Headlights to be reviewed after drivers complain of being 'blinded' at night

Both Ruth Goldsworthy and Sally Burt say bright headlights make it harder for them to get to their weekly SO Sound choir meetings in Totton, in Hampshire.

"Some of the lights are so bright you are blinded by them, for seconds," says Ruth.

The beam from LED headlights is whiter, more focused and brighter than the more diffuse light from halogen lamps fitted in older cars.

"I'm not sure where to look, I look into the gutter," says Sally. They are both relieved if someone else offers to drive.

Night driving becomes a bigger problem as the winter evenings draw in, and especially after the clocks change, which means more people are driving in the dark.

The problem is worse for older people, whose eyes take around nine seconds to recover from glare, compared to one second for a 16-year-old, according to road safety consultant, Rob Heard.

"In severe cases, we might need to stop until our sight can recuperate," he said.

A survey from the RAC motoring organisation found that more than a third of drivers were nervous about getting behind the wheel as the evenings get darker. Three quarters of respondents said driving was getting more difficult due to brighter lights.

The RAC's senior policy officer, Rod Dennis, said so far little progress has been made on tackling glare, with regulations governing headlights dating back to 1989.

A DfT spokesperson said: "We know headlight glare is frustrating for many drivers, especially as the evenings get darker."

Source: College of Optometrists

One already well-understood source of glare is drivers retrofitting their vehicles, replacing old halogen bulbs with LEDs.

The housing for halogen bulbs is not compatible with LED bulbs, and a retrofitted car will not pass its annual MOT check-up.

As part of the government's new approach the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has "stepped up surveillance" to stop the sale of illegal retrofit headlamp bulbs, the DfT said.

Dazzling headlights are cited as a factor in around 250 accidents a year, but there is no evidence that brighter lights are causing more collisions than previously, the RAC concedes.

Instead, worried drivers may simply be "taking the risk off the road" by not driving at night, with a big social impact, the RAC's Mr Dennis warned.

He would like to see action that "strikes a balance".

"We don't want to go back to worse headlights. It is about what is bright enough."