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/

I wondered if I could thank you again for highlighting this? I can't go near LED lights at all because they give me migraines, and I can't go out at night because of all the headlights and streets lights.

Lightaware are campaigning about it but getting precious little movement on it.

https://lightaware.org/

Thanks for that, @OnceAgainAgain. I'd never heard of LightAware! They've had a meeting with the Dept of Transport, so the issue's been raised (again).

The petition's growing nicely, but still has a long way to go. Keep signing & sharing!

I agree, they take ages to dip. I drive unlit country roads and I've seen the oncoming lights and dipped mine then I'm often waiting to see if I will be blinded or not. It's scary when you can't see. It's not that I'm getting older either, my child is learning to drive and he struggles too. Can't they override it and dip them themselves?

The bright white ones are the worst in the rain and the dark, they should only be in yellow white.

Signed, what's with drivers keeping their headlights on in the daylight too? Should be an offence.

Signed and thanks for posting this.
My dh always jokes to me throughout the winter about my "curfew". Basically because I just find it too dangerous for me now to drive at night with the amount of glare from headlights.
I'm furious about this to be honest and it has really curtailed my life a lot in the last few years. I never wanted to be that woman that had to be driven places and couldn't do it herself. 🙁I'm only in my early 40's and it really does bother me. The older yellow lights I have no issues with.

Meanwhile if I walk our dog at night I'm tripping up all over the place because the streetlights are so crap and only illuminate a very narrow amount of pavement.

I get the flash of blue lights in my rear view mirror too @bluedomino - didn't know it was a thing - it's disconcerting. I find the lights worse from behind, I only have a small car so maybe it's a height thing, I frequently have to tilt my mirror.

Oh yes, these are awful, especially on vans . When they are behind me in my little C1 I am rendered blind.

Driving home today on the motorway I passed through never ending roadworks and was blinded by their lights. No workmen.. just a giant bright led light pointing directly at oncoming traffic! If I was on twitter I’d be tempted to tweet highways agency.

I agree that the lights on some newer cars are shocking. I thought there were regulations about this - are there no regulations, or has technology changed so that the regulations need to be revised?

Edit - just read an article linked above, which suggests maybe the problem is down to LED lights.

It is and they work differently. Electrons and photons.

Signed! I'm rural and it's a real problem isn't it!

I’ve never had an issue with driving at night until a couple of weeks ago when I had to pick my son and his girlfriend up from the airport. It was 10pm and drizzling with rain, the journey was supposed to be 30 mins of mainly motorway driving. It was awful!!! The lorry headlights were blinding as were the car headlights and the bright LED roadworks lighting! Also I don’t know how many times I had to tilt my rear view mirror either! I drive an SUV so not small but not huge. My son drove the journey home and even he had to tilt the rear view mirror!!
Needless to say I’ve happily signed the petition.

Signed. I've stopped driving at night, because I don't feel safe. I've got astigmatism too which my optician thought would make it worse.

Done. Thanks for this

For most new cars they are on automatically. I would imagine you have to actively change the setting which most people won't bother to do.

Our headlights autodip but even on dip, one car in probably 20 flash me as if I haven't.

I was on a country lane a few nights ago and an artic lorry came towards me. It was lit up like Blackpool Illuminations. I can reverse very, very, well in my car - but the combination of his dazzling lights, and black of night on a road with no lighting, I literally couldn't see a thing. I had to pull to my driver side of the road and reverse along the hedge using fog lights until it was wide enough he could pass.it was horrible.

Of course different types of lights work differently and emit different wavelengths of light but saying 'electrons and photons' isn't very illuminating.

Apologies Errol. I wrote my post in a hurry.
All I know tbh is that the electrons are excited and release photons And it’s these photons that emit the light. But it’s been awhile since I did physics.

The same wattage produces more light (lumens) Which is probably why the government says led’s are legal. Without considering the actual science.

Also they’re disregarding high school science about how your pupils work (widening in darkness to allow more light in so of course people will be blinded by sudden sharp light)

I had someone at night behind me with yellow headlights. I had heard they were meant to be better for glare but it was awful, the light seemed bigger than the average sized headlight even though they weren't and the bright yellow was off putting when I looked in my mirrors and must have been worse for anyone coming towards them.

Most people are dicks. There is no need for them to be on in the day time and I've also seen people with their lights off driving at night as their automatic side lights being on makes they think their headlights are on.... Automatic anything just makes people lazier.

My car (not that new btw) has running headlights that are on all the time, front only. AFAIK there is not setting to change this.

They are absolutely awful. I’m not sure why the flashing should be allowed

This thread and the petition got a mention on the Jane and Fi podcast today.

Ooh that’s excellent news!

Please can everyone share with friends and family, as well as signing the petition. It’s a shame the RAC hasn’t done a better job of highlighting this issue which seems to resonate with so many people, so let’s show em what mumsnet can do!

Signed and shared - thank you!