PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Headlights help with visibility for cars and trucks on any type of road, especially at night. But when a driver has high beams on, it could make obstacles on the street harder to see for others behind the wheel.
Fortunately, highway safety officials recently gave their stamp of approval for the implementation of new high-beam headlights.
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Federal lawmakers updated their U.S. headlight standard and will allow high-tech “adaptive driving beam headlights” on newer vehicles. These models could increase roadway lighting by as much as 85%, compared to traditional low-light beams.
“They essentially provide the lighting of a high beam without the glare for other motorists on the roadways,” explained AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesperson Jana Tidwell.
Officials say these headlights can automatically tailor the beams to keep the focus on the road, not in other people’s eyes.
Tidwell said these lights will help save lives too. AAA research shows most vehicles with regular headlamps failed to safely light up the road once they hit 40 miles per hour.
“These headlights did not give drivers time to see and react and brake to avoid hitting an object on the road or a pedestrian,” she said. She hopes the newer models will cut down nighttime crashes and pedestrian fatalities.
The new headlights will come into the market in the next two years or so.