‘Feels like being abducted by aliens’: Halifax drivers react to rise in bright headlights

Maritime drivers say the glare from bright headlights is distracting. Now, Transport Canada is looking for feedback.

Whether you drive, walk or ride a bike, you may have noticed bright headlights beaming on Canadian roads.

The glare that comes with those lights, especially at night, is enough of a concern to prompt Transport Canada to survey road users about its impact on their ability to see.

“They’re very distracting… especially where I have an older car, they’re very bright. It almost feels like being abducted by aliens,” says Halifax driver Jo Gillis.

Daniel Stern, a Vancouver-based vehicle lighting and regulation subject matter expert, says a big chunk of the problem are LED lights sold on the after market.

While they’re typically used in bedrooms and other parts of the house, Stern says some drivers are swapping their halogen lights for those bright blue LEDs.

“Unfortunately, on the aftermarket you can walk in any Canadian Tire, you can go online very easily, get LED bulbs to put in your halogen headlamps. A lot of people do that. They put LED bulbs in their dining room, their bedroom, their garage, and they had a great results. Those lights aren’t optical devices, head lamps are. So, if you take out the halogen bulbs and put in LEDs, it’s like putting on somebody else’s eyeglasses. They might look terrific on your face, but the optics aren’t matched, so you’re going to be spraying the wrong amounts of light everywhere,” says Stern.

“They’re getting smaller and smaller, and they’re getting bluer and bluer and they’re getting brighter and brighter. And all three of those things really increase the glare. I think we’re reaching a point where, from the Maritimes to the big cities, people are noticing this.”

It’s a request that Raghbir Dhillon, the owner of Harrington’s Auto Repair Shop in Halifax, says he often turns down.

“Mostly young people (ask), ‘Could you guys install these for us?’’ And basically, we just say no. We just don’t want to get into that because they’re not supposed to have them on. They’re way too bright. It doesn’t make sense. So, we try to stick to stuff that’s factory,” says Dhillon.

Though the federal government hasn’t regulated it just yet, Stern is optimistic it will be.

“It’s really hard in our vehicle regulatory system to control something unless there’s solid proof that it’s causing crashes,” he says.

“But if lines can be drawn between headlight glare and distraction, that might allow for some regulatory traction on the matter.”

The Transport Canada survey is open to all Canadians but is focusing on those over the age of 16.

The last day to take the survey is on April 20.

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