate levels. If the driver has the road to themself in the darkness, and it’s safe to crank up the brightness, the adaptive headlights do just that.
These headlights have been used elsewhere in the world since 2012, and were approved for use in the United States four years ago. Since then, the adoption of this new technology has been slow. It’s only made its way onto some Tesla and Rivian vehicles within the last couple of years.
I would love to see this technology become the standard in the United States. I have no problem with people keeping their ridiculous, eye-melting LED headlights, as long as they tone it down a little around other drivers.
At the end of the day, when I’m trying to get up to K-61 on 56th, I would like to see the road I’m driving on the whole time. Please don’t forget to turn off your high beams for oncoming traffic.
Brendan Ulmer is a reporter for The Hutchinson Tribune. He can be reached at brendan@hutchtribune.com.