and they had to be pointed high because the average speed is fast, and the speed people are driving is definitely way too fast for safety.

If anything, LEDs having MUCH better lifespans than bulbs is saving people.

There are 2 (4 if high beams are separated) incandescent light bulbs in a car without LEDs.
There is at least 1 extra point of redundancy.
Also car light bulbs are made to last longer in automotive environment.

LEDs having better lifespan in a paper. But In real world your mileage may vary.

I’m not against LEDs, but current execution is bad: too bright, too easy to blind other people.

This isn’t strictly true. Even with the same beam pattern, LEDs will inherently have more glare. This is due to a combination of the physics of how LEDs project light in a more directed beam than more uniform halogens, and because they produce a cooler light that our brains interpret as brighter even at the same intensity as a warmer light. But yeah, the height issue has been a problem for a long time, even before LEDs were in use, LEDs have simply exasperated the problem there. And while mismounting them will lead to issues, upgrades are still a relatively small portion of headlights compared to factory ones.