IN THE NEWS
WAR ON BRIGHT HEADLIGHTS
A London taxi driver has become so fed up with the glare from modern headlamps and daytime running lights (DRL) that he has started a cam- paign to ban them. The protest is now gathering pace, as the Driving Instructors’ Association is officially backing it.
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Known as ‘Lightmare’, the campaign was set up by cabbie James Perham. It aims to per- suade the Govern- ment to limit High Inten- sity Discharge (HID) headlamps and DRLs because they dazzle oncoming dri-vers.
Popular on premium and luxury cars, HIDs “are up to three times brighter than a stan- dard halogen head- light and [cause] severe distraction to a driver approaching them”, according to Mr Perham.
A new EU legislation came into force last month that requires every European-built car to be fitted with DRLs.
The law states that DRLs are to be set at an intensity of 1,200cd, which “com- petes with the sun,” according to Light- mare, and is up to 50
per cent brighter than a standard headlamp. And according to the Driving Instructors’ Association, modern HID headlamps are designed to “respond to undulations in the road surface”, which often means that they can dazzle oncoming road users.
RAC director Profes- sor Stephen Glaister told the Coalville Times: “Figures show that drivers being daz- zled by headlights were recorded as a contributory factor in 365 road accidents in 2009, three of which were fatal.”
DUMFRIES TAXI DRIVER LEFT MAN LYING IN ROAD
A Dumfries taxi driver ran a man over and left him lying in the street while he went to pick up a fare, a court has heard.
BBC News reports that Andrew Brown, 47, admitted leaving the man injured in the town’s Newall Terrace endangering his life. He thought he had hit a bag of rubbish but drove off even after finding out it had been a man lying in the road.
He was told to pay £5,000 compensation, given ten points on his licence and also 300 hours’ community service.
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PAGE 28
Dumfries Sheriff Court heard how Brown pulled to a halt last August after striking something in the road. He checked to see what it was but when he found it was a man he drove off to pick up a passenger ten miles away.
Depute fiscal Pamela Rhodes said it was only on his return from
that journey that he went to the police sta- tion to report the incident.
Meanwhile, an off-duty policeman had come across David Wood- ward lying with critical injuries.
An anonymous caller had also phoned emergency services. Mr Woodward, who had been heading home after being out for a drink, spent sev- eral weeks in hospital with multiple fractures and a tear to his spleen.
Brown, from Dumfries, a taxi driver for 30 years with a clean licence, admitted cul- pably and recklessly leaving the injured man lying on the road- way.
He also admitted fail- ing to report the accident as soon as reasonably practica- ble afterwards.
The depute fiscal stressed that there was no suggestion that Brown’s driving was at fault.
Crash investigators came to the conclu- sion that the victim had been lying on the road- way when he was hit. Solicitor Gavin Orr said: “The driver had simply panicked after seeing the injured man. There were doors opening and people coming out and he believed the vic- tim would be seen right away.
“There was just no rationality about his thoughts as he pan- icked although blameless.”
He appealed to the sheriff to deal with the case in a way in which his client would not lose his licence having already completed a four-month suspen- sion imposed by the local authority. Sheriff Kenneth Ross said he took all the fac- tors into account but there was still a “cal- lous disregard” in the way he had driven off. However, in the cir- cumstances he said he could step back from a custodial sentence.
PHTM MARCH 2011
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