In Great Britain we drive on the left hand side of the road, the design of our headlamps is such that they light up the left hand side of the road and pavement more then the area to the right, this is to avoid blinding the drivers who are coming towards us. When traveling into Europe is is necessary to mask a portion of the headlamp to remove the "kick off" of the beam pattern, as not to dazzle the on coming drivers as now in effect they are in the area of the road where your headlamps are designed to shine.
Of course you could fit Left hand drive headlamps as they would be efficient but they are costly and you would have to have the alignment check once in your chosen foreign country.

Below is a diagram of what you would see if you were to shine your lights against a wall, if you move your mouse over the diagram you will see the effect you are trying to achieve, the removal of the "kick off"by masking a portion of the headlamp.

Move your mouse over the diagram.

You can buy from car accessory shops beam deflectors, which are self adhesive pieces of plastic that once attached to the headlamp in the right place remove the kick off, but as with most things of this nature they are universal and are designed to fit a wide range of vehicles, trouble is that generally they are too big and they reduce the light too much leaving you with really dim headlamps, not ideal at all.
There is a solution, mask the area yourself with what you have laying around! My personal favorite is Fablon, Blue Peters favorite sticky back plastic, available from DIY stores for the elderly generation to line drawers with, available in loads of colours, but black being the colour of choice.
Good old gaffer tape is an option, its thick so it won't let light through but it may be difficult to remove once back in the UK.

Mouse over the image to see where to mask a square headlamp

Mouse over to see where to mask a round H4 headlamp.

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