Cars: Headlight Glare Debate

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Department: Department for Transport

Cars: Headlight Glare

Lord Lexden Excerpts
Monday 30th January 2023

(1 year, 2 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Vere of Norbiton Portrait Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)
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I do not have information on the regulation of cats’-eyes to hand. However, I will happily write to the noble Lord with further details.

Lord Lexden Portrait Lord Lexden (Con)
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My Lords, when I was young long ago, it was considered right and courteous for motorists to dip their headlights for the benefit of others on the road. Is this practice still continuing or is it long out of date? I ask this question as a non-motorist.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton Portrait Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)
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My noble friend is quite right. One should not drive at another car with full-beam headlights on; it is right that they are dimmed. However, many vehicles nowadays have a manual system for levelling the aim of headlights; the problem is that not enough vehicle owners know how to use it. That is why we asked the UNECE to look very closely at the automatic systems that are available to see whether that would help.