• Nearly three quarters of Britain’s motorists (73 per cent) have been temporarily blinded by another driver’s headlights
• Roadside experiment reveals drivers’ vision is impaired for two seconds after being dazzled by full beam headlights
• 317,890 miles driven ‘blind’ every year, equivalent to 13 trips around the world
• Less than three quarters (72 per cent) of drivers say they dip their full beam headlights when meeting oncoming traffic
• Nearly 1.5 million motorists (five per cent) forced to take evasive action nearly resulting in a collision after being dazzled
   

New research1 from Direct Line Car Insurance reveals 29 million motorists have been left temporarily blinded by another vehicle’s headlights in the past 12 months. A roadside experiment2 conducted by the insurer found motorists were left blinded for two seconds, on average, by an oncoming driver’s full beam headlights. 

The roadside experiment tested the effect of a vehicle passing with full beam non-dipped headlights on a driver’s visibility. Participants reported flashes and black dots in their vision for up to five seconds after the vehicle had passed. On average, it took two seconds for the driver’s vision to return to a state where they felt they could see clearly on the road ahead. A driver temporarily blinded by oncoming headlights travelling at 70 mph would travel over half the length of a football pitch, 62.5 metres, unable to see the road. 

Assuming those dazzled in the last year were travelling at 30mph when passed by a driver with full beam headlights, they would have travelled 317,890 miles, or nearly 13 trips around the world3, temporarily blinded and unable to see the road.  
 

Table one: Time spent driving blind due to oncoming vehicle full beam headlights

Source: Direct Line Car Insurance 2017
 

The number one cause of drivers being dazzled is oncoming traffic using full beam headlights (48 per cent) followed by oncoming vehicles’ headlights (37 per cent) at any setting. This highlights the challenge posed by modern bulb technology, which illuminates the road so brightly it can pose a risk to other motorists even when headlights are not set to full beam. Despite road etiquette rules, taking third place are vehicles following behind with their headlights set to full beam and dazzling those in front via their rear-view mirror, accounting for just over a third (35 per cent) of blinded motorists.

Despite so many drivers having been dazzled by headlights, less than three quarters (72 per cent) of motorists say that they dip their own full beams when meeting oncoming traffic. Even fewer (64 per cent) dip their full beams when travelling behind another vehicle and only 59 per cent say they dim their lights when meeting oncoming pedestrians or cyclists.

Consequently, a fifth (20 per cent) of dazzled drivers have been forced to brake suddenly and nearly 1.5 million (five per cent) have needed to take evasive action that nearly resulted in a collision.
 

Rob Miles, director of car insurance at Direct Line, commented: “It is alarming to hear that UK motorists are driving blind because of other road users’ dangerous behaviour when on the road.  Drivers must remain considerate of others’ vision, not just their own, to ensure safety for themselves, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists around them. Hopefully new technologies that automatically dip headlights, or angle them away to avoid temporarily blinding other road users, will become standard across the industry.

“As the research shows, drivers have to make sudden adjustments to counteract the effects of being dazzled, which could sometimes lead to a dangerous outcome. This is supported by government statistics4which show in the past five years 1,622 road accidents have been caused by drivers being dazzled by headlights, of which 350 accidents (22 per cent) were either serious or fatal.”

In spite of this, it seems that drivers are undecided on the penalties that should be enforced when full beam headlights are used inappropriately. More than two fifths (44 per cent) of motorists believe that perpetrators should be penalised, while 46 per cent believe they should just be let off. Of those who believe drivers should be penalised, a fifth (21 per cent) see a fine and penalty points the most appropriate, 15 per cent say it should be a straight fine and eight per cent say it should be straight penalty points.
 

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors

• 1Research conducted by Opinium amongst 2,003 adults between 6-9 October 2017
• 2Researchers tested the impact on driver visibility when participants of the study were passed by an oncoming vehicle with full beam (non-dipped) headlights (Peugeot 208).  Road safety test conducted 7th – 10th October near the A264 in Guildford, Surrey.  Participants were asked to inform researchers when their vision returned to a state at which they felt they could clearly view the road.  Test conditions – research was conducted on a dark private road with no streetlights at 9:00 pm – 11:30 pm.  Distances travelled with impaired vision are estimations based on calculating driver speed against length of vision impairment.  For safety reasons study participants were seated in a stationary vehicle with their lights on to simulate the experience of being passed by a driver failing to dip their headlights.  
• 348 per cent of drivers (19,073,412 UK adults) said that they had been dazzled by an oncoming vehicle (the same conditions tested in the social experiment) in the past year. Assuming the driver was travelling at 30mph and loses their full vision for two seconds, this amounts to a distance of 88 feet driven ‘blind’. 88 x 19,073,412 = 1,678,460,333. Converted to miles (5,280 feet per mile), this is a total of 317,890 miles driven dazzled. The circumference of the earth is 24,901 miles, which equates to 12.8 journeys around the world.
• 4Direct Line analysis of contributory factors for reported road accidents (RAS50), broken down by severity, in Great Britain between 2012-2016, published by the Department for Transport on 28th September 2017
   

For further information please contact:

Chloe French 

PR Manager 

Direct Line Group

Tel: 01651 831 715

Email: [email protected]
 

Antonia Green

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

[email protected]

0207 282 2967
 

Direct Line

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