REDUCING GLARE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 71, 23 February 1937, Page 8

REDUCING GLARE

NEW LIGHT REGULATIONS. REASONS FOR CHANGE. (Bv Telegraph.—Special to Standard.) WELLINGTON, Eeb. 23. A careful overhaul of the pnnciples of head-light illumination preceded the change in the regulations which comes into iorce on March 31. H teems highly probable, from the explanations given of the new requirements, that the serious problem of glare which causes so much inconvenience to drivers will be largely eliminated, if not entirely removed, when all niotoi vehicles in the Dominion have then head-lights adjusted according to the new' system. . , . The present requirement, now to be superseded, is that the beams had to be horizontal and not above a ceitain height. This in practice did not prevent the main beam from shining m the eyes of drivers of approaching cars. /The new requirement is that the headlights shall be so adjusted that the centre of the main beam of each light must project downwards so as to meet a horizontal road surface not more than 200 feet ahead of the vehicle win Is the beam of the off-side (drivers side) lamp is to bo so arranged that it will meet the centre of the beam from the other lamp not more than «00 feet ahead of the vehicle.

TECHNICAL EXPERIMENTS. Experiments were made by the technical committee ot the National Safety Council, and some valuable suggestions submitted to it by one of its members were tried out. The result has been the change indicated. Under this system the road surface, which is ''hat the driver most wishes to see, will be well lighted by beams which should not in practice rise high enough to dazzle any approaching driver. There will be some light in his eyes, but the focussed beam should not reach his eye-level and the dazzle danger should thus be eliminated. Slightly swinging the righthand beam towards the left will have the effect of producing the greatest degree of light along the path of the car, leaving the right-hand side —the path of approaching vehicles—clear of any focussed beam. When cars are approaching at night, each driver will see strong lights at some distance, but when they get closer, especially to within 200 feet, the beams will be below eye level and away from each other’s tracks. THE TEST. When motorists, submit their vehicles for the official certificate of mechanical efficiency, the headlights will need to comply with Regulation 7, and if they' do not there will be a direction to make the necessary change and report to the certifying officer. It is not expected that all vehicles will he able to secure certificates by the regulation date, though the Transport Department is now well forward with its arrangements for recognition of testing authorities and approved garages which may give the certificates.