Despite elaborate rules on what is allowed, cracking down on hyper-bright new LED lights is ‘complicated,’ police say.
Ever found yourself driving at night and suddenly had your eyes blasted by the blue-white glare emanating from an oncoming car? After a few choice curse words, do you then wonder if headlights that bright could even be legal, given the potential hazard they pose?
It turns out the answer to that question is: Sort of. Maybe. Depends.
Headlight technology has evolved and improved over the years. The incandescent bulbs of the 1970s were replaced by halogen in the ’80s and ’90s. Today most factory models use LED lights.
Cpl. Michael McLaughlin of the RCMP’s highway patrol says each lighting technology “is capable of outputting a much brighter beam with less electrical power than the previous generation.”
The brightness of lights on vehicles coming out of the factory remains up to individual manufacturers — within reason.
So technically, if you’re blinking away temporary blindness after a car passes in the opposite direction, those lights are against the rules. But how do you prove that random set of lights “struck the eye”?
That, McLaughlin says, is why traffic officers receive relatively few complaints about potentially illegal beams.
Vancouver police Const. Tania Visintin agrees.
“There are all forms of non-compliant aftermarket lights and other equipment available to the consumer,” she says. But “we haven’t had complaints here at the VPD on powerful headlights.”
McLaughlin says the highway patrol “gets many, many complaints about driving behaviour and violations of the regulations. Lighting is not among the most frequent complaints, though it does come up.”
What about powerful aftermarket lights that flout the rules, which seem to be proliferating?
“Some people absolutely do use aftermarket lights,” says McLaughlin. “One rule of thumb is that if a headlight is anything but white — for example, blue lights — then they are illegal.”
But even the issue of light colour includes notable exceptions, he says: “Front-facing fog lamps and parking lamps can be amber or yellow. Off-road lamps do not have a colour restriction, but they must be concealed with opaque covers when on a highway.
“Like I said, the rules are complicated,” says McLaughlin.
He recommends sticking with the lights your vehicle manufacturer chose.
“Most modern vehicles have excellent headlights, and I recommend that people invest time in making sure their lamps are in good working order, and turned on, rather than spending money on cosmetic light upgrades.”
Should your lights be deemed unsuitable, or they’re not being operated properly, there are many potential penalties, such as fines for an unauthorized lamp, illegal use of an auxiliary driving lamp and failure to dim high beams within 150 metres of an oncoming car.
Patrol officers do write tickets for such infractions, but precise numbers aren’t available, says McLaughlin.
While B.C. has its own regulations, they’re influenced by federal rules on acceptable lamp technologies as established by Transport Canada.
“Federal regulations specify the safety performance aspects of a vehicle as it is manufactured and delivered by the original manufacturer, but not the alterations made by the dealers or vehicle owners,” says Transport Canada spokeswoman Sau Sau Liu.
But it’s up to provincial and territorial governments to set rules and enforcement strategies related to maintenance, such as whether headlights are aimed properly and adequately cleaned, as well as the sale, installation and operation of aftermarket equipment.
Liu says modern lights are indeed brighter and throw a wider beam, and that is designed for the safety of the driver, pedestrians and cyclists at night. But maintaining them properly is important for the same reason.
“Given their greater intensity and their ability to project light farther, incorrectly aimed or dirty headlamps powered by these new technologies may create more glare compared to older headlamps,” says Liu.
Federal law was recently amended to provide more clarity on new technologies, including regulations designed to prevent glare for oncoming drivers. Those include limits on the height of headlamps and a requirement for automatic levelling of newer high-intensity lights.
Because of all these complexities, McLaughlin says the highway patrol doesn’t see a crackdown on illegal and blinding headlamps as a priority.
“Impaired driving, distracted driving, occupant restraint, high-risk driving, pedestrian safety, motorcycle safety, and driving relative to conditions are higher priorities because they kill and injure the most road-users per year,” he says.