Roads: Ontario/GTA Highways Discussion

[Undead]

It's not aftermarket. The vast majority of blinding headlights are stock from the manufacturers.

 

[lenaitch]

I'd think the manufacturers are realising they are heading towards a recall - so should be keen to fix the problem.

I'm not sure why they can't change the colour as well - that's part of the problem I think.

I know there are regulations regarding Lumens output but I'm not sure there are any regulations about colour temperature. So long as the manufacturers are compliant with regulations at the time of manufacture, I doubt there would be a legal foundation for a recall. The fact that regulations are weak is not the manufactuers' fault.

Problem is the aftermarket world and its enforcement. Already there are drivers with illegal plate covers/placement, illegal illuminating/flashing lights (especially on motorcycles), heck even drivers driving around with high beams. Unless you're caught red-handed breaking a second law, I would imagine many get away with it.

I would guess there are many who do not understand the concept of properly projecting your lights when purchasing said aftermarket products: adjusting the beam so it does not blind drivers....in addition with products that don't make any mention of how to adjust...

It's good they are looking at it, but there will probably be years of uneasy driving until the old stuff phases out...

...


Either that or we're all getting older. Night driving is much different these days...

Edit: I forgot to add, the way we illuminate our roads has a play in this too... If it's raining + nighttime, good luck seeing the painted lines using an older style bulb... I have found many stretches on the 401 quite bad compared to other jurisdictions where reflectors/lighting are used...but again, maybe related to my age....

Equipment violations are largely ignored now. Part of the problem is regulatory law is full of 'what-ifs', exceptions and 'ya-buts' that most cops simply give up. In addition, poorly crafted laws and/or a lack of enforcement technology renders a lot of enforcement completely subjective.

One problem with aftermarket bulbs is, if they don't exactly match the reflector pattern of the housing it can scatter light all over the place.

Or, in some cases, people are simply dicks. We had one guy with a full width LED lightbar on the roof of his truck. If you met the guy on a curve you could feel your eyeballs start to melt.

One problem with road markings is cost. Embedded cat-eyes or something similar have to be cut into the road to permit snow removal, and the same snow removal wears down road markings faster, making the products with micro reflective elements much more expensive.

 

[Jonny5]

Edit: I forgot to add, the way we illuminate our roads has a play in this too... If it's raining + nighttime, good luck seeing the painted lines using an older style bulb... I have found many stretches on the 401 quite bad compared to other jurisdictions where reflectors/lighting are used...but again, maybe related to my age....

Oh, yes. I saw this on a trip to California about a year ago. It wasn't on every expressway, but one in particular had excellent reflectors of some kind on every single dashed lane marker and they were very bright late at night during a storm, also they were apparently unfazed by cars driving over them. On one downhill section of the highway you could see all the lanes marked out with the reflectors for a whole mile ahead.

They had the same thing on multi-lane off-ramps also with very clear LED lighting indicators for which lane was for what at the end of the ramp.

 

[nfitz]

Oh, yes. I saw this on a trip to California about a year ago. It wasn't on every expressway, but one in particular had excellent reflectors of some kind on every single dashed lane marker and they were very bright late at night during a storm, also they were apparently unfazed by cars driving over them. On one downhill section of the highway you could see all the lanes marked out with the reflectors for a whole mile ahead.

They had the same thing on multi-lane off-ramps also with very clear LED lighting indicators for which lane was for what at the end of the ramp.

UK and other places have been using things like this for at least 60 years.

But there they last for decades. Here they seldom last the winter. Blame the weather.