Change.Org Petition to Ban “Disability Glare” Headlights. Warnings from AAA, AMA, and More.

By B.N. Frank

This isn’t the first petition to address LED and HID headlights causing road hazards. Warnings about blinding headlights have been cited by the American Medical Association (AMA), American Automobile Association (AAA) and other experts. Sometimes this is referred to as “Disability Glare”. Many U.S. broadcast stations have been covering this issue:

A Change.org petition was recently started to request the removal and discontinuation of these light bulbs on vehicles.

Ban Blinding Headlights and Save Lives!

Donald Berry started this petition to NHTSA and 2 others

It is clear to anyone who drives, walks or bikes the roads: the trend toward LED and HID headlights has become a source of dangerous, blinding glare.

In addition, LED daytime running lamps, as well as overly-bright LED tail-lights, brake-lights and turn signals, are a source of fatal distraction, creating what is known as inattentional blindness or the “Las Vegas Effect”, a visual field so polluted by distracting glare that the brain has a hard time keeping focused on the important subjects like pedestrians in a crosswalk.

Previous petitions on this issue have garnered thousands of signatures along with comments that these headlights have caused accidents, made elderly drivers give up driving at night, and even induced migraines.

The American Medical Association recently issued guidelines on “blue-rich light”, the very sort of harsh, bluish-white light used by LED headlights and daytime running lamps. The AMA stated that blue-rich light causes pain and damage to the human eye and suppresses melatonin at five times the rate of other wavelengths. They have urged people to move lighting toward the more natural and warm red-end of the spectrum.

We are asking Congress, the Department of Transportation and NHTSA to take this matter seriously and ban all blue-light technologies on vehicles and to keep tail-lights, brake-lights and turn signals to a maximum brightness no greater than that allowed for traffic signals.

For more information please visit Lightmare.org

Health issues associated with LED lights aren’t isolated to temporary vision impairment (See 1, 2). Exposure can harm animals and nature as well.

Yellow-tinted glasses may help while driving, but they won’t protect from other health issues associated with exposure to LED lights. Incandescent light bulbs may use more energy but they are a healthier choice – biologically and environmentally.