Car headlights to be reviewed after drivers complain of being ‘blinded’ at night

Growing concern among motorists who say they are struggling to drive at night due to glare from oncoming lights is prompting the government to take a closer look at the design of cars and headlights on Britain’s roads, the BBC understands.

Research on the subject, carried out last winter on behalf of the Department for Transport (DfT), has not yet been published.

However, the BBC has learned that the government is now planning to launch a new assessment into the causes and remedies.

New measures will be included in the Government’s upcoming Road Safety Strategy, reflecting an issue that is becoming increasingly worrying for road users.

Both Ruth Goldsworthy and Sally Burt say bright headlights make it difficult for them to get to their weekly SO Sound choir meeting in Totton, Hampshire.

“Some lights are so bright you go blind for seconds,” says Ruth.

Drivers say that LED headlights, which are increasingly common in new vehicles, cause problems. The beam is whiter, more focused and brighter than the more diffused light from halogen lamps installed in older cars.

“I don’t know where to look, I’m looking in the gutter,” says Sally. If someone else offers to drive, they’re both relieved.

Evening driving is becoming a bigger problem as winter evenings approach and especially as the times change, meaning more people are heading home after dark.

The problem is even worse for older people, whose eyes take around nine seconds to recover from glare, according to road safety consultant Rob Heard; For a 16-year-old child, this problem lasts a second.

“In severe cases, we may need to stop until our eyesight improves,” he said.

A new survey by motoring body RAC has revealed that more than a third of drivers are nervous about getting behind the wheel as the evenings get darker. Three-quarters of those surveyed said driving had become more difficult due to brighter lights.

RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said little progress had been made so far in tackling glare due to regulations on headlights dating back to 1989.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We know that headlight glare is annoying for many drivers, especially as the evenings get darker.”

• Make sure your windshield is clean
• Wear and keep glasses
• Avoid looking straight ahead, focus on the side of the road instead
• Do not wear night sunglasses sold for night driving as they reduce overall light and do not reduce glare.

Source: College of Optometrists

The results of last winter’s government-commissioned investigations into the “causes and impact of flaring” have been delayed since the summer but are expected within the next few weeks, the DfT said.

They will also provide information about the upcoming Road Safety Strategy, which is also expected to tighten rules on drink driving and vision tests for older drivers.

In addition, the BBC understands that the government is launching new research into the role of vehicle design in causing glare and possible solutions, which will feed into international debate on the subject.

One of the already well-understood sources of glare is when drivers upgrade their vehicles, replacing old halogen bulbs with LEDs.

The housing for halogen bulbs is not compatible with LED bulbs and a retrofitted car will not pass the annual MOT inspection.

As part of the government’s new approach, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is “increasing surveillance” to stop the sale of illegal retrofit headlight bulbs, the DfT said.

Volvo’s senior safety advisor Thomas Broberg told the BBC that cars sold with LED lights could improve road safety.

“Headlights have gotten brighter over the years to help drivers see better,” he said.

“You want to have a lot of light in front of you to understand where the road is going.”

But avoiding glare is “equally important,” he said.

“Poor alignment of the headlights and also the road shape are the main factors of glare,” he told the BBC.

For larger vehicles, such as SUVs, where the lights are higher off the ground, there is a requirement for the beam to point more sharply downward to protect oncoming drivers. However, the angle may be affected by the number of passengers it carries.

Mr. Broberg said some newer cars with “adaptive features” automatically adjust the lights if there is a change in load, but cars without that feature will need manual adjustment.

Some newer cars also have automatic headlight dimming, which dims the lights when an oncoming vehicle is detected.

But Daniel Harriman-McCartney, clinical advisor to the College of Optometrists, said automatic dimming features could be “slow to take effect”.

“If it only works when the vehicle is closer than it should be, or if it doesn’t work for cyclists, that could be a problem,” he said.

He added that the number of patients who are concerned about headlight glare is increasing.

The RAC admits that dazzling headlights have been cited as a factor in around 250 crashes a year, but there is no evidence that brighter lights are causing more collisions than before.

The RAC’s Mr Dennis warned instead that worried drivers “may be risking going off the road” by not driving at night, which could have a major social impact.

He wants to see action that “restores balance.”

“We don’t want to go back to worse headlights. It’s about what’s bright enough.”