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    Lawmakers Want To Dim Headlights. The Data Says They're Wrong.

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    Politicians in Canada and the United States are pushing to regulate modern headlights after constituents complain about being blinded by oncoming traffic. Vancouver City Councillor Sean Orr introduced a motion addressing drivers who feel dazzled. US Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez raised similar concerns in 2024. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety just released data showing glare isn't the problem everyone thinks it is. From 2015 to 2023, headlight glare was cited as a factor in only one or two out of every thousand nighttime crashes across 11 US states, according to the IIHS study. That rate barely changed even as headlights became dramatically brighter and visibility improved. "Although it can certainly be uncomfortable, headlight glare contributes to far fewer crashes than insufficient visibility," IIHS President David Harkey said in the official release. Meanwhile, vehicles with top rated headlights show 19 percent fewer nighttime single vehicle crashes and 23 percent fewer nighttime pedestrian collisions than vehicles with poor rated lights, per previous IIHS research published in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention. What The Numbers Actually Show IIHS Principal Research Engineer Matthew Brumbelow examined data from 11 states where police can report glare as a crash factor. Out of roughly 24 million total crashes, fewer than 150,000 had glare coded as contributing. Only a tiny fraction of those occurred at night. The glare rate remained constant from 2015 through 2023. It was highest in 2015 and lowest in 2020, showing no correlation with headlight brightness increases during that period. Glare related crashes have distinct patterns. They happen more often on undivided two lane roads, in wet conditions, and involve drivers over 70. The affected driver typically runs off the road alone, meaning the vehicle producing the glare isn't involved in the crash and can't be evaluated. This makes glare feel like a bigger problem than crash data suggests. You remember being blinded by an SUV. You don't see the statistical evidence that your own dim headlights create more danger than the bright ones annoying you. Automakers Already Fixed The Glare Problem In 2017, more than one in five headlight systems tested by IIHS produced excessive glare. For 2025 models, that figure dropped to just three percent, according to reporting from Carscoops, Autoblog, and ConsumerAffairs. The same IIHS rating program that rewards better illumination also penalizes excessive glare. Manufacturers responded by improving headlight aim and adopting technology that reduces stray light entering oncoming drivers' eyes. Federal headlight standards for minimum and maximum brightness haven't changed since 1997. But IIHS began testing headlights in 2016 using real vehicles driven on test tracks rather than evaluating lamps in isolation. The program grades how far low and high beams illuminate the path at 40 to 50 mph while penalizing glare that temporarily blinds oncoming drivers. When IIHS started, only one out of more than 80 headlight systems tested earned a good rating. As of 2025, about 51 percent of tested systems rate good. The average low beam illumination distance rose from less than 180 feet to over 200 feet. Those improvements saved lives. Better headlights mean drivers see pedestrians, animals, and obstacles earlier. Reaction time increases. Crashes decrease. The Technologies That Actually Help High beam assist automatically switches from high to low beams when sensors detect vehicles ahead. This prevents drivers from forgetting to dim their lights manually, cutting glare without reducing visibility for the driver using them. Adaptive driving beam headlights adjust beam patterns continuously, creating shadows around other vehicles while maintaining full high beam illumination everywhere else. The technology has been common in Europe for over a decade. US regulations prohibited adaptive driving beams until 2022. Even after NHTSA allowed them, arcane differences between US and European standards have delayed adoption. As of late 2024, no vehicles sold in the US market were equipped with adaptive driving beam headlights, per IIHS reporting. Lane departure warning and prevention could cut glare related crashes by more than half, according to IIHS analysis. Since most glare incidents involve the affected driver running off the road, technology that prevents lane departures directly addresses the problem. The Real Killer Is Darkness About half of all traffic deaths occur either in the dark or at dawn and dusk. Night driving accounts for roughly 22 percent of miles traveled but 46 percent of fatalities. The nighttime crash fatality rate per mile traveled runs about three times the daytime rate. Alcohol use, speeding, and restraint use contribute to the disparity. But insufficient illumination plays a major role. Drivers can't avoid what they can't see. Dim headlights kill people. Bright headlights annoy people. The data clearly shows which problem deserves regulatory attention. IIHS research demonstrates that the visibility improvements encouraged by their rating program are reducing crashes in the real world. Good headlights work. The numbers prove it. Forcing manufacturers to dim headlights would reverse that progress. Lawmakers responding to constituent complaints about glare would create more dangerous roads while solving a problem that causes one or two crashes per thousand. What Drivers Actually Experience The disconnect between public perception and crash statistics stems from how glare incidents happen. Getting temporarily blinded by an oncoming SUV feels dangerous and memorable. It triggers immediate emotional response. But most of those encounters end without incident. The driver squints, slows down slightly, waits for the bright vehicle to pass, then continues safely. No crash. No police report. No data point. Meanwhile, the pedestrian someone hit because their headlights only illuminated 150 feet ahead generates a fatality statistic without anyone blaming the headlights. Poor visibility causes invisible crashes. Older drivers experience glare more intensely. Vision changes with age make bright lights more uncomfortable and disorienting. Drivers over 70 show elevated glare crash risk compared to drivers between 55 and 60, per IIHS data. Newer vehicles may provide some defense. Brumbelow noted that better visibility in modern cars could help drivers cope with oncoming glare, similar to how other headlights seem less bright during daylight. Wet roads amplify the problem. Water on pavement reflects light more intensely, increasing glare for everyone. Most glare related crashes occur when it's raining or the road surface is wet. Don't Ban The Solution Modern LED headlights work better than the halogen and HID systems they replaced. They illuminate farther, last longer, consume less energy, and when properly aimed produce less glare than older technology. The IIHS rating program drove those improvements without requiring new federal regulations. Manufacturers wanted their vehicles to earn Top Safety Pick awards. Better headlights became the path to that recognition. Market incentives worked. Adaptive driving beam technology could eliminate most remaining glare concerns. The US needs to remove regulatory obstacles preventing its adoption. That means aligning American standards with European requirements that have proven effective for over a decade. High beam assist should be standard equipment on every vehicle sold. The technology exists. It costs relatively little. It prevents the most avoidable source of glare: drivers forgetting to switch from high to low beams when approaching other vehicles. Lane departure prevention reduces all single vehicle crashes, including the small percentage caused by glare. Installing it addresses glare incidents as a side effect while preventing far more common causes of running off the road. The Bottom Line Glare is uncomfortable. Glare is annoying. Glare feels dangerous. But glare causes a tiny fraction of nighttime crashes compared to insufficient visibility. Lawmakers want to regulate the wrong problem. The IIHS data shows clearly that brighter headlights reduce crashes. Forcing manufacturers to dim them would make roads more dangerous while appeasing voters who complain about being temporarily blinded. If you hate bright headlights, blame the driver who forgot to dim their high beams, not the technology that lets everyone see farther down dark roads. The statistics prove which problem actually kills people.   And it's not the one everyone's complaining about.
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