High beam of cars
Many road users are annoyed by dazzling vehicle lights. The ANWB reports this based on a survey among more than 13,000 Dutch road users. Nearly 80 percent of respondents say they are regularly or always blinded.
They mention high beam (76 percent), low beam (65 percent) and even bicycle lights (39 percent) as culprits. Of those surveyed, 20 percent find the glare unbearable and 71 percent say it is disturbing. Looking away is the most frequently mentioned reaction (76 percent), followed by squinting (60 percent) or continuing to look straight into the light source (10 percent). As a result, everything around the light source is often no longer clearly visible. After being blinded, it takes up to nine seconds for eyes to see clearly again, which can lead to dangerous situations. The annoyance about glare in traffic is equally divided between younger and older road users, says a spokesperson.
The main cause of vehicle glare is that modern headlights are brighter due to the shrinking size of LED lamps and that the light rays are projected directly onto the road instead of through mirror reflection, according to the ANWB.
The ANWB and sister clubs in other European countries have been in discussions with car manufacturers for some time about adapting lamp units and are now also asking the European Commission for regulations for safe car lighting.
13,640 Dutch road users participated in the study, which is not representative of the entire Dutch population. They responded to a call in the membership magazine De Kampioen, via the website or from the ANWB membership panel. The mobility association set up the survey because it was curious about how this is happening in the Netherlands.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl