u/hydratedstoner

I know there are a million posts complaining about modern headlights, but I’m at my wit's end and genuinely looking for advice on how you all manage. Nighttime driving has become so stressful for me. The main issue I have is when a large truck or SUV gets right on my bumper with those blazing bright LED headlights. It completely blinds me. My rearview and side mirrors turn into blinding laser beams, and I literally cannot see the road ahead of me. Because I can't see, I'm forced to constantly adjust my mirrors, slow way down and try to react safely. But then I get people right on my tail getting pissed off that I'm slowing down. I'm sorry, but I just don't feel comfortable driving 75 mph when someone is glued to my bumper and I'm functionally temporarily blinded! It’s equally awful when they're coming toward me in the opposite lane, though at least then I can try the trick of looking down and to the right at the edge of the road. But when they're behind me, there's nowhere to look to escape it. I always have to slow down and adjust my mirrors or else I literally can’t see where I’m going. It probably doesn’t help either that I must wear prescription lenses to drive, which unfortunately just bounces in more light around. Dealing with this is making me, like many others, hate driving at night.

So, I have to ask:

1. How do you guys actually manage to stay safe and see what’s going on?
2. Are there any products open to the public that actually help offset or fix this? (Like anti glare films for side mirrors, specific glasses, clip on mirrors, etc.)

 

If you’ve found any tips that are saving your sanity please,
Share. I’m exhausted you guys.

P.s if you’re a truck or suv owner and you know those lights are too bright please stop tailgating you’re blinding us which is why we slow down. K bye ✌🏼

Verizon sucks. A couple of months ago, I was talked into switching my service from T-Mobile over to Verizon. Apple was taking forever to fix my phone, so I went into Verizon just planning to get a cheap prepaid burner to hold me over. The rep completely sold me on moving my main line over mostly for convenience reasons. My bill ended up being about $7 more a month than what I paid at T-Mobile, which I was fine with if the coverage was actually top tier. (Which he claimed service would get much better in my area than T-mobile)

Well it’s been about 2 months at this point and the service is absolute garbage. 🗑️ Its been pretty bad since day one but at first I thought maybe it was just a dead zone, but I commute all across Southern California. It doesn't matter what city I'm in. At some point every single day my phone just completely stops working for at least 30 minutes and up to 1-2 hours. Two days ago, I finally hit my breaking point and called customer support (which is a complete joke btw.. clearly outsourced offshore to people reading scripts who have zero tech knowledge) to just pay off the remaining $30 balance on my phone so I could cancel and port my number back to T-Mobile.

Instead of just letting me leave, the phone rep talked me into staying by promising a free "upgrade" to a better plan for a couple of months to fix the issue and if it worked then I would continue paying that now higher rate. Makes zero sense for me since at this point T-mobile was worlds better but I gave it a shot since it would be free for a couple of months. Next day? The service was actually MUCH worse. Since phone support takes forever to reach and you have to talk to AI a whole bunch to even get a human, I went ahead and walked into a physical Verizon store near me to just pay off the phone, get my account/PIN info to port out, and leave. (All of which I couldn’t do at this point from home because I have no internet signal) 😒

The employee who helped me was insanely hostile when he realized I wasn’t going to let him sell me anything. The second I mentioned wanting to switch back to T-Mobile, he stopped trying to help and went full defense mode for the corporation. He claimed "Well service just isn't good in this specific area." I told him I don't live in this city and that I get terrible service across all of SoCal. But still, if you KNOW Verizon doesn’t have great coverage in this city, why sell it here? 🤨

He then tried to blame my plan saying, "That's because you're on our base plan, you need to upgrade." I told him support upgraded my plan already when I called and service was actually worse. He straight up argued with me, claiming I was just placed on the base plan yesterday. When I asked how that even works since I was already paying for a the basic unlimited plan to begin with, he halfway answered the question and just tried to pull me over to a chart to upsell me. At some point he’s getting visibly stressed because I’m not really trying to hear him out on upgrading. He goes on to say that it's my fault then for not paying for a higher tier. It got so tense at one point that other employees and customers were literally stopping to watch us. I tried to deescalate and just said, "Look, I'm really not interested in upgrading anymore. I don’t like the service. I just want to pay off the $30 I owe you guys and get what I need to port out."

He grumbles and says he needs to send a verification link to my phone so he can access my account to process payment or get the port information. I can't open the link because I HAVE NO VERIZON SERVICE IN THE VERIZON STORE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REP.

I asked if I could connect to store WiFi to receive and load the link. He looked me dead in the face and told me NO. 🫠

So I'm standing in a Verizon store, with a Verizon rep right in front of me, unable to pay off my device or get any kind of account help because Verizon's service is whack, and they won't even let me use their WiFi to process the request on my own. When I asked if I could just give him the cash/card to clear the $30 at least before I just head over to T-Mobile, he refused and said he couldn't do anything without me approving the app prompt first. Mind you, I gave the man my physical ID and I, the account holder, was standing RIGHT in front of him with money. 🫩😂 This place is an absolute joke. I ended up just finding free WiFi somewhere else, since my cell provider couldn’t allow me to use theirs. Makes sense. Anyways, I have figured it out and switched back to T-Mobile. Boy I tell ya, I will NEVER again complain again about T-Mobile after dealing with shitty Verizon service. (Both coverage and customer service) I also later learned that I didn’t even have to pay off the 30$ before switching, which is cool and great to know. But idk why not one rep could have told me that. Oh I know! Cos they don’t earn commission for actually helping you lmao.

Why do these store reps act like you're insulting their mother when you point out that you’re not satisfied and want to cancel your plan? Does it get counted against you or something? Does it affect your pay? Genuinely curious atp because I think we all know Verizons been taking a bit of a loss the last few years and idk if they’re taking it out on the workers or what. Idk if this is even the right sub for this but yeah I’m done with Verizon. Terrible coverage and terrible customer service

TL;DR - After a rep convinced me to switch from T-Mobile, Verizon's service turned out to be complete garbage across SoCal with daily dead zones. Customer support convinced me an "upgrade" would solve the issue. That only made it worse, so I walked into a physical store to pay off my phone and get my port out PIN. The rep threw a defensive tantrum because I wouldn't take another sales pitch, and when he tried sending a verification link in store I obviously couldn’t access it due to poor signal. He point blank refused to let me use store WiFi so that I could pay and port out, leaving me trapped with zero cellular signal inside a Verizon store. I had to go to a public library just to get Wi-Fi and handle it myself. Why do these reps take it so personally when you just want to leave?

EDIT for the "just use the app / check the fine print / upgrade your phone" comments:

It’s not a hardware issue: I’m using a brand new, unlocked iPhone bought directly from Apple that worked great on T-Mobile. (The latest model)

"Just use the app / dial #PORT": Both the app prompt and the ⁠#PORT⁠ text send you a web link to generate the transfer PIN. You cannot load a web link with zero internet connection. I asked for store Wi-Fi specifically to load that link, and the rep point blank refused.

Deceptive Sales Pitch vs. Transparency: If the "Welcome Plan" is practically unusable in high traffic areas, reps shouldn't pitch it as "the fastest, best coverage in SoCal" just to close a sale. Staff should be upfront about plan limitations instead of making false promises, leaving customers with dead service, and then forcing them to either upgrade or jump through hoops to leave.

I didn't walk into the store to throw a fit. I walked in with money in hand to pay off the $30 for the burner phone, get the info I need to switch plans and leave. The rep threw a defensive tantrum, refused my payment, and blocked Wi-Fi access to prevent me from porting out. That’s not "customer entitlement," that's garbage service. And the fact that so many reps are in the comments saying “we don’t care” “we don’t get paid to provide customer service” “don’t come to the store for help” just tells me everything I need to know to make an informed choice on where I’ll be spending my money. It’s not a surprise to me that Verizon is still losing business. 🤷‍♀️

Side bar - This is the Verizon_sucks subreddit right? Why do I have brand fanboys in the comments jumping to defend Verizon and blaming me for my bad experience? 😭😭 Why are yall HERE

I had to drive through Riverside today to visit an old friend, and it genuinely triggered me. It brought back such a heavy wave of stress and trauma that I really need to get off my chest. I know people are probably gonna down vote this or think I’m just being extra, but this is simply based on my own lived experience in the city. I’m not from the IE but I lived there for some time before moving again.

I lived in Riverside for over two years. For those two years, I didn't have a car. I had to commute everywhere by walking and taking the bus. Navigating this city on foot is a completely different universe than driving through in a locked car, and the stuff I went through here was straight up traumatic. What makes it so crazy to me is that technically, I lived in a decent little pocket up near Doty Trust Park back in the hills in a nice house. I used to volunteer at the senior center nearby on La Sierra, go to the baseball games at the park, and walk my dog. But literally as soon as you step 20 minutes down the street, it’s absolute mayhem. Even walking my dog near Doty Trust at 9:30 PM or heading toward La Sierra Park especially, I’d have weirdos cornering me to ask for my phone, watching me because they knew I was on foot, or straight up almost jumping and robbing me.

Living as a pedestrian here broke my patience for this city:

The Assault Downtown: It wasn't even late at night in some dark alley. It was a lively Saturday night near the main downtown transit hub while I was trying to get home. A random guy (looked super faded) asked for my number, I said no, and he straight up punched me in the face. I had to wear shades for three weeks. A whole crowd of people and other men just sat there and watched. Nobody did a single thing.

Magnolia & La Sierra Hub: I had to use the stops near Magnolia and La Sierra (by the Cane’s, Panda Express, and that Mexican restaurant) constantly to get to work. That stretch is absolute nightmare fuel. I’ve seen heavily drugged out people violently tearing up store building exteriors while waiting for the bus, people walking around completely naked, and a level of volatile aggression that reminds me of the worst parts of LA. Once, a homeless guy clearly off drugs tried to physically assault me in front of the Panda Express there near the bus stop and there was a whole grown ass man there who stood and watched but again, said nothing. 🫩💀 side note - I was a single, pretty woman in my early 20s when I lived in Riverside and was almost always alone

Being Stalked & Ignored by Cops: I’ve been stalked on foot and followed by cars for blocks on multiple occasions, usually by men trying to solicit me for s*x work… Once I had a man who really wouldn’t take no for an answer and followed me in his car for over 20 minutes so I called the police while, again MIND YOU, literally being actively followed by this man, and dispatch flat out told me they wouldn't send anyone until the person "actually did something to me. Unreal. I was SO done after that and had to move. Because not only do the men fail to stand up for women BUT EVEN THE DAMN COPS WONT SHOW UP like what are we even talking about rn. This stuff happened years ago but it still gets me hot to this day because wtf?

MORE RPD Negligence: Another time, I suffered a head injury inside a store in Riverside. I was disoriented and trying to call 911 myself because the store employees said their manager wouldn’t let them call cops until they did a formal incident report. 🫩😒 So I called myself and Riverside PD dispatch literally refused to send help because I wasn't answering all their background questions properly.. even though I was telling them I was bleeding from the head, disoriented, and giving them my location the best I could. Meanwhile, you can't drive 20 minutes through town without seeing five routine traffic stops set up. And please don’t even get me started on Riverside Community Hospital. They were awful to me that night I came in with the head injury and pretty much were willing to let me bleed out until I LITERALLY lost consciousness in the lobby.

The Fatigue of Everything Locked Up: It adds to the burnout when practically every store you walk into has basic everyday items and liquor locked behind glass. It just constantly reminds you of where you are.

The Aggression vs. Other Cities: I’ve lived and worked in a couple other parts of the IE as well. Mostly Pomona and Corona for equal amounts of time. In Pomona, people on the street mostly knew me, left me alone, or there was a baseline level of mutual respect. Honestly in my hood there the members actually looked out for me because they knew I lived there but was a regular person. In Corona, people mostly mind their own business. But in Riverside…especially along Magnolia and transit corridors? The street harassment is constant and deeply unpredictable. Reminds me much of certain parts of Fontana or Ontario. I know every city has nice spots and bad spots. And Riverside does have SOME good food, and cool hiking trails. But when you live somewhere without access to a vehicle you really do get to see the city and its people in a different way. 💯

Now I'm not posting this to be petty or "bougie." I'm just sick of people acting like these safety issues aren't real. Even driving through today, same shit. Multiple traffic stops on a Monday night, literally seen about 5. Had to stop at the gas station, everything’s all busted had to go inside to pay cos someone broke the machine. Weirdos hanging outside and of course everything’s locked up. 😭 Just really brought back those old memories for me and reminded me of how bad it was living there. No offense to anyone from there because I have met some cool people from Riverside. But for anyone else who has had to commute on foot or bus in Riverside: did you experience this same level of craziness, or did I just catch the absolute worst of it?

TL;DR: Used to live in Riverside with no car. Got punched downtown for saying no to a guy, stalked multiple times, hit in a crosswalk by a reckless driver who also ran, and ignored by RPD dispatch during emergencies. The city's pedestrian infrastructure and violent street harassment culture make it deeply unsafe to navigate without a vehicle, regardless of how nice certain pockets are.

I was in the far right lane of a 3-lane road doing the exact speed limit since my turn was coming up. Road was basically empty except for one car way over in the left lane. Out of nowhere, this huge lifted pickup truck gets right on my ass. MIND YOU, the middle lane was completely open. He could’ve passed me easily, but instead he stayed two feet from my bumper and turned his high beams on. I literally just flipped my rear view mirror up so I wouldn't get blinded and kept driving, like I usually do when these asshole tailgate and flash their high beams at me.

Then out of nowhere, two baby skunks ran right out in front of my car. I had to slam on the brakes so I didn't hit them. Because the pickup was tailgating so close, he had no time to stop of course. He panicked, yanked his wheel to the left to swerve into the middle lane, and at that exact moment, the car from the far left lane was merging into the middle lane too. The truck swerved so hard into them that he clipped their rear end, lost control, and ended up rolling the truck over. I pulled off further down to call 911 and wait for cops to give a statement. Everyone ended up being alright thank God, but seriously... what a jump scare and for literally no reason. When I tell you guys the idiot could’ve easily passed me several minutes before, I mean he had so much time. I would’ve just moved into the middle lane and let him pass if I hadn’t had my turn coming up. but I don’t get why people like this don’t just go around when they can. It’s like they want to control what other people do instead of controlling themselves. Anyways, hopefully he learned his lesson finally. I just wanted to vent because it was pretty scary but I think he got what he deserved and I don’t at all feel bad 🤷‍♀️

Edit - holy I did not expect this to get so many comments I haven’t seen everything yet but I do agree with some of you that stopping for small animals can be dangerous for sure. I was honestly a bit stunned in the moment and just reacting to seeing two black puffballs jump out of nowhere at me! 🦨 🦨 and YES the skunk babies were okay too haha 🤣 Sure, I could’ve just plowed into them I suppose, BUT that still doesn’t negate the fact that buddy shouldn’t have been tailgating and trying to bully me off the road. The cop agreed with me and the other driver also vouched for me. 🤷‍♀️ Again, he had MORE than enough time and space to pass. He chose not to, and decided he’d rather tailgate and flash his high beams for whatever reason.

So yeah, I do think he got what he deserved and I still don’t feel bad for him. Any one of us could’ve ended up seriously hurt or worse so fuck that guy tbh. It only sucks for the other driver but thankfully they were okay and their car wasn’t super damaged from what I saw. Hopefully people that tailgate see this and realize it’s just not worth it. Slow down or go around if you can. Stop taking other people’s driving so personally.

Jesus Christ … last edit just to be clear, I didn’t break check anybody. Why would I risk my own life and vehicle just to prove a point? Nobody with a sober mind does or even thinks of stuff like that. Maybe ask yourselves why you’d make that assumption in the first place. Maybe it’s something you’d be willing to do, but not everyone is as crazy as you are. And I was NOT on the freeway. This was a three lane surface street.

But let’s just play devils advocate and say that I was the kind of maniac to do something insanely illegal, like break checking someone on a freeway? I probably wouldn’t stick around to give a statement to the COPS 😂 Okay I’m done.