ADAC statistics published last week show a big decrease in fatal car crashes at night in Germany—and this nighttime decrease is much bigger than the daytime decrease. This week’s in-depth presentation really shows that good lights clearly save lives at night. It’s already a decade ago that a study led by TÜV Rheinland showed that HID headlamps prevent crashes and save lives; the conclusion was that if all vehicles registered in Germany were equipped with HID headlamps instead of halogen ones, serious crashes at night on country roads could be reduced by over 50%.
It seems that’s the kind of result happening with the arrival of the new waves of high-tech headlamps, most notably ADB. Everyone in the vehicle lighting community should personally be proud about the job you have done these last two decades. Yours is nothing less than participation in achieving a decrease in the number of killed at night by a factor of 5 in less than 25 years (while factor of 2.5 at daytime) is a wonderful result.
I also am convinced that the lighting conferences, the various meetings and networking opportunities, contributed to this laudable result. The VISION congress starting today is a part of the ongoing future of that trend, and modestly, DVN is a part of the impetus behind this lighting success with Workshops, weekly newsletters, and monthly reports like the one coming next week: a grand profile of Varroc Lighting. This week you’ll find a preview, an interview of Varroc Lighting CEO Stéphane Vedié.
Don’t forget the Frankfort DVN lidar conference on November 19-20, more information, registration and detailed program HERE
As mentioned last week, we now have to achieve the three next challenges: extension of ADB to popular-price, high-volume cars; differentiation of EVs by lights, and new lights for AV communication to pedestrians and drivers.
Sincerely yours
DVN President