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posted by
martyb
on Tuesday January 15 2019, @11:27PM
from the blinded-by-even-more-distant-oncoming-traffic dept.
from the blinded-by-even-more-distant-oncoming-traffic dept.
Most people don’t turn on their car’s headlights and think, I wish they were brighter. Shuji Nakamura is not most people.
The Nobel Prize-winning illumination scientist has spent the past five years developing a laser-based lighting system. His company, SLD Laser, says the new design is 10 times brighter than today’s LED lights, capable of illuminating objects a kilometer away while using less power than any current technology. And unlike a regular, dumb headlight, the laser can potentially be integrated into current and forthcoming driver-assistance systems.
Do headlights need to be brighter?
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The Headlight of the Future Is a Laser
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Moon, n.:
1. A celestial object whose phase is very important to hackers. See
PHASE OF THE MOON. 2. Dave Moon (MOON@MC).
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Wednesday January 16 2019, @01:50PM
You are right to a point, but then most people over-do it. When you can plainly see cars at the limit of the physical line of sight of the road you are on, then lights are not just unnecessary, but are a disadvantage. Often I can still recognise the makes of cars at this distance but many drivers nevertheless have headlights on. These light only create dazzle for no purpose, and by closing your eyes' iris aperture they reduce the visibility of things which are not vehicles.
I don't have a problem seeing other cars with or without lights on for most of the legally "unlit" hours, and I wonder if people who do would meet the driving eyesight requirements. OTOH what I do have problems with is for example seeing whether a pedestrian I have seen ahead near the edge of the off-side pavement is going to walk out or not, while some approaching clown between me and them has unnecessary headlights blazing. My own headlights would make no difference, because even if on they are dipped as they should be.
I suppose someone will suggest that pedestrians should also carry lights as powerful as car ones. Of course most drivers never give a thought to anticipating the movements of pedestrians anyway, so boosting the visiblity of cars at the expense of reducing that of pedestrians does not matter to them.