Are headlights too bright? Nearly 380K Canadians told Ottawa their answer

Close to 380,000 Canadians participated in Transport Canada’s public consultation regarding vehicle headlight glare, a number the department calls a “high volume of responses.”

From March 6 to April 20, Canadians were able to anonymously provide feedback to Transport Canada regarding travelling at night, contributing factors to headlight glare, driver behaviour and any input for possible solutions.

“While new headlight technology in vehicles can help drivers see better, they can also cause problems for other road users. Transport Canada wants to learn how headlight glare affects road users and what vehicle or lighting features may influence how people experience it at night,” the department’s release announcing the public consultation states.

“We want to hear about your experiences, opinions, and behaviours with vehicle headlight glare.”

Transport Canada stated to Global News that the department will be releasing its findings in a report but no publication date has been determined.

“Given the significant volume of responses received, analysis and compilation of the survey data is expected to take several months,” Transport Canada stated to Global News.

Is vehicle headlight glare a growing concern?

Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval currently has a petition open that urges the federal government to modernize its vehicle headlight regulations.

The petition is also calling for the government to “incorporate criteria into these regulations that consider human perception of brightness; more strictly regulate the colour spectrum, power and dispersion of light beams, particularly those using LED technology” and “take concrete measures to reduce glare and improve road safety for the entire population, especially seniors.”

It currently has 11,245 signatures. The petition opened on Feb. 17 and is set to close on June 17.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) also released a study in March that found that six in 10 drivers say glare is a problem after dark, with nearly three-quarters of those affected believing the issue has worsened over the past decade.

Pickup drivers were also found to be less likely to report glare (41 per cent) than drivers of other vehicle types (66 per cent).