Headlight Ratings and Road Safety
At Silverman, McDonald & Friedman, we help Delaware residents and visitors who have been hurt in auto accidents. Our experienced auto accident injury attorneys represent clients who have been injured in car crashes caused by the negligence of another. You are welcome to call us to make an appointment with a car crash lawyer in Newark, Seaford or Wilmington.
Your car’s headlights obviously have a two-fold purpose: the first is to help you see the road at night and in poor weather conditions. The second is so that you can be seen on the road. If you have ever had the experience of driving along at night and feeling as if you are squinting in order to see the road ahead of you, it might not be time to get your eyesight checked because it just might be that your headlights are not doing their job.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently did a study of passenger car headlights with fascinating results. IIHS tested 82 headlights for 31 mid-size vehicles from the 2016 model year because some vehicles can be purchased with different headlight options. The ratings ranged from poor to marginal, acceptable and good. Only one model earned the “good” rating and that was the 2016 Toyota Prius V when equipped with the LED lights and high-beam assist. These are added-on options which add to the price of the car. The Prius base model is equipped with regular halogen lights, which earned a poor rating. The other interesting finding is that a higher price point on a vehicle does not guarantee better headlights. Even some of the luxury vehicles had poorly-rated headlights. While some of the vehicles tested had the new headlight technology, which includes adaptive headlights that swivel according to how the car is being steered, the study found that these features did not guarantee good performance. What made the difference in the results was the systems that produced adequate illumination without causing excessive glare for oncoming vehicles.
In the IIHS study, there were 11 models that received a poor rating, including Mercedes-Benz, Buick and Cadillac. There were nine vehicles that received a marginal rating including BMW, Audi and Lincoln, and 11 vehicle models in the acceptable category including Honda, Lexus and Volvo.
David Zuby, Executive VP and Chief Researcher at IIHS said, that government standards for judging the performance of headlights are essentially unchanged since they were set back in the 1960s. Through this study the IIHS hopes to encourage the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to improve headlight standards and encourage automakers to make better headlights on their own.
Effective headlights are important for vehicle safety
Headlights are one of the most important components of vehicle safety. Given that so many traffic crashes occur at night and during other times of low visibility, having the best headlights possible can make all the difference when it comes to seeing the other vehicles, pedestrians and unexpected obstacles in the road and being seen by other drivers.
You are welcome to call us at 302.414.5553 or fill out our quick contact form to schedule a free consultation to discuss your car crash case. From our offices in Newark, Seaford and Wilmington, the auto accident lawyers of Silverman, McDonald & Friedman are glad to serve clients throughout Delaware.
Attorney Jeffrey S. Friedman joined Silverman, McDonald & Friedman in 2001. He graduated from Widener University School of Law, and is admitted to practice law in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and in several Federal Circuit courts. He areas of concentration include auto accident and workers’ compensation cases. Read more about Attorney Friedman here.