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A12 HEALTH
Friday 18 February 2022
U.S. approves new headlights that

won't blind oncoming drivers

By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writer
DETROIT (AP) — Anyone
who has ever been tem-
porarily blinded by high-
beam headlights from an
oncoming car will be hap-
py to hear this.
U.S. highway safety regu-
lators are about to allow
new high-tech headlights
that can automatically tai-
lor beams so they focus on
dark areas of the road and
don't create glare for on- Headlights from morning commuters can be seen through
coming drivers. blowing snow as they make their way along Highway 441, on
The National Highway Jan. 28, 2019, in Appleton, Wis.
Traffic Safety Administra- Associated Press
tion says it issued a final in a news release on Tues- tally of 31,720 deaths was
rule allowing what's called day. The new rule, which the highest nine-month fig-
"adaptive driving beam was supported by the auto ure since 2006.
headlights" on new ve- industry, comes as the safe- Sam Abuelsamid, principal
hicles. It will go into effect ty agency grapples with mobility analyst for Guide-
when published in the Fed- a dramatic rise in traffic house Research, said the
eral Register in the next few deaths nationwide. new lights will show up in
days. The number of U.S. traf- higher-cost luxury vehicles
The headlights, common- fic deaths surged in the at first, but will spread to
ly used in Europe, have first nine months of 2021 more mainstram vehicles
LED lamps that can focus to 31,720, the government as the price of the technol-
beams on darkness such as reported Tuesday, keep- ogy falls.
the driver's lane and areas ing up a record pace of Currently Audi charges
along the roadside. They increased dangerous driv- $3,000 for the top version of
also lower the intensity of ing during the coronavirus the lights in the U.S. on its e-
the light beams if there's pandemic. tron Sportback electric ve-
oncoming traffic. Camera The estimated figure of hicle. The adaptive beam
sensors and computers people dying in motor ve- lights are offered on most
help determine where the hicle crashes from Janu- Audi models in the U.S.,
light should go. ary to September 2021 but until now, could not be
"This final rule will improve was 12% higher than the used. An Audi spokesman
safety for pedestrians and same period in 2020. That says the company is eval-
bicyclists by making them represents the highest per- uating whether the lights
more visible at night, and centage increase over a meet NHTSA standards
will help prevent crashes by nine-month period since and whether they can be
better illuminating animals the Transportation Depart- activated in the future.
and objects in and along ment began recording fa- The technology uses an ar-
the road," the agency said tal crash data in 1975. The ray of light emitting diodes
that can change where
light beams are sent, rather
than the current technol-
ogy of high beams hitting
everywhere. "You have the
ability to basically create
a light pattern on the fly
that is optimized for real-
time conditions," Abuelsa-
mid said. "You can cast the
light where it's most useful."
The new lights also will help
partially automated driver
assist systems keep cars in
their lanes and avoid ob-
jects in front of the vehicles
at night, Abuelsamid said.
The new lighting regula-
tion also comes more than
1 1/2 years ahead of a re-
quirement in the bipartisan
infrastructure law passed
by Congress last year, NHT-
SA said.q