Lights so bright
High time government stepped in to deal with high beams
For most of us, the prospect of driving towards someone with headlights on bright is a scary one. It’s pretty hard to drive safely when you can’t see where you are going. You’d think this simple fact would be easy to understand but many Island drivers seem incapable of understanding it.
In consideration of the safety of others, regulations have been put in place to keep the roads safe for all users.
When cars are approaching, drivers are not meant to travel the highways with headlights that blind oncoming traffic and put other road-users at risk.
On an Island where many of the drivers are older, the problem is compounded. The glare of bright lights is magnified for older eyes. The Department of Transportation seems to be ignoring its responsibility to enforce its own rules and update them when necessary.
At a recent gathering, I asked everyone if they too thought that people should not be allowed to drive with their fog lights on when the roads were clear. Ten of 10 people agreed with me; everyone I ask about this agrees with me. There is a problem and it will only get worse unless action is taken.
I assume drivers of trucks and SUVs think it’s sexy to outfit their vehicles with these unnecessary appendages. Really, how often is it foggy enough to warrant using fog lights in P.E.I.?
Perhaps having an extra set of lights on their truck is meant to compensate for some other appendage or their dim wits — if so, someone should inform them that they only look ridiculous when they drive with two sets of lights on.
Driving towards someone with two sets of lights on is equivalent to driving towards someone with your lights on bright. As most of the fog lights are installed on trucks, it is even more difficult for oncoming traffic to see — truck lights are already higher than those of cars, and I don’t think many truck drivers have the direction of their headlights tested and corrected to avoid blinding drivers coming towards them.
Fog lights on clear nights are unsafe and annoying; so too are the blue-tinted, high-intensity discharge headlights, or “HIDs,” which are two to three times brighter than traditional halogen headlights.
It’s time the Department of Highways looked at this driving hazard and changed driving regulations in order to keep the highways safe.
If HIDs and fog lights are to be allowed, then I think we with adequate wits and appendages must be permitted to drive our vehicles with our bright headlights permanently on.
What is the point of some drivers being able to drive with lights twice as bright as others?