[Christ]

Pardon that last post, it was mixed up - I was thinking of colored lights which imitate HIDs, such as the retarded blue lights that you can buy from PIAA, which are illegal for street use, and are basically a painted bulb that actually emits less light, since the blue acts as a filter to all other wavelengths.

HID lighting, on the other hand, has several "intensities", which are measured in color temperature. The Yellow, low temp lights are closer to the color you see/get with OEM Halogen lights, the deep blue hues and anything hotter are the types that people think cause more "glare" to oncoming drivers.

All HID lighting provides a sharper "edge" to the light, which takes getting used to for someone who's new to it, but it does not actually create any more glare when used/implemented properly. The glare (as I posted above) that people see comes from the fact that the human eye does not adjust to intake of blue light (which has also been proven to affect mood, and level of comfort, partially for the same reason), so it seems like the bluish lights are actually more bright to oncoming drivers. The light itself has a straighter wavelength, though, so there is lower stray light emission, meaning less glare and more light with less atmospheric distortion.

HID lights as aftermarket, as I understand it, are illegal unless the kits are approved by NHTSA or some other (DOT) governing agency, because they're not installed/implemented correctly, and could damage the vehicle, as well as blinding oncoming traffic. True HID lighting (again, AFAIK) has a parabolic lens that filters and "straightens" the beam of light to a focused beam with very little stray emission, and the normal reflective housings utilized with halogen and other lighting systems isn't capable of concentrating the light particles properly.