We all need headlights to see when we're driving at night, but headlights are a two-way proposition:  they need to be bright enough to provide the best visibility for the person behind the headlights but not so bright that they blind or distract the person facing the headlights.  It seems to me that the balance has shifted recently in favor of the person behind the headlights and has considerably disadvantaged the person facing the headlights.

I am not speaking of oncoming drivers who fail to dim high beams.  They can be written off as inconsiderate idiots who are probably also guilty of every bad driving habit imaginable.  What I'm referring to are two phenomena in particular:  (1) the increase in the number of vehicles equipped with an extra pair of lights beneath the standard headlights and (2) the emergence of little white headlights (are they halogen?) on certain vehicles.

The "four-eyed" cars are especially annoying.  I have never owned one, but I understand that they are all equipped so that one may turn off the additional lights when they are not needed.  Yet, though these extra lights are intended for use in fog or other poor-visibility conditions, most people who own these vehicles drive with them on all the time.  The effect is almost as bad as facing oncoming high beams, and sometimes I flick my high beams at these drivers just on general principles.   Either they're too stupid to turn these lights off when they don't need them, or they don't give a damn.

Of course, virtually all SUVs are equipped with extra lights below the regular headlights.  Since I have a bias against SUVs and believe that most SUV owners don't need them but have acquired them only for status, their redundant use of extra lights annoys me all the more.  "Hey, fella," I'm thinking, "It's bad enough that your %$$#$% tank has regular headlights so far off the ground that they hit me right in the eyeballs.  Do you need to run two more lights and be a complete a**h***?"  Don't we all love it when a tailgating SUV shines its lights into our rearview and sideview mirrors?  I want to pull over, let the bozo pass, and then get behind him with a 500 megawatt searchlight.

The new white headlights are another story.  Here I blame the engineers; the people who own cars equipped with these lights have little choice but to use them.  Did the engineers test these lights, or did they decide to use them because they look "stylish"?  (I notice that the white lights are more common on upscale vehicles.)  According to my mechanic, the white lights do not increase visibility for the driver; they are, in fact, less efficient than the older style.  According to my optician, the most expensive and advanced tint one can buy for eyeglasses is virtually useless in eliminating the glare created by these lights.  But automobile engineers are interested only in what will sell; sense and safety are secondary.

Of course, it's a lost cause.  Almost all of us become completely self-centered as we drive along in our metallic cocoons.  As long as we can see fine, it doesn't matter what effect we're having on everyone else.