Sgt. Jess Carson, with Alaska State Troopers’ Bureau of Highway Patrol Fairbanks office, says extremely bright after-market headlights may help the motorist behind the wheel, but they also may create a hazard for motorists in oncoming vehicles by diminishing their night vision. (Credit flickr.com)
High-intensity headlights are popular and getting more so, especially here in Alaska during the long, dark winter months. They’re called “moose lights,” because they help drivers see farther down the road than conventional headlights to spot animals and other hazards. But Alaska State Troopers say moose lights can also create a hazard by temporarily blinding oncoming motorists in the other lane.
Ben Knix works at the NAPA auto parts store in Delta Junction, and he says he likes the added visibility he gets with his Light Force 240 high-intensity discharge lights he’s got mounted on his pickup’s rollbar. “Yeah, I mean I have them just to see more moose, and anything else you might encounter while driving,” he said. “And they do really great. I like ’em.”
Knix says the bright lights also are popular among his customers. “Y’know, we do sell a lot of them,” he said. “A lot of people like ’em.”
But Dave Slater says those extremely bright headlights really bother him. “These brights are so bright – I mean, they’re even brighter than regular, standard-beam bulbs on high,” Slater said. “And they’re blinding.”
That’s what worries Sgt. Jess Carson, with the Alaska State Troopers’ Fairbanks Bureau of Highway Patrol office. Carson says Troopers have been getting a half-dozen or so complaints like Slater’s annually over the past few years. But he says they can’t really do much more than sympathize with them. “The current laws in Alaska don’t have any statutes that would allow us to enforce it.”
See Full Story at AlaskaPublic.org
image credit flickr.com
