MOTOR HEADLIGHTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19501, 3 December 1926, Page 12

MOTOR HEADLIGHTS.

There is a large body of evidence that the practice of dimming headlights, which rests upon a rule of courtesy rather than any legal prescription, has contributed on many occasions to accidents, often with fatal consequences. Several magistrates have recently made emphatic pronouncements on the subject, urging the authorities to lay down a definite rule. tragic illustration of the dangers inherent in the present confusion is the death oi Mr. George Aldridge, who was. run down by a motor-car, because, as the coroner states precisely, the driver had dimmed his headlights in consideration of approaching cars* and was unable to perceive the danger until the fatal moment. It is a poignant thought that this honoured citizen might still be alive bus for the temporary darkening of the driver's vision. But the magistrates who have directed attention to the need for remedial measures and to the neglect of tho authorities to establish a uniform rule have not gone £3O far as to say that dimming of headlights should be forbidden. One of them has certainly expressed the opinion that more accidents have been caused by dimming than by the confusion of .others' view by undimmed glaring . lights. Probably the former condition involves the greater danger to pedestrians,; but a simple ban on dimming would almost certainly add to the list of collisions , between vehicles. Many cars carry headlights which would be absurdly powerful in lighted city streets, and probably the majority of all motors on the roads have their lights so carelessly fitted that dimming is essential for the protection of other traffic. Two years ago the Auckland City Council made » bylaw prescribing a standard adjustment to eliminate the danger of glare and the need for dimming, but, like so many good regulations, it has not been enforced. The custom of dimming has now become so widely followed and the maladjustment of lights so general that effective remedies must be sought in statutory regulation, but it is clear that before the former is proscribed the latter must be corrected. Emphatic endorsement must, however, be jfiven to the magistrates' urgings of action by the .responsible authorities, so that this danger to all users of the highways may be removed.