Review the brightness of car headlights for safety

[Garlickit]

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/653793

Inspired by AIBU thread, "To think night driving is getting more dangerous"

The Government should launch a review into the problem of some headlights causing oncoming traffic drivers to be unable to see clearly and safely. The review should be conducted with car manufacturers to find solutions.

The RAC raised this issue as far back as 2018 and its recent study showed that nine-in-10 drivers think some or most car headlights on the UK’s roads are too bright. Government data shows that there are around 300 collisions every year where dazzling headlights are a factor.

The RAC has often written about this: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/rac-calls-for-government-action-on-headlight-glare/

Signed!

Signed.

Thank you, signed (from all 3 of my email addresses).

Signed! I was affected by this issue yesterday. it's also worse when it's a 4WD that's higher than a normal car, so the lights are directed more at your eyes.

Ha! Nice one ✅

Signed. I can't drive at night anymore.

Thanks. I’ve signed.

Good idea. Signed!

Thank you OP, signed and shared

This issue is definitely gaining traction- heard it discussed recently on Jeremy Vine

Agree. I am surprised they are legal! Shouldn't need a petition!

Signed.

Signed. I turn off main beam for approaching traffic, but the lights from these cars you can't even tell the difference they're so bright.

That's good. It should help people realise they aren't the only ones getting dazzled by these dangerous lights. Please do share the petition!

Tripled since this thread started!

I’m amazed there are still under 1000 signatures though. Everyone I know complains about this! Can someone post it on Twitter or something?

Surely they could just make them without the blue light? I have led bulbs in bedrooms like this, they are yellow.

Signed. I have to do a lot of long distance driving and this is really affecting me now. It used to be every now and then you’d get bright headlights but now it seems to be most of them. It’s so dangerous.

I have a problem with the very bright lights cyclists have on their helmets (not the ones attached to the bikes - very happy for those to be as bright as possible). The helmet ones are not dipped and shine directly into drivers eyes as they are the same height.

Signed. It really hurts

Surprised there's not been a petition on this before. It's a real problem.

Signed. I cant believe how bright some headlights are. We need to have them less bright AND a warmer colour instead of that icy/blue white that sears your retinas.

I also agree with the poster who mentioned the blinding strobe bike lights.

The problem is 2 fold I think, led lights are pure white so piercing to the eyes rather than the yellow of conventional bulbs or the blue tinge of gas discharge.

The other issue, as been mentioned, SUVs are higher than normal cars, along with the flat fronts on all cars now for pedestrian safety enable higher headlights so dipped beam is less effective

Signed. We were talking about this the other day in work. It's really dangerous.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/561321

This one, now closed, never got off the ground. It had some good points.

1. Ban blue/white colours, this makes it harder than yellow to readjust to a dark road.

2. Remove sharp cutoff, we live in a hilly country meaning one is exposed to an unnecessarily bright light when an oncoming vehicle crosses the brow of a hill or speed bump

Many drivers are being blinded, this could cause near misses and accidents due to badly designed headlights.Sharp cutoff headlights are quite high intensity below the cut off, blinding others at summits.White and blue light scatter easily, therefore blue lights turn fog, windscreens and helmet visors completely blue when shined on, yellow does not do this, this was a reason we moved to LP Sodium (orange) streetlights in the 60's.