Throwing light on safety issues A s the days shorten, it
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is timely to reconsider the conspicuity of road users. Drivers, in particular, have a poor appreciation of what the term means, even
though it is a vital aspect of road use.
The law takes no interest in whether you paint your vehicle in a disruptive or camouflage pattern, but simply requires the use of headlights in "reduced visibility". It is a fatuous and simplistic interpretation of real conditions. The military services decided some 40 years ago that using headlights would improve conspicuity and help them gain priority in crowded streets. NOW everyone does it—but when everyone claims priority, nobody has priority.
In suitable conditions, headlights arc visible from
10km away, which makes them far too powerful at a more realistic 10 metres, even without allowing for the inverse square law effect.
No, the things you need to see are the unlit cyclist, the pedestrian who has collapsed into the road and the muddy underside of an overturned 38-tonner.
Adding yet more light merely adds more glare, but it is the use of the Mk 1 eyeball which saves lives— possibly even yours. Anthony Phillips, Salisbury, Wiltshire