Headlights seem a lot brighter these days because they are [Video]

If you feel a bit like a deer caught in the headlights every time you hit a dark road recently, you’re not alone. Experts say the LED headlights on newer vehicles are, in fact, more blinding than what most people grew up with.

“It’s not in everybody’s head. It is real,” Daniel Stern, chief editor of Driving Vision News and lighting researcher, told CBC News.

“Headlights are getting brighter, smaller and bluer. All three of those things increase a particular kind of glare. It’s called discomfort glare,” he said.

Experts like Stern say headlight glare is a serious issue across North America as vehicles transition from warmer old-style halogen lights. Newer LED headlights create a more intense, concentrated light that’s bluer and can force people to squint in discomfort.

Canada’s regulations have been adjusted — but researchers say they have not yet caught up to headlight technology common in other …