ILLEGAL: Are your headlights working?
An estimated 2.6million cars are being driven illegally with defective lights, a study by Halfords has found.
More than one in ten vehicles (10.1%) checked across ten UK cities had a failed headlight, sidelight, rear or brake-light – significantly increasing accident risk.
The problem is also reflected in MOT failure rates, with 1.16million cars tested in 2012 falling short of required standards due to their lights.
Dave Poulter, Director of Trading for Auto at Halfords, said: “We know motorist have delayed essential repairs and many wait for the MOT but this is a false economy and such drivers risk falling foul of the law.”
Glasgow fared worst in the study, with just under one in eight of vehicles (13.3%) having defective lights.
Newcastle was a close second with 13.1% of cars observed with blown bulbs.
Department of Transport figures show that, in 2010, 357 accidents were blamed on vehicles not displaying lights at night or in poor visibility.
More than 25,000 accidents were the result of drivers misjudging other vehicles’ speed, often as a result of failing to slow down.
Image courtesy of cynchya, with thanks.
David Bradbury
( Saturday, November 9, 2013 - 09:14 )
Problem with modern car headlights is that they seem to fail after a few hours. My first 10 years of driving – no headlight failures. Now they seem to fail annually – and due to some poor design, the bulbs are impossible to change without ripping your fingers or hands to shreds or removing either the whole headlamp assembly or something else inside the engine compartment. I can see that LED headlamps will also be just as bad – engineered to fail using underspecified components, and when they are replaced, the computer will need to be programmed to allow them to be switched on #rant