[blackwasp]

The Government of UK is considering plans to limit the type and power of car headlights. The United Nations Working Party, of which UK is a member, is looking into this after increasing public concerns. The move comes after a survey revealed that over 65% drivers faced trouble due to oncoming vehicle headlight glare even when dipped.

The survey was conducted by RAC, a British organisation that currently provides roadside assistance throughout the UK. The survey revealed that 15% of drivers were involved in a close call after being blinded by headlights of oncoming cars, or when looking back from the rear-view mirrors. Further, over 58% of respondents consider that the brightness of modern headlights is putting car drivers in danger of accidents. It was also reported that after getting blinded, it could take up 5 seconds for the driver's vision to normalise. This means, a driver in a car travelling at 96 km/h could take up to 120 meters before seeing clearly. The survey also pointed out that over 66% of drivers can't make out if the main beam of the other car is high or dipped.

The head lamps of the newer generation cars were found to be especially bright. Just 12% of motorist said the lights were at a correct brightness level. However, 66% reported that some cars have bright headlights and 22% felt all the new cars these days have excessively bright ones.

Currently, cars sold in UK must meet EU standards for headlights. But, recent advances in the technology have caused an increase in the intensity as well as the throw of the lights. Lights these days are either based on halogen projectors, high intensity discharge (HID) Xenon bulbs or LED lamps. It is also illegal to retrofit HID bulbs in older vehicles with halogen headlamp units.



Source - AutoExpress

Link to the Team-BHP News

[vishy76]

This is an excellent move IMHO. Having said that, a country like India needs this kind of a rule more.

We live in a country where morons on the other side of the road have no regard for us.

Manufacturers, while engineering strong LED/laser/bi-xenons headlamps assume that they would be used responsibly. But alas, only if this were true. This especially hurts on state highways, where there are no dividers. Just as an example, a Jaguar was coming in at 120 Km/hr from the opposite lane on a state highway very close to where I reside, and to make matters worse, had dipped his headlamps permanently to high beam.

I also feel that LEDs, with their sharp focus distract a lot more and cause glare than halogens or even Bi-xenons for that matter.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I also saw the BBC news item on this. Thanks for posting it here for discussion!

At least, in UK, there is a strong tradition of honouring the dipped-headlights rules and conventions, but it seems that modern lights re causing problems even when dimmed. I have not driven in UK for quite a few years now, I don't know what it is like now, but, brighter, "better," headlights hitting India en masse is a scary thought.

Even in UK, there are people to whom lighting has only two positions: on and off. High-intensity rear lights have been a menace there for a long, long time, and they would have been old technology when I was experiencing them.

[veedub89]

What a wonderful piece of news! Hoping for the Indian authorities to do the same is a little too much wishful thinking no? I feel very strongly about this issue. Check out my signature!

I feel bright headlights are a major nuisance on our roads. Retro-fitters being the biggest culprits. Bulbs that exceed a set standard should not be sold in India.

The cops too are unable to enforce the "no high beam" rules. This rule can't be enforced in the cities, let alone the highways.

I think the matrix/adaptive LED tech couldn't come sooner to all cars. This is one safety feature which will save countless lives. You can't put a blanket ban on high beam because in some places the streetlights aren't working or the road isn't properly lit so the high beam becomes necessary. It's sad but basic courtesy doesn't exist anymore and technology has to be used to keep people in line.

[bhaskaracs]

While projectors seemed like a good idea when they launched, facing such dazzling converged beams coming in the opposite direction causes havoc with one's vision for the next few seconds. I find them excessivey disturbing even compared to the normal halogen lamps, high beam or otherwise. The latter, as far as I am concerned allows an opportunity to shift the glance a little to the left (in India) to focus on the road and ignore the light. But a projector lamp beam constantly distracts even when one tries to shift their glance. I think we should go back to painting the top half of the headlamps in black!

[Maverick1977]

I may be a bit diverting from the overall topic but the issue in India is there are 2 types of drivers - One who use Headlights to See and One who use the Headlights to Show (off). The latter are a very dangerous breed as they will blast not one but sometimes up to 6 - 8 bulbs at a time (4 in the headlight - 2 for lower and 2 for higher), fog lamps and 2 additional fog lamps on the bumper. This clan of people simply seems to be enjoy blinding other road users and get some sort of a kick from doing so. It gets worse when such cars are stuck in traffic jam and you are on the opposite side, right in their pathway of creating Sunlight. On certain occasions I have lowered my window and offered them my spectacles to show how irritating it is.
The bigger culprits are not even cars but 2-wheeler's who feel that fitting those extra bright LED Aux lamps will make people move out of their way or something like that.

The question that remains is what is the solution? Fines are not a great deterrent as most don't bother paying 100 - 200 to the cops and getting away. The only way left is to educate people on the dangers of driving on high beam. I remember reading on Whatsapp a few months back how the Chinese cops were making people sit in front of their own vehicle's high beam and made to realize how irritating it can be. May be the cops in smaller towns can start doing it.

[V.Narayan]

UK is a country with a high civic sense and a genuine concern for not being a nuisance to others. If they are facing this because modern headlamps are so powerful even when dipped it raises a thought in my mind - what about the responsibility of car designers and manufacturers to design their products so it is not a source of trouble or worse safety risk to others on the road {ie a public common use facility}.

An associated thought albeit a little off topic - if a country has a speed limit of say 100 kmph for cars then does it make sense to permit only those cars to be sold that have a speed limit if 100 kmph. For flexibility and to eliminate gauge R&R we could add a 10% factor and make it 110 kmph. Roads must be one of the few, if not only, common use Govt provided facilities where you are allowed to drive a car with a top speed of 200 kmph in a country with a speed limit of 100kmph. All this only for our ego aggrandizement. Just leaving a thought out there in the ether.

When self driven cars take over (I said when not if) I suppose features that exist to appease our egos could go away - powerful engines, halogen lamps, high speeds, ability to swing around corners at top speed etc. I will probably be whacked for such sacrilegious thoughts but its on my mind. Imagine Mr powerful local politician on the highway in his black autonomous Fortuner along with two autonomous goon cars in front. And they are desperately waving for your autonomous E20 to move out of the way but their autonomous cars refuse to force a wrong over take and forcibly keep a safe distance behind while politician srimanji curses to himself

[Col Mehta]

Excellent news. And I'm not surprised to see this coming from country like the UK where, unlike us, they take health and safety VERY seriously. Glare from intensified high beams is a modern day menace and should be tackled on priority. I was once blinded by an oncoming BMW flashing high LED beam on a narrow lane which almost resulted in head-on collision. Gave him peace of my mind but not sure if that did anything good because per him, he did absolutely nothing wrong. It's sad to see poor apathy towards this issue.

While majority of drivers drive with high beam on causing hazards, it would be interesting to study how many actually get influenced to use it because of poor infrastructure such as no street lights, potholes, poorly constructed speed breakers etc.

[srishiva]

I think with the introduction of newer bulbs, the low beam is no longer what it was before. I am not even sure why they had to use these for low beams which is enabling longer throws. You are not going to be a high speed and not going to be at a very dark place when using those.

[venuvedam]

As someone who drives in the UK daily, I completely agree that the newer headlamps are troublesome even when they are dipped. In fact, I recently acquired a brand new car and it has these LED headlights that provide a great field of vision. So, I am using the high beam function less frequently now - even on deserted country roads at night.

It basically means that some of the high beam function is handled by my car's dipped mode! It stands to reason that it would cause considerable glare to the car coming in the opposite direction.

Wonder what the way forward would be though. Would all of us need to go back to the service center to "fix" the headlights?

[i74js]

Our forum members are no exception to this, several members take pride in presenting that not only the principal headlight, even the fog lamps have been replaced with either a projector or a high intensity LED setup.

This is nothing but misuse of cheap and readily available technology !

[alpha1]

I have never understood this thirst for "better" and more powerful headlamps.
Some advertisements want us to believe the more dazzling and more cool (bluish white) light will reduce accidents by illuminating the road ... No sir. You cannot match the illumination caused by the sun, so stop trying to emulate it.

Drive slow on roads where there are no dividers and barricades, anticipating the idiots jumping in.

[swiftdiesel]

It's not just headlights but tail lights too that need to be regulated. Most of the tail lamps now sport LED lights and they're extremely bright if not placed carefully. Last night I was following a new Swift and every time he braked, I was blinded. It was worse than the rear fog lamps of some cars. MSIL have either been very oblivious or just plain arrogant providing those LED tail lamps.

[2000rpm]

Absolutely essential in India!! Morons with xenon lights screw up the entire highway. These people dont realize the risk they put other drivers in. There should be a strong fine for such people. I think Chandigarh is the only city where people are fined for high beam within city. Was pleasantly surprised.

[aaggoswami]

Its wonderful to see UK government take initiative to eliminate the extra bright lights menace. One a more prudent side, a few numbers would be welcome, like amount of light in low beam and high beam (lumens), how many meters should the lights illuminate ahead and color temperature. Pleasant surprise that somewhere in the world this sort of safety hazard is being take up for discussion and solution. Safety is seriously compromised when extra bright lights blind oncoming traffic, its a hazard that is not tabled well across the world IMO.

At the cost of sounding paranoid, given the conditions prevalent in India coupled with ill-mannered driving patterns/drivers, a strong high beam is a must. Barely a fortnight ago, while returning from Indore, High Beam came to our rescue else we would have ended up in huge potholes at highway speeds and jumped over numerous unmarked speed breakers. Its an absolute must to control the high beam misuse but at the same time, quality of roads should improve too along with well lit highways. Educating drivers is the only and best long term solution. Am running 90/100W set up in one of my cars, the stock bulbs were too weak specially in wake of oncoming traffic. For lonely, dark roads the stock set up was good but as soon as oncoming traffic starts to appear, even high beam was of no use. Add to that uncertainties of our roads and an upgrade was essential IMO. Even in urban driving, vehicles with their high beam blazing warrants a strong high beam so that I can see atleast something ahead.

Next in line must be excessively bright tail lights. LED should be used for high mounted stop light and not in tail lights. At various traffic signals/intersections/bumper to bumper traffic, usually, I end up in a situation where dazzling high beams reflect in my ORVM and excessively loud (read bright) tail lights cause too much distraction.