Risks from using headlights carelessly

(Baonghean) - The situation of turning on high beams (also known as headlights) in the city at night is causing frustration for many road users, potentially causing traffic accidents. Many people believe that this has become a "problem", and the authorities need to find a solution to raise awareness among traffic participants.

'Turn on the headlights, we both suffer'

That is the slogan of the Otofun Nghe An forum in the propaganda campaign on compliance with the Traffic Law on the occasion of the forum's 1st birthday anniversary. According to Mr. Vo Sy Tam, a member of the Otofun Nghe An forum's Board of Directors, it is not by chance that the forum chose the issue of turning on headlights in the city for propaganda. According to Mr. Tam, the situation of turning on headlights in the city has become a problem. Just driving on the streets of Vinh city at night, it is not difficult to see cars turning on their headlights to shine directly into the faces of oncoming vehicles.

“This situation occurs on almost every road. Every 3-4 cars have their headlights on, and many cars have modified lights and installed additional lights on the roof of the car that shine dozens of meters away. The headlights are extremely bright, shining directly into the faces of oncoming vehicles, causing frustration for drivers. We raise this issue so that everyone can see the true situation and be more aware of turning on the lights appropriately to avoid affecting others,” said Mr. Tam.

Cars turn on high beams when driving in the city at night.

At 8:00 p.m. on February 12, on Nguyen Sy Sach Street, many cars were racing to turn on their headlights. Although this road is relatively wide, the traffic volume is very high, so turning on headlights is no different from "blinding" passersby.

Nguyen Huu Hung, a taxi driver, said: "I often travel on this road so I am very haunted by the situation of turning on headlights. Once I almost hit a pedestrian in front of me, luckily he was wearing white pants so I recognized him when I got closer." Not only Nguyen Sy Sach Street but dozens of other roads in the inner city also have a similar situation. Frustrated by this situation, many people have come up with the idea of ​​recording and taking pictures of license plates and sending them to the authorities to have a form of punishment for cars that arbitrarily turn on their headlights.

Any motorbike or car has lights with two functions: "high beam" and "low beam". "High beam" is the light that shines far away, with a wide range of brightness. "Low beam" is the light that shines down towards the ground, so the range of light is shorter. The strong beam of the headlight is designed to help the driver see more clearly when driving on the highway, at night and in bad weather. However, in densely populated areas and when there are people going in the opposite direction within the range of the headlight, the headlight must not be used, because the strong light of this type of light can temporarily "blind" the person going in the opposite direction, leading to loss of visibility and possibly causing a serious accident.

Danger ahead

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Duong, a car owner, not many people care about whether their car is on high beam or low beam when going out. There are people who only know how to adjust the lights properly when reminded, but have never paid attention before. Many people even equip their scooters with super bright xenon lights.

In reality, in Vietnam today there are too many types of traffic violations, and the violation of turning on headlights arbitrarily is not considered truly "typical".

Currently, the number of cars in Vinh city is about 16,000, of which about 10,000 are cars. Along with cars from other localities, the traffic volume on the road is currently quite large.

However, according to Major Nguyen Duy Ha, the number of drivers who fully understand the functions of lights as well as regulations on using car lights in the city is very low. In the coming time, Vinh City Police will continue to coordinate with organizations and unions to propagate to car owners at agencies, units, and apartment buildings. Along with that, the traffic police force will arrange checkpoints at the following locations: Ben Thuy, the Provincial People's Committee intersection, the bus station, and Vinh market to increase inspection, control, and remind violators.

After the propaganda process, the traffic police force will arrange for plainclothes officers to regularly patrol the roads to record vehicles with improperly turned-on lights and notify the uniformed traffic police force to stop the vehicles and impose fines according to regulations.

Nguyen Hung - Lam Tung