The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is one of the world’s largest non-profit consumer organizations, with over 80 million members across 242 clubs in 147 countries. FIA is huge and powerful, and now they say more and more members are complaining about glare. Ten European mobility clubs, led by the German ADAC, conducted a survey on traffic glare. Some of the organizations sent out a six-page questionnaire via member magazines and social media and received 22,000 responses. The other clubs commissioned a representative survey of 1,000 drivers via a market research company, with the same list of questions. Here are the results from the representative survey:
- 71 per cent of the respondents find the glare ‘unbearable’ or ‘annoying’
- 32 per cent ‘almost always’ or ‘regularly’ feel dazzled
- 51 per cent squint or even close their eyes briefly against glare while driving
- 58 per cent have problems perceiving objects in the vicinity of the dazzling light source
- 30 per cent say they still see an afterimage of the light source for some time
after passing it, or even feel pain.
(these last two points are indications of hindered perception/vision, i.e., physiological/disability glare)
The results of the non-representative surveys were, as expected, even starker. A few respondent comments were highlighted, such as “The balance between seeing and being seen is gone” or “It seems that some vehicles are always driving with their high beams on” and “Colour is a problem, intense white suddenly turns into a blue flash”.
The conclusion of the FIA, recently reported at the 90th GRE meeting in Geneva, is that the majority of drivers surveyed feel dazzled in traffic and ¾ of all respondents support changes in legislation to reduce traffic glare.
They put forth some possible causes, with heavy emphasis on the high luminance and contrast of today’s headlamps being unaddressed by current regulations, as well as the sensitivity of the eye to blue light; high-mounted headlamps, and slow reaction of ADB systems.
The FIA have recommended that WP.29 establish a task force on glare prevention.
DVN will keep you updated as events develop. Watch for detailed analysis of traffic glare in forthcoming DVNewsletters.