OPINION: Modern headlights are making night driving more dangerous

At first, I dipped the centre mirror, which improved things a little. But the Range Rover’s headlights were pretty much directly in line with the door mirrors of my car and, after a while, I decided it was safer to lose rearward vision by dipping both to restore some forward vision. I know what you’re thinking: ‘why not just let the Range Rover past?’ I considered that first, but the relentless stream of traffic behind it was populated with cars with equally aggressive illumination. It was inescapable.

It’s worse, of course, when they’re coming towards you on a single-carriageway road. There are occasions when the feeble halogens fitted to my car cannot light the way beyond oncoming cars in any meaningful way. You know it’s bad when you resort to being guided by road markings. It gets worse when the crumbling state of our roads mean that the painted lines have all but faded away. And the proliferation of SUVs, whose headlights are in the eyeline of those who drive proper cars, simply adds to a perfect storm of bedazzlement.

I’m also not convinced that the bright white light of modern headlights serves drivers terribly well, either. Sure, everything within range is lit with forensic detail, but the contrast with the darkness beyond means there’s an opaque black curtain at the extent of the headlights’ reach.

I jested about not yet wanting to sound like a grumpy old man, but there’s also a point to be raised about the effect modern headlights have on older drivers whose eyes aren’t as fast to react to changing light conditions. A septuagenarian relative of mine recently commented that he has retrospective compassion for his forebears when they used to complain about the difficulties of night driving as they got older. But they didn’t have 21^st century lighting technology to contend with as well as older retinas. I’m middle aged and know people who are significantly younger than I am who are affected by the current crop of vehicle lights.

When the pursuit of greater safety is having the opposite effect, intervention is needed. Thankfully that looks likely to happen. A study by the RAC concluded that 90 per cent of people think headlights are too bright and 85 per cent have been affected by them. Future of Roads Minister, Lilian Greenwood, recently stated that a study is under way to evaluate countermeasures to stop the folly of ever brighter, whiter headlights.

In the meantime, let’s be grateful that the clocks change this weekend so at least the evening commute will be easier.