Are car headlights brighter than ever? What causes bad glare? And why do older drivers have such problems with oncoming lights? We try to answer these questions in today’s column.
Way brighter
One of the largest headlight makers in the world is right in our backyard: Osram Sylvania, headquartered, coincidentally, in White’s hometown.
According to Greg Bibbo, product marketing manager for Sylvania’s automotive lighting division, the average halogen headlight is indeed 40 to 70 percent brighter today than 20 years ago. But that’s nothing compared with those bluish-tinged, high-intensity discharge lights, which are more than 400 percent brighter than headlights from the early 1990s.
Technically speaking, a headlamp’s light is measured in lumens. Old headlights gave off 700 lumens of light; new headlights give off 1,000 to 1,200 lumens; high-intensity discharge lights (the term Xenon is really a misnomer, Bibbo said) give off 3,000 lumens.
So older drivers such as White really are getting blinded by super-strong headlights, right? Not exactly, Bibbo said.
“These numbers shouldn’t evoke the response that because headlights are brighter, there is more glare,’’ he said. “Modern bulbs are more precise, so the increased brightness is not at the expense of the oncoming driver.’’
Manufacturers must design lights according to strict standards imposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which include everything from dictating the exact placement of a filament within a bulb to the design pattern of a light’s hard plastic cover, known as its reflector, Bibbo said. Reducing glare is a primary requirement.
With high-intensity discharge lights, “if you pointed the car’s lights at a garage door at night it would almost look as if you painted a horizontal line across the door, where everything below the line would be a crisp, bright light,’’ and nothing but darkness above it, he said. “Stray light above the horizon is what would be oncoming glare.’’
Still not foolproof
