Dipped Headlamps Not Responsible'
Page 36
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
QINCE the percentage reduction in night 0,-, accidents in Birmingham during the dipped-headlights campaign last winter was only slightly greater than the percentage reduction in daylight, it is difficult to conclude that the percentage reduction at night can reasonably be ascribed to the increased use of dipped headlights. This is one of the main conclusions of the Road Research Laboratory report (Technical Paper No. 69, D.S.I.R., published by H.M.S.O., price 2s. net) made public on Friday.
The report points out that accidents in Birmingham for the particular roads and for the October to March period studied were 16 per cent. fewer in daylight and 19 per cent. fewer in darkness than in the corresponding period a year earlier; they were also slightly fewer in three similar towns (Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham) in which there were no campaigns and which the Laboratory used as " control " towns in the investigations. The fall in accidents in all four towns is ascribed partly to the smaller amount of travel during the severe winter and the Birmingham reduction is linked especially by the Laboratory with other aspects of the road safety campaign undertaken in that city.
Although there were fewer night accidents in Birmingham on poorly lighted streets than would have been expected if the light-to-dark accident ratio had remained the same, there were more accidents at night on well-lighted roads. The Laboratory suggests that this is cons'stent with the view often advanced by lighting experts that the use of dipped headlights has a good effect in badly lighted streets and an adverse effect in streets with good illumination. The Laboratory points out that this supports the advice in the Highway Code: "Use dipped headlights at night in built-up areas unless the street lighting is good ".