Let new technology light the path
Canada, home of the long dark. Between our far-flung communities, you can be out in the night by yourself, hurtling through the blackness with nothing but static on the stereo.
The stars above, the faint glow of the dashboard and the headlights guide your way. But wait, why are they so feeble tonight? Uh-oh, those are just the daytime running lights.
It would never to happen to you, right? But oh, that goofy fellow motorist, humming along the highway with his tail lights off.
When we published “Six simple features all modern cars should have,” the feedback was voluble and instantaneous: what about lighting?
Once upon a time, lighting your headlights involved an actual oil lamp. Later, big bug-eyed headlamps became de rigueur, but that didn’t mean they shed much light on the situation. Anyone who’s driven a vintage British car will recall a dim orange glow that barely pierced the darkness ahead. You’d think the Blitz was still on.
Things got better when sealedbeam headlights were replaced in the early 1980s with replaceable bulb lights. Then High Intensity Discharge (HID) lights came along to improve things further, and we could mostly see clearly now.
The next bright advance arrived with the LED headlamp. LEDs began as accent lighting on a few European marques, but have moved into full arrays of lighting equipment. They throw a bright illumination forward, and can even be combined with forward-looking sensors to allow for self-dipping high beams.
Adaptive headlight arrays are literally brilliant things, capable of directing full light away from oncoming cars while still piercing the dark.
Too bad you can’t get them here. Not yet, anyway.
European lighting standards differ from Canadian standards by a significant degree, the result of different testing standards. Essentially, Canadians get the same rules that our neighbours to the south decide upon, just spelled correctly in the Queen’s English. In Europe, results are measured by test-drivers; the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (and by extension, Transport Canada) prefers standardized laboratory testing.
Thus, no adaptive headlights as yet. Neither do we get useful features like a strobing brake light when the brakes are applied in a full-stop emergency brake. Buy a German-spec Mercedes and it’ll flash a panic signal to a following driver if you mash the brake pedal hard, giving them a chance to avoid rear-ending you.
In Canada, our technology is limited to apologizing for the fenderbender. Sorry, eh?
There are, however, a few Canada-only nuances to our lighting laws. Daytime running lights (DRLs) are the law in Canada, an attempt to increase visibility during the day, especially when it’s rainy or foggy. Combined with automatic headlights, a sensor-based technology, the idea is sound in principle: you need never touch your headlight stalk again.
Problem is, sometimes those sensors are under-sensitive, leaving you to drive around in the fog with your tail lights off. Worse, brighter DRLs can give inattentive drivers the idea that their headlights are already on, particularly if the car’s dashboard lights up in both daytime and nighttime conditions.
You, dear reader, would never make such a blunder, but I bet you’ve got a dim brother-in-law who would.
I’ve found it almost impossible to signal to these people that they’re driving around in the dark, unless you’re able to pull up next to them at a traffic light and perform an exaggerated semaphore.
Would it really be so difficult to have front and rear running lights on constantly? Or, alternatively, completely dark dashboards that only illuminate when the headlights are on?
Moreover, couldn’t we spur our national transportation agencies into adopting a few of those European regulations? Any development in lighting technology seems to lag behind by at least a decade, whether it’s the slowness to move past sealed-beam technology, or this unwillingness to approve adaptive headlights.
There are, however, a few bright spots to mention.
One is the relatively widespread availability of directional headlights that once were a Citroën novelty. You’ve been able to get these in the Mazda3 for ages, as well as higher-end German marques, and the ability for the car to “look” through a corner is extremely handy on a dark road.
Vision, of course, is the most important aspect of driving. It provides the ability to make judgment calls about approach speed and spot danger. Driving at night is tricky work, and we need all available light shed on the subject.
Further, both Audi and BMW are hard at work developing laserpowered headlights, which are currently in production in Europe.
Forget strapping death-rays to the heads of ill-tempered sea bass, the potential of the laser beam headlight is immense. Not only do these high-tech lighting systems — as found in the commercially available i8 and several LeMans racing cars — pierce the dark more effectively, they can also be manipulated in any number of ways.
Laser headlights can be directed away from the cockpit of oncoming drivers to avoid blinding them. Also, they can also project shapes on the pavement, such as letting pedestrians know you see them and it’s safe to cross via illuminated footsteps.
That’s a bright idea and a half, if only it’s ever allowed here in North America.
What’s up ahead? For now, our headlights reach only so far.
Vision, of course, is the most important aspect of driving. Driving at night is tricky work, and we need all available light shed on the subject.