I hate traveling at night, almost as much as drive in rain. It had been a while since I went to a national one, but a few days ago I had to do it and what had to happen happened: I was dazzled on more than one occasion. Car headlights have evolved tremendously in a short time and LEDs have prevailed in new vehicles. The problem is that every time there are more signs that we have gone too far with its evolution.
And a new report puts a percentage on how dangerous they can be if they are not properly calibrated… or if the car that uses them is an SUV.
In short. Whether because you have a new car or because you update the headlights of a car with a few years behind it, they are one of the elements that are most appreciated on the journeys. They see you better, you see better and it is one of the most important points in terms of safety behind the wheel. If the height is correct and they are well calibrated, they are a pleasure, but it can also happen that this is not the case and they dazzle or dazzle you. There, security goes to hell for a few seconds.
The British Department for Transport has published the results of a study about glare caused by LED lights. Your conclusion? They represent a road safety problem, altering the habits of drivers in the United Kingdom. We could extrapolate it perfectly. Basically, between October 2024 and early 2025, they combined objective measurements in real conditions with surveys of 1,850 drivers.
The results They are devastating: 97% of them affirm that they are frequently distracted, and 96% that glare from headlights is a road safety problem.
Analysis. On the one hand, we have those statements from drivers, who were asked about the frequency with which they felt distracted due to glare from the headlights of vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. On the other hand, the objective analysis. To do this, the DfT used luminance cameras and mixed the data using a machine learning algorithm to identify the variables that come into play at high glare levels.
They discovered that there was a strong correlation between higher luminance levels and reports of glare in some test vehicles (logical, on the other hand). Also that road factors influence, such as circular upwards or curves to the righttimes when drivers’ eyes are most exposed to the beam of light from the headlights. In the end, these are things that a study does not have to confirm if you have ever driven at night, but what is interesting about the study is the consequences and the “culprits.”
Impact. For example, more than half of the respondents have affirmed that this discomfort due to glare has generated anxiety when driving at certain hours, which is why they have reduced night driving or have abandoned it altogether. And more than 20% point out that they would like to take the car less at night because of this, but they have no other option.
According to statistics and beyond the indirect impact, they estimate that glare has bound about 290 accidents annually. and the effects They depend on age: a 50-year-old person takes nine seconds to recover from glare, while a 16-year-old takes just one second, which applies another risk factor on the road to older drivers.
SUV. Beyond this, they have also found that larger vehicles, such as SUVs, are the most associated with glare in surveys. This is logical: they are taller, their headlights are more aligned with the eyes of drivers traveling in the opposite direction (especially in lower cars) and it seems that all new cars are SUVsso they are the ones with the most up-to-date lights.
The problem of retrofit. This term in English refers to the modification of an existing component. In short: updating with new parts and superior technologies, such as changing the brakes for better ones, installing a new infotainment system or change the original halogen headlights for LED ones. You can buy new ‘bulbs’ even on Amazon and many are approved, but there are two problems: those that are not well regulated and those that are installed illegally.
The British Administration has identified that illegal conversion is a problem, since changing halogen bulbs for LED means that those housings designed for halogen do not work the same with the new LED headlights, causing dangerous glare. British ITV has intensified its analysis of the sale of these kits, with heavy fines for violators.
Not simple solutions. They estimate that around 800,000 vehicles fail their annual inspection due to headlight alignment problems, but although these are UK numbers, this is a global problem (in Spain22% of serious failures have to do with the lights) which implies that, perhaps, we have gone too far with the power of our cars’ headlights.
The solution is not clear. The report recommends periodic glare checks and rethinking luminance measurements in modern headlights, but this will have to be studied. In the end, it is something that we all suffer at one time or another although, as they point Our colleagues at MotorPasión, for motorcyclists there is another added problem: reflections on the visor itself.
Image | Alexander Jawfox
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