[herr_oberst]

All of us old guys here who have been reading the trade journals all our lives can remember the lamentations of the writers at R&T and C and D complaining that we in America had to make do with the (easily overdriven) DOT headlamps while Europeans had H4's that were illegal here.

Fast-forward to today, I think the OP has a legitimate beef, but it's my opinion that it has less to do with the brightness of the new lamps and more to do with the fact that safety equipment checks aren't as prevalent, so the lamps aren't always aimed properly.

Because I'm getting old and my eyes aren't what they once were, I welcome the new regulations, it helps me to see at night, but like the OP, I make sure I really need to drive in the pitch dark and I definitely concentrate harder on my driving at night.

(Plus, from an aesthetic POV, I'm really glad that DOT got rid of the archaic sealed beam regulations. Cars CAN look so much better now that the car designers don't have to work within the regulations dictated by round or square headlamps.)