Regulations play a very important role in determining most aspects of the safety performance of vehicle lighting systems and devices. The regulations of the UN 1958 Agreement are widely accepted around the world, but not universally so; harmonisation is well under way in China, for example, but North American drivers still can’t access the safety benefits of adaptive driving (glare free high) beam because the US doesn’t recognise UN regulations and the unique North American regulations don’t recognise ADB. This is a subject to generate much discussion at the DVN Workshop to be held next month in Michigan.
But it’s not just the technical provisions of the regulations creating a US-versus-world or China-versus-UN debate. As we’ve described , there are major structural hurdles in countries like China and the US that make accession to the UN 1958 Agreement practically impossible. That’s why it’s such good news that GTB, the worldwide vehicle lighting expert group that has worked so hard for years to “feed” the UN automotive lighting regulatory process, is under Geoff Draper’s able presidency expanding its focus to support the regulatory countries unable or unwilling to sign onto the 1958 Agreement. But that’s not to say purely UN-centric technical matters are to be ignored. Consider the developing new criteria for automatic levelling of headlamps, doggedly being shepherded by GTB through a contentious, byzantine, frustrating process. Or the promising efforts, being actively supported by GTB, toward simplification of the volumninous UN lighting regulations. Read about all these issues and more in our special report this week on the GTB 118 th session.
Sincerely yours
DVN Editor in Chief