Motors: Dazzling drivers are not bright.
TRENDY drivers who fit extra-bright headlights on their cars are putting other road users at risk - and themselves in danger of a run-in with the law.According to parts company Motaquip, the increasing popularity of very bright bulbs as a style accessory means that cheap, illegal products are finding their way onto Britain's roads.
Extra-bright bulbs, which significantly improve visibility and hence road safety, are perfectly legal as long as they are clearly E-marked to show that they conform to European standards.
Those that don't conform may be too bright and can produce a dangerous glare as opposed to a properly defined beam.
This can dazzle oncoming traffic, whether headlights are dipped or not.
Another trend to emerge is the fashion for fitting tinted bulbs, using an amber or blue filter.
Providing they conform to European standards, these can offer useful safety features - but cut-price, illegal bulbs are becoming increasingly available to drivers.
The addition of a tinted filter to headlamp bulbs reduces the amount of light emitted and this needs to be counteracted by burning the filament within the bulb harder in order to produce a brighter beam.
Illegal bulbs are often too strongly tinted and the filaments burned too hard to counteract this, which can then result in a far brighter and ill-defined light.
These bulbs tend to fail more regularly, need replacing more often and hence cost more in the long run.
Motorquip advises drivers that bulbs which don't conform to regulations will certainly lead to a failed MOT and potentially to a serious accident.
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| Title Annotation: | Features |
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| Publication: | Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, England) |
| Date: | Nov 3, 2002 |
| Words: | 258 |
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