Brighter headlights are causing problems for motorists “more than ever before”, according to a survey of AA members, but ministers have played down the road safety concerns associated with them.
Reported by Sky News, three-quarters of AA members have told the organisation that LED lights on vehicles are among the factors causing them to be “blinded” while driving.
This follows a survey from the RAC, who has long campaigned on the issue, which shows more than four out of five (85%) drivers affected by headlight glare said the problem is getting worse.
But Lilian Greenwood, the UK’s minister for the future of roads, said the data doesn’t suggest “advances in lighting technology” are making collisions more common.
DfT data shows dazzling headlights contributed to 216 collisions in 2023 – up from 211 the year before, but down from 315 in 2017 and 309 a decade ago.
In September 2024, the Government confirmed it is commissioning independent research into the issue of dazzling headlights.
The DfT has awarded TRL a research contract to look into the factors that can cause glare from headlights of oncoming vehicles, and how to address this.
The research should be published this summer.
However, AA president Edmund King said its members are “feeling the strain of brighter headlights more than ever before, as well as brighter brake and traffic lights”.
He added: “Conversely, they also say brighter lights enhance road safety. The problem seems to be LED lights on higher vehicles such as SUVs.”
Meanwhile, Rod Dennis, RAC senior policy officer, commenting on his organisation’s report, said: “Few issues we deal with have triggered quite as much of a reaction among drivers as the brightness of headlights.”
Another issue, according to Labour MP Graeme Downie, who asked a written question in parliament, is drivers may not realise how their own lighting impacts others.
The MP for Dunfermline and Dollar, said he understands from his own driving, as well as from others, that cars with newer LED lights “can be blinding for other road users”.
“While they might illuminate the road well for the driver, they dazzle in the eyes of other road users and could be dangerous,” he said.
He said technology such as automatic beam control “means some drivers are less aware of the impact their own lighting might have on others.
“The safety of individual drivers cannot be at the expense of other road users and pedestrians.”
Ms Greenwood, in her written reply to Mr Downie, said: “National collision statistics, which can record headlamp dazzle as a contributory factor, do not show any discernible trend to suggest that advances in lighting technology are contributing negatively to road vehicle collisions.”
She said independent research into what causes headlamp glare and developing potential solutions “is underway and is due to deliver in summer 2025.”
It would appear to me that the person designing these headlights was not an experienced driver. The only benefit was distance on an empty road in the dark.The cost of changing the lights is probably the reason that nothing is being done. In 1965 I took my Morris Minor 1000 over to the Contiinent/ All that was required to prevent my headlights blinding other cars was a cheap piece of plastic attached to my lights and changing the
direction of the dipped and head lights.
Kenneth Miller, Glasgow
0
The growth of EV ready crossover cars (which have higher emiissions) has raised the height of headlights and I suspect shorter drivers and pedestrians are subject to the equivalent of full beam. Add to this the ‘style over function changes to shape and position means they point up and need to be stronger to illuminate the road directly in front of the car. Additional exposure to blue light from over bright LEDs in general and from headlights is no doubt increasing sensitivity and adverse reactions which include being too dazzled to drive, and increasing driver fatigue. At the very least, there should be immediate filters like those required to drive in Europe.
Lesley, Sheffield
0
So I wonder about this… all of these cars are type approved, meaning they’re legal on UK roads. Car lighting is governed by UNECE Regulation 48 (i don’t think it’s been superceded since brexit), which specifies brightness, height, direction of beams, colour, angles from which they must be visible etc. So how have we got here, just because of a change in technology? Are some of these lamps designed out of spec, and were these things not tested vigorously before said type approval? Haven’t worked in lighting in 15 years, just when technology had begun to shift to LEDs, but whatever has gone wrong, this is a major dropped ball, because they’re everywhere.
And yes, I’ve found myself flashing people (sorry, Hugh) to dim their bright lights, only to be flashed back with even brighter main beams!
Segun Akin-Olugbade, BICESTER
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On this note, would drivers please refrain from using their main beam when ‘flashing’ other motorists for whatever reason, especially at night, as it’s like a powerful flash bulb going off in your face – instead, if you must flash at all, simply switch off and then back on, the dipped beam momentarily and just the once please – not several times!
Hugh Jones, South Wirral
+3