When it comes to nighttime driving safety, headlights are essential. They help you see the road and obstacles in front of you, and they also allow you to be seen and avoided by other vehicles with which you’re sharing the roadway. Because they are so important, any significant advance in headlight technology can represent a big step forward for motor vehicle safety in general.
According to one vehicle sales manager, headlight quality — and whether a car has the most advanced headlight technology available — should weigh heavily in consumer purchasing choices. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety agrees. The safety regulator recently published a report featuring the results of safety tests that measured the safety and efficiency of headlights on different vehicles.
Safe headlights are all about finding a balance between not blinding the cars in front of you, and fully illuminating the road in front of you with light, as far ahead and widely as possible. For example, if the headlights are too bright for oncoming traffic, the car will receive a lower score.
Experts view advanced LED lights, which come standard on many new vehicles, as the safest for both drivers and oncoming traffic. Although the insurance industry has yet to offer discounted rates to drivers with these advanced headlights, some argue that having a car with these headlights will save drivers in the long run as they’ll be more capable of avoiding accidents in the first place.
Since headlights are such a vital safety feature on vehicles, drivers — who cause car crashes because of problems relating to their headlights that they failed to fix — can be held accountable for financial damages in court. If you or a loved one was hurt by a driver who didn’t correct a headlight problem, you can evaluate your potential claim for damages by speaking with a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs in motor vehicle accident claims.
Source: localnews8.com, “Headlights on new cars are about to become a lot better,” Chris Nestman, Jan. 10, 2017