Sunday 20 September 2009
The House of Commons
Security is big and understandable, but once I am inside parking under the shadow of Big Ben is powerfully impressive. Luckily for me I had time to park up and wait for my customer. Whilst chatting to two of the Police on security duty I had time to give them my flyer and get them to read the [Lightmare article in Driving Magazine]. I wont be thanked if he reads this but one of the Policeman had hired a car for the weekend and loaded it quite heavily. A new vehicle with great reflectors even if the lights are not bixenon when high beaming due to weight can be very dangerous to other road users on a country lane. As this officer was driving he was totally unaware of the pain and distress he was causing to other drivers. He had not noticed other drivers had been flashing him with their distress, it actually took a passenger in his car to say how come we are a long way from home and you know so many people along this road. I am glad to say he then openly admitted he was one of the many thousands of culprits who have caused distress to others. I am glad to say he then found his scroll headlamp adjustment switch set his lights properly and after reading my article will hopefully be more aware and not distress other drivers
The Knowledge
TX1 LONDON TAXI 1997
Had a conversation with the driver of the above Taxi in the Texaco garage next to Asda Rhoehampton 2am approx. Like most of us working at night he had been blinded many times by other road users. I asked him if he had ever used his headlamp adjustment switch. To my amazement he never knew he had such a switch. Upon checking his lights lowering his beam angle from 0 to 2 he was amazed that his lights set on 0 would definitely blind other road users. After telling me he had the R registration Taxi from new and never used his headlamp beam adjuster or even knew of its existence. I am glad to say he went away happy with his newly acquired knowledge.
Had a conversation with the driver of the above Taxi in the Texaco garage next to Asda Rhoehampton 2am approx. Like most of us working at night he had been blinded many times by other road users. I asked him if he had ever used his headlamp adjustment switch. To my amazement he never knew he had such a switch. Upon checking his lights lowering his beam angle from 0 to 2 he was amazed that his lights set on 0 would definitely blind other road users. After telling me he had the R registration Taxi from new and never used his headlamp beam adjuster or even knew of its existence. I am glad to say he went away happy with his newly acquired knowledge.
A Lady With Style & BMW X5
I spoke to a very nice lady from the Midlands who had brought a new X5, and after being flashed nearly 50 times in the first two days of owning her BMW she telephoned her brother as she could find no way of lowering her dipped beam and she knew she was blinding others. Luckily for her the brother had a Range Rover that had the same problem. He proceeded to tell his sister to take her new X5 back to where it was brought and get them to readjust the headlights. The BMW dealership said nothing was wrong with her headlights. I am glad to say my lady was adamant and refused to leave the showroom in her new vehicle unless her lights were cranked down. This was done very reluctantly by the BMW dealership.
Go to Petition to: revise the RVLR 1989 regulation ...
If daytime lights are becoming a problem to you click the link below.
DaDRL UK Vote against Daytime Running Lights
Go to Petition to: revise the RVLR 1989 regulation ...
If daytime lights are becoming a problem to you click the link below.
DaDRL UK Vote against Daytime Running Lights
Sunday 6 September 2009
Blinding others
Independent businessman (Chelsea Bridge Wharf)
Another big story as I did the survey on Blinding Lights the businessman above had had a number of problems with the lights as his eyes were sensitive and found the lights from other vehicles were blinding him.
What was most tragic he once had a BMW with the bixenon lights and was fed up with other drivers flashing him? In fact the problem with other drivers flashing him got so bad he would retaliate by flashing them.
As our conversation went on the Penny dropped that the reason he was getting flashed was he was blinding them as his vehicle was supplied wrongly and the garages are still sending them out wrongly because the current test is inadequate.
Another big story as I did the survey on Blinding Lights the businessman above had had a number of problems with the lights as his eyes were sensitive and found the lights from other vehicles were blinding him.
What was most tragic he once had a BMW with the bixenon lights and was fed up with other drivers flashing him? In fact the problem with other drivers flashing him got so bad he would retaliate by flashing them.
As our conversation went on the Penny dropped that the reason he was getting flashed was he was blinding them as his vehicle was supplied wrongly and the garages are still sending them out wrongly because the current test is inadequate.
Survey for Opticians
Online petition or survey that could be carried out by opticians
Light sensitive eye test to be carried out in participating opticians as I believe it is apparent from my campaign there are more than 50% of drivers that suffer due to the introduction of the new bixenon lights.
The small questionnaire should probably ask.
1: Are you a driver and do you drive at night A) Often
B) Occasionally
C) Very Little
2: When driving at night do the new brighter lights on all vehicles including busses bother you? A) Yes
B) No
3: Did you think it was just particularly you? A) Yes
B) No
4: If you find the lights a problem is it worse when vehicles come up close from behind or when coming towards you. A) Towards you
B) From behind you
5: What is your eye colour?
Although it's not a hard and fast rule dark brown eyes generally let in less light than tyhe lighter blue or green eyes.
Do you believe the Manufacturers and Government has not taken enough consideration into light sensitive eyes.
Light sensitive eye test to be carried out in participating opticians as I believe it is apparent from my campaign there are more than 50% of drivers that suffer due to the introduction of the new bixenon lights.
The small questionnaire should probably ask.
1: Are you a driver and do you drive at night A) Often
B) Occasionally
C) Very Little
2: When driving at night do the new brighter lights on all vehicles including busses bother you? A) Yes
B) No
3: Did you think it was just particularly you? A) Yes
B) No
4: If you find the lights a problem is it worse when vehicles come up close from behind or when coming towards you. A) Towards you
B) From behind you
5: What is your eye colour?
Although it's not a hard and fast rule dark brown eyes generally let in less light than tyhe lighter blue or green eyes.
Do you believe the Manufacturers and Government has not taken enough consideration into light sensitive eyes.
Motorcycles
I had to do some digging for this one I have found being blinded from Motorcycles like all vehicles is becoming a regular occurrence. Weekends seemed to be the worst and the obvious dry days of the limited summer gives us each year,
Sadly I feel in my opinion the Government has got this wrong too and have been running a campaign to make sure Motorcyclists have bright lights day and night. This I found is just throwing another problem into the mix. Lights on these Motorcycles do help during the day but when it comes to the hours of darkness the headlights on these bikes are so good and often set incorrectly as to blind oncoming drivers. This problem is far worse when a pillion is carried and to adjust the headlight down is rarely used and why at weekends this is more prevalent. Especially on a country lane where many of these Motorcyclists die!
I quoted before 40% of all accidents happen in the hours of darkness well surprise I have found 65% of all deaths in England and Wales are from Motorcycles.
The scenario is as I am definitely being blinded by new lights on these during daylight hours when it comes to night time these bikes are as bad as cars and other vehicles and when they are coming down a lane you are not sure if it’s the one eyed monster which is the vehicle with only one headlight which confuses many of us. If I remember correctly Ealing council tried running a campaign without much success so we have the problem and can we deal with it. Blindedbixenon will try if our other is successful.
Our petition at Parliament at the moment is to revise the light act because of the dangers that the bixenon so please vote.
Let’s keep Motorcycles on the back burner as 65% is a huge amount to work on. The distress too many families and especially that of the rider who does not get to enjoy life.
Lives lost due to some very tiny adjustments and slightly inadequate training can be done if we are successful with our first e petition.
Sadly I feel in my opinion the Government has got this wrong too and have been running a campaign to make sure Motorcyclists have bright lights day and night. This I found is just throwing another problem into the mix. Lights on these Motorcycles do help during the day but when it comes to the hours of darkness the headlights on these bikes are so good and often set incorrectly as to blind oncoming drivers. This problem is far worse when a pillion is carried and to adjust the headlight down is rarely used and why at weekends this is more prevalent. Especially on a country lane where many of these Motorcyclists die!
I quoted before 40% of all accidents happen in the hours of darkness well surprise I have found 65% of all deaths in England and Wales are from Motorcycles.
The scenario is as I am definitely being blinded by new lights on these during daylight hours when it comes to night time these bikes are as bad as cars and other vehicles and when they are coming down a lane you are not sure if it’s the one eyed monster which is the vehicle with only one headlight which confuses many of us. If I remember correctly Ealing council tried running a campaign without much success so we have the problem and can we deal with it. Blindedbixenon will try if our other is successful.
Our petition at Parliament at the moment is to revise the light act because of the dangers that the bixenon so please vote.
Let’s keep Motorcycles on the back burner as 65% is a huge amount to work on. The distress too many families and especially that of the rider who does not get to enjoy life.
Lives lost due to some very tiny adjustments and slightly inadequate training can be done if we are successful with our first e petition.
Fleet Owners Info
Dear sir or Madam,
My name is Ken Perham and I am attempting to reduce accidents injuries and loss of life in the hours of darkness.
I am very positive if you take on board my suggestions you will find your drivers that I regularly see at night will be better received than thought of as white van man which is a slang term for drivers with company vans who are probably a little aggressive in their approach to driving and in getting to and from their current job.
I am actually not sure how big your fleet is but I feel sure it is quite comprehensive and as you say you are a progressive company you could be the first to take on board what I am trying to achieve.
I have found that the lack of knowledge of not the younger driver’s but those with 20 or more years driving experience who actually quite often have a reasonable record of competence have no idea that on the Van or Car that they are driving has a headlamp scroll switch that will probably lower the dip beam when carrying heavy loads if set correctly in the first place.
I could go on for hours on this lights subject but what I would appreciate if this letter gets to your department that deals with your vehicles that get involved in accidents in the hours of darkness and you find a common denominator with your vehicles being involved in accidents because the drivers had fully laden vehicles and had not lowered their lights I am sure we could discuss this further.
I have a letter from Rosie Winterton our Minister of Transport actually stating most drivers with these Headlamp switches do not use them.
Here are a couple of stories that back up my claims. I spoke to a Police officer who was driving a Renault Trafic at the time and I asked him about hid headlamp adjustment switch and gave him some of my paperwork on the subject of safer night driving and being blinded by drivers with lack of knowledge of driving with heavy loads. The officer asked me to show him his switch.
A Gas engineer from Onstream gas came to my house to change my outdated gas meter driving a Vauxhall Vivarro which is very similar to the Renault and the driver of this van had actually had an altercation with a driver the night before he came to me. The driver of the other vehicle complained to my engineer that he was being blinded but my man had no idea or knowledge of his headlight adjustment switch and was so amazed when I showed him he was eager to sign the petition I had started trying to raise awareness’ and improve the roads for the benefit of us all.
Look up my website blindedbixenon.co.uk and as a driver myself that has worked solely at night for the last 36 years in central London I feel many problems out there at night could be dealt with in a more organised way.
Yours sincerely Ken Perham
My name is Ken Perham and I am attempting to reduce accidents injuries and loss of life in the hours of darkness.
I am very positive if you take on board my suggestions you will find your drivers that I regularly see at night will be better received than thought of as white van man which is a slang term for drivers with company vans who are probably a little aggressive in their approach to driving and in getting to and from their current job.
I am actually not sure how big your fleet is but I feel sure it is quite comprehensive and as you say you are a progressive company you could be the first to take on board what I am trying to achieve.
I have found that the lack of knowledge of not the younger driver’s but those with 20 or more years driving experience who actually quite often have a reasonable record of competence have no idea that on the Van or Car that they are driving has a headlamp scroll switch that will probably lower the dip beam when carrying heavy loads if set correctly in the first place.
I could go on for hours on this lights subject but what I would appreciate if this letter gets to your department that deals with your vehicles that get involved in accidents in the hours of darkness and you find a common denominator with your vehicles being involved in accidents because the drivers had fully laden vehicles and had not lowered their lights I am sure we could discuss this further.
I have a letter from Rosie Winterton our Minister of Transport actually stating most drivers with these Headlamp switches do not use them.
Here are a couple of stories that back up my claims. I spoke to a Police officer who was driving a Renault Trafic at the time and I asked him about hid headlamp adjustment switch and gave him some of my paperwork on the subject of safer night driving and being blinded by drivers with lack of knowledge of driving with heavy loads. The officer asked me to show him his switch.
A Gas engineer from Onstream gas came to my house to change my outdated gas meter driving a Vauxhall Vivarro which is very similar to the Renault and the driver of this van had actually had an altercation with a driver the night before he came to me. The driver of the other vehicle complained to my engineer that he was being blinded but my man had no idea or knowledge of his headlight adjustment switch and was so amazed when I showed him he was eager to sign the petition I had started trying to raise awareness’ and improve the roads for the benefit of us all.
Look up my website blindedbixenon.co.uk and as a driver myself that has worked solely at night for the last 36 years in central London I feel many problems out there at night could be dealt with in a more organised way.
Yours sincerely Ken Perham
Edenbridge Fireman
A Fireman’s Story
Research for blindedbixenon has thrown up some good and bad in the people I question especially if they are in positions like the Fire service, Police and Ambulance etc.
Questioning has become a way of life at the moment and Solicitors have become the target on every high street but while pacing around Edenbridge I came across a tiny Fire station and never to miss an opportunity looked to see if anyone was available to talk to.
Only one officer available but that’s all you need as I went through my routine questioning about my lights issue. Like many he had noticed the improvement in the lights but only does a limited amount of driving at night but understood that the more you were on the road the more the lights could make you tired because of the brightness.
Bingo something new and those who read this don’t think its cart Blanche to drive like the many fast drivers we meet on a regular basis. Firstly he thought my lights issue was probably a contributing factor to some accidents. The brightness was also making driving more difficult for some. The bingo bonus was he had noticed over the last ten years that the crumple zones on cars of all shapes and sizes has been improved dramatically to the point that when vehicles have crashes they the Fire service don’t have to cut so many drivers out. Even though this safety feature was not on my agenda it was good to know the manufacturers had something of an improvement in safety.
Research for blindedbixenon has thrown up some good and bad in the people I question especially if they are in positions like the Fire service, Police and Ambulance etc.
Questioning has become a way of life at the moment and Solicitors have become the target on every high street but while pacing around Edenbridge I came across a tiny Fire station and never to miss an opportunity looked to see if anyone was available to talk to.
Only one officer available but that’s all you need as I went through my routine questioning about my lights issue. Like many he had noticed the improvement in the lights but only does a limited amount of driving at night but understood that the more you were on the road the more the lights could make you tired because of the brightness.
Bingo something new and those who read this don’t think its cart Blanche to drive like the many fast drivers we meet on a regular basis. Firstly he thought my lights issue was probably a contributing factor to some accidents. The brightness was also making driving more difficult for some. The bingo bonus was he had noticed over the last ten years that the crumple zones on cars of all shapes and sizes has been improved dramatically to the point that when vehicles have crashes they the Fire service don’t have to cut so many drivers out. Even though this safety feature was not on my agenda it was good to know the manufacturers had something of an improvement in safety.
Petition support
Hello Ken,
Thank you for setting this petition up - I have just signed it. I'm so glad someone is making a stand on these dreadful and, in my opinion, dangerous headlights. I am absolutely dreading the winter when I have to drive to work and home again in the dark. All because of these halogen lamps. There really is no need to have them so bright that they blind oncoming drivers. The old style head lamps were just as good. All we need is enough light to see the road ahead, not to make flightpath landing lights for oncoming aircraft! I wonder for whose benefit the head lamps were intended for in the first place - it certainly couldn't have been for the ordinary driver. Why would we want to be dazzled and blinded every time we take to the road? I live near some very dark country roads so the Bixenon lights are even more pronounced. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the reason behind many accidents - I'm certain they will cause a lot more.
And as for lorries using them, well that's just a joke! They are already lit up like Xmas trees at night. You can see them coming from miles away. Only trouble is, they don't seem to see us until after they've gone in to the back of us!
I do hope you get your petition heard and agreed with as I really would like to be able to drive at night without being constantly blinded. If the Govt. don't listen, perhaps they will pay someone to design special night glasses for us all to use?
Thanks again and good luck.
Kind regards
Deborah Smith
Thank you for setting this petition up - I have just signed it. I'm so glad someone is making a stand on these dreadful and, in my opinion, dangerous headlights. I am absolutely dreading the winter when I have to drive to work and home again in the dark. All because of these halogen lamps. There really is no need to have them so bright that they blind oncoming drivers. The old style head lamps were just as good. All we need is enough light to see the road ahead, not to make flightpath landing lights for oncoming aircraft! I wonder for whose benefit the head lamps were intended for in the first place - it certainly couldn't have been for the ordinary driver. Why would we want to be dazzled and blinded every time we take to the road? I live near some very dark country roads so the Bixenon lights are even more pronounced. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the reason behind many accidents - I'm certain they will cause a lot more.
And as for lorries using them, well that's just a joke! They are already lit up like Xmas trees at night. You can see them coming from miles away. Only trouble is, they don't seem to see us until after they've gone in to the back of us!
I do hope you get your petition heard and agreed with as I really would like to be able to drive at night without being constantly blinded. If the Govt. don't listen, perhaps they will pay someone to design special night glasses for us all to use?
Thanks again and good luck.
Kind regards
Deborah Smith
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
