DAZZLING HEADLIGHTS ON CARS.
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ONE OF the greatest difficulties with which drivers of commercial motor vehicles have to contend at night is the dazzling effect of the headlamps of private cars. Unfortunately, powerful driving lights are rendered necessary by the weakness of the law with regard to the lighting of all obstructions, many horsed vehicles used for agricul
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tural purposes being exempted from the necessity for displaying a rear light, whilst there is no provision for compelling cyclists to indicate to following traffic their presence on the road at night by the use of either ruby reflectors or tail lamps.
The Ministry of Transport has been frequently urged to introduce a, measure which will limit the power of the lights used on motor vehicles, or to render compulsory the use of some device which eliminates the upward rays or, by other methods, minimizes the dazzling effect to a reasonable extent whilst still providing a safe driving light. During the past few months, certain devices for this purpose have been introduced and, according to our associated journal The Motor, they offer a reasonable solution of what is admittedly a very difficult problem.
Meanwhile, we suggest to proprietors of commercial vehicles that they should warn their drivers against pulling out in front, or in other ways obstructing the passage, of approaching private cars as a protest against the use of bright headlights. Whatever may be the personal opinion of the drivers guilty of this practice, these tactics are not only very dangerous but illegal. Recently, Mr. George Heath, the wellknown Birmingham motorist, instituted, a prosecution at Tamworth against a lorry driver who wilfully obstructed the passage of a touring car as a protest against the bright lights with which it was equipped, and the driver was fined as a lesson to others.