Vancouver city council has unanimously passed a motion calling for limits to headlight brightness.It was introduced by Councillor Sean Orr.."I admit it's a little personal," Orr said. "My mom absolutely hates these lights when driving, and from what I've been hearing a lot of people do as well."He noted that while regulation falls outside the city's jurisdiction, council can advocate to the federal government to take action."Excessively bright vehicle headlights, including high-intensity discharge and light-emitting diode headlights, are increasingly common on Vancouver streets and are a growing source of glare for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians," the motion reads. "Headlight glare has been linked to reduced night-time visibility, delayed reaction times, increased collision risk, and particular harm to seniors, people with astigmatism or other vision impairments, cyclists, and pedestrians."It calls on Mayor Ken Sim to ask the federal transport minister to "address excessive headlight brightness and glare" via "updates to national vehicle safety standards and enforcement mechanisms, informed by safety impacts on drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, seniors, and people with vision impairments.".At a local level, the motion will be submitted to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for consideration at the next annual conference. It calls on the federal government to do three things:1. Establish clearer and enforceable limits on headlight brightness, beam pattern, and mounting height.2. Strengthen oversight of adaptive and high-intensity lighting technologies.3. Improve regulation and enforcement related to non-compliant aftermarket vehicle lighting."The proliferation of oversized vehicles with elevated headlight mounting heights, combined with brighter factory-installed and aftermarket headlights, has intensified glare impacts, especially on lower vehicles and active transportation users," the motion states, noting that "other jurisdictions have begun examining limits on headlight brightness, beam pattern, mounting height, adaptive lighting behaviour, and enforcement of illegal aftermarket modifications."Regulations are set by Transport Canada, however the agency does not once mention glare or the impacts bright lights have on other drivers.
