Low beam please!

Let us start with some statistics.The total number of road accidents in India in 2004 was 42990 and increasing every year as number of vehicles on the road increases. When more than 60% of these accidents are caused at night, the debate continues as to who is the real culprit. The drivers themselves, the bad plight of our roads, ineffective road safety measures and the list goes on. Let us seek the reason how accidents occur. According to authorities bright headlights are the major reason for accidents in the night apart from careless driving, use of cell phones while driving and brake failure. Bright headlights blind the drivers for a couple of seconds which is more than enough to take the lives of the travelers or in more unfortunate cases, people nearby the vehicle. Bright headlights are a menace on highways during the night. Rule 405 section 197 of Motor Vehicles Act forbids the use of dazzling lights. According to traffic rules bright lights should be used only when other vehicles are 500 feet away but these rules are seldom followed.

It will be really useful if auto component manufacturers come up with a solution to this bright headlight problem. I have personally felt this urgent need for a solution especially when another vehicle whizzes past the vehicle I am traveling and the guy who drives notices the “I thought I was dead” look on my face and says with a smile “its all based on an assumption buddy”. With the advent of Xenon headlamps most of the luxury vehicles are replacing the traditional halogen lamps making the case in question stronger. Traditional headlights feature a lamp that encases a glowing filament in halogen gas, and cast a yellowish light. High intensity bulbs make light by using an electric arc to excite the Xenon gas inside them. The light they produce is whiter, covers about 70 percent more area than halogen. These types of high intensity lights fast catching up in the auto market can be useful as well as destructive especially when they are not well focused on the road.

I have always felt that if a kind of lighting system for automobiles can be developed which can detect the intensity of the light emitted by the opposite vehicle from a particular distance and accordingly control the intensity of the headlights of both the vehicles. This system if made compulsory in all vehicles can make driving in the night much easier.Its true that such a system will make your car dearer by a few thousand bucks but when our life is at stake it doesn’t really matter. Such a system needs the full support of the Government to succeed. Government must see to it that traffic rules are followed , make sure that all vehicles are properly maintained and try to improve the conditions of our roads which are not certainly the best in the world. The two parties –Government and auto component manufacturers – could come together as soon as possible to address this issue and for the drivers on the road till then, its LOW BEAM PLEASE!