As the nights get longer and more of us drive longer after dark, we are more exposed to blinding headlights - and concerned drivers are taking action. Fourteen thousand of them signed an online RAC petition calling for a review of the brightness of car headlights for safety.
The good news is that the government has responded by launching an independent investigation into the matter. The bad news is that there is no indication of when the government will report.
What can the government do?
Quite a lot, actually. Director of policy and standards for charity IAM Roadsmart, Nicholas Lyes, believes the government could use the annual MOT test to help drivers. He said: "We could change the MOT test to fail a car if it emits a certain light that would pose a risk to road safety."
Furthermore, one of the benefits of Brexit is that type approval - the regulations that every new car sold in the UK must meet for consumer safety - is now in the hands of the government.
Type approval governs headlights, but things are complicated somewhat by the fact that lighting is agreed upon at the United Nations level for worldwide uniformity. Your heart may sink when you see this, but the UN is already working on blinding headlights.
Anyone who drives a car with LED headlights knows how effective they are at providing better visibility on dark roads. But that's only when they're pointed at the asphalt. Load the trunk of your car and your headlights tilt upward, blinding oncoming drivers.
To prevent this, the UN has decided that all new cars must have automatic headlight leveling from 2027.
Changes don't happen overnight
Road safety experts I spoke to welcomed the government's study. Rod Dennis of the RAC explained: "This is just the start. There's a long way to go. And even then, any changes will only affect new vehicles. But we want to complete the study and then look further. We're cautiously optimistic."
IAM Roadsmart's Lyes added: "We think this is a very positive thing. This is a real issue and one that is very complex, so it will be difficult to understand what the best thing to do is, but it is very welcome that they are doing the research in the first place."
And clinical advisor at the College of Optometrists, Dr Paramdeep Bilkhu, said: "More research is needed to fully understand which headlight factors are responsible for glare, so that we can identify what needs to change while enjoying the benefits of better lighting technology."
Is this only a problem in the UK?
We are not the only country that wants to tackle headlight glare. "It is a problem that extends beyond the UK," Dennis said. "We are in contact with other car clubs in Europe and they are all concerned about it.
"The German government is investigating this and the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) is looking at it on a pan-European level. Any solution will not be just for the UK."
What has research revealed about headlight glare?
The RAC has been asking drivers about headlight glare since 2018. The latest findings, published earlier this year, show that 85 per cent of drivers who experience headlight glare think the problem is getting worse.
Of the nine out of ten drivers (91 percent) who complain about being dazzled while driving, 74 percent say it happens regularly. Two-thirds (67 percent) think they have to drive significantly slower until their vision is clear again. Of these, 5 percent claim to have almost been involved in a collision due to headlight glare.
The problem of blinding headlights is even limiting the mobility of drivers: road safety organisation IAM Roadsmart recently conducted a survey among its members. Of the qualified advanced drivers, 4 per cent said they had stopped driving after sunset, while a third (31 per cent) claimed to drive less often at night than before.
What causes headlight glare?
Dr Bilkhu said patients were increasingly complaining about the brightness of headlights: "We know that glare is more common in older drivers because the natural lens in the eye gradually becomes cloudier as we age," he said. "This can increase the effect of light scattering and make glare worse.
"For older people, it can take several seconds to recover from glare, and the distance travelled in a moving car can be considerable, meaning there is a greater risk of a potential accident. There is research showing that glare can affect the perception of hazards while driving, including the visibility of pedestrians, so it poses a safety risk."
Are many accidents caused by headlight glare?
We've all been driving when a car comes the other way with their high beams on. You flash them in case the driver forgot and they do the same - with the bell on - proving that their high beams weren't on, but their low beams were poorly adjusted or just too bright.
However, government figures on road accidents suggest that headlight glare is not a major contributing factor. The latest figures show that in 2022 there were three fatalities due to headlight glare. Of those, 38 were caused by drivers being blinded by the sun.
However, the data is flawed because it comes from police reports at crash sites, which are often incomplete. Dr Bilkhu added: "We know that glare is often underreported when this type of data is collected."
Four Reasons Why Headlights Blind You
As Lyes suggests, this is a complex problem. Cars are increasingly equipped with LEDs because they use less power, which is good for economy (fuel or battery). They are easier to operate, which allows for all sorts of flashy features, such as welcome displays as you approach the car. And they are smaller, which gives designers more freedom.
They are also brighter than old-fashioned halogen lamps and have a more focused beam of light, which our eyes have difficulty with at night.
Drive a modern car and you'll be amazed at how bright the lights are compared to older models. Don't worry, you can buy LED bulbs online to replace the halogen bulbs in older cars. Better yet, they often cost less than £20 a pair.
But they are considered illegal because there is no legislation governing the replacement of halogen bulbs with LED bulbs; regulations simply hate how bright light can be. And the lack of regulation for halogen replacement LED bulbs means they can be super bright and dazzle oncoming drivers. But there is nothing stopping owners from fitting them, other than the knowledge that they are illegal and (if the driver is unlucky) could be failed at MOT.
Poorly adjusted headlights of all types also play a part. Information from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency says that around 5 per cent of cars fail their MOT each year because their lights are not adjusted correctly.
Last but not least, the ever-increasing popularity of SUVs likely contributes to the problem. Since they generally have a higher stance than more conventional models, their lights are at eye level for drivers in regular hatchbacks and sedans.
The problem caused by raised vehicles seems to be confirmed by official statistics. These show that 179 drivers said their traffic accident was caused by overly bright headlights, compared with two bus drivers and just one lorry driver. The implication is that the higher you sit from the road, the less likely you are to be dazzled. More bad news for ordinary motorists, then.
