Vehicle headlights are getting brighter, one expert says. Here’s what to know

University of Calgary’s Kartik Murari explains how changes in LED technology are making headlights brighter, but legal standards haven’t changed.

Are vehicle headlights getting brighter?

According to Kartikeya Murari, a professor in the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary, vehicle headlights have gotten brighter over time due to evolving technology.

“I think the biggest changes have been in the kind of lamps that they’ve been using,” Murari told CTV Your Morning on Tuesday.

“In the old days, they used to use incandescent lamps — that’s the same as the tungsten lamps that we used to have maybe 20 years back — and then they moved to halogen lamps, and the current technology is around light-emitting diodes."

Murari explains that a light-emitting diode (LED) device projects white light, and that they contain different amounts of red, blue and green compared to other types of light devices.

“Modern lights are also much smaller,” he added. “So we perceive them as being brighter because the same amount of light is coming off of a smaller area.”

Transport Canada and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are set to co-host the International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles starting today in Toronto.

The conference, which brings together automakers, regulators and researchers to discuss advancing road safety, runs until Friday. This year’s theme is advancing technology for safer vehicles.

‘Potential to be dangerous’

Transport Canada launched a national survey between March 6 and April 20 asking Canadians their experience with vehicle headlights and glare at night.

“While new headlight technology in vehicles can help drivers see better, they can also cause problems for other road users,” the notice says.

“Transport Canada wants to learn how headlight glare affects road users and what vehicle or lighting features may influence how people experience it at night.

The survey focused on experiences travelling at night, contributing factors to headlight glare, driver behaviour and solutions.

Murari says regulations need to keep up with evolving technology.

“I think the standards are a bit slow to move, and there’s perhaps a bit of a disconnect between what we perceive and what instruments can measure,” he said.

Murari believes standards should consider colour temperature or the spectrum of the lights. He said the change in vehicle headlights also poses a risk to drivers on the road.

“A lot of us are compensating by not looking at the light directly (...) certainly it’s a nuisance and it does have the potential to be dangerous.”