Drivers demand action on dazzling headlights

Motorists have demanded urgent intervention from relevant authorities to tackle the growing threat of excessively bright vehicle headlights, which they claim are turning night-time roads into perilous obstacle courses.

Taxi drivers, delivery workers, and elderly motorists alike report near-misses and reduced working hours due to the blinding glare from LED and high-intensity headlamps, sparking calls for stricter regulations and enforcement. The blinding lights are causing near accidents and forcing some drivers to avoid the roads altogether, they said.

A taxi operator in Bridgetown who gave his name as Michael told Barbados TODAY that the issue has affected his livelihood, threatening shorter working hours.

“It affects you so bad that even on a night now you don’t feel like working,” he said. “The bright lights will actually blind you. When you see them coming, you have to slow down or even stop.”

Michael added: “The authorities need to crack down because some of them willfully put in the bright lights, and even when dimmed, they’re still too bright. It’s real bad.”

Fellow taxi operator Junior echoed similar frustrations: “The lights are extremely bright and it seems as though they can’t dim.

“At night, when you see those lights, you have to focus to the left to avoid hitting someone because they’re really bright. I don’t know how they’re going to combat that, but they have to look into it.”

Also voicing his annoyance was delivery driver Graham Licorish who described as disgusting the disturbances caused by these lights during after-dark driving.

“It’s one of the most disturbing things when you really look at the way how motorists handle the lights at night,” he said.

“When these lights hit you, you’ve got to pull up, and it’s so dangerous because the vehicle behind could easily run into the back of your car. It’s very, very offensive,” Licorish said.

He said he has had many close calls, narrowly avoiding crashes from blinding headlights which he stressed were a serious hazard on the road.

“The government should ban them because even pedestrians find it difficult to see, [when the lights shine on them]. They need to carry out some kind of survey to see how dangerous it is. I believe they should put an end to some of these lights,” he said.

The dangers posed by these bright LED headlights are not unique to Barbados as drivers globally are raising similar concerns.

Recent reports in Canada have highlighted how such lights impair visibility for oncoming motorists, further increasing the risk of accidents.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported the issue has sparked debates on the safety of modern headlights and their regulation.

The CBC further noted comments from experts who shared that headlight glare has become a serious issue across North America with vehicles transitioning from warmer old-style halogen lights to newer LED headlights which create a more intense, concentrated gleam that’s “bluer and can force people to squint in discomfort”.

Similar concerns among elderly drivers locally have prompted the Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP) to partner with a private taxi company to launch a shuttle service operating between 6 p.m., and 6 a.m., for its members.

During the launch event back in November, BARP President Marilyn Rice-Bowen also bemoaned the issue of “night blindness” caused by these problematic LED headlights.

But the motorists are urging the government to implement a comprehensive solution that will address the issue for all road users at night.

(SM)