Anyone who got flashed with a car’s high beams knows that they are so bright to the point that you can be blinded. We do need them to see dark places, though.
These blinding headlights are a big reason why people have a hard time seeing clearly while driving at night. Because people keep buying taller vehicles, the headlights will continue to get higher.
Following the taller vehicles are how headlights will be placed. According to Matt Brumbelow, a senior research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, these fixtures can be misaligned. “There’s no testing to make sure that it’s still aimed properly or that it’s putting out enough light on the road and it’s not glaring other drivers,” he stated.
If we add the height of new vehicles being sold in the market, and how their headlights are placed, then there’s a big chance that these lights can cause more harm than necessary, and can make driving difficult at night.
A solution is now being pushed to solve this problem. America’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has required automakers to sell vehicles that have adaptive driving beam headlights. These new lights can adjust the intensity of their brightness to avoid blinding people.
Image credit: Eliel Frances Etruiste