It is rare to see a long-haul truck at night without fully functional illumination. That means low- and high- beam headlights, extra driving lights, clearance lights, indicators, brake, parking and tail lights and number plate lights.
Why?
Because, apart from being their livelihood, a trucking’s vehicle is checked pretty well every day a check that includes all the lights.
Not only that, but the vehicle is properly set-up to provide optimum illumination with the available lights and to cause the lowest impact on other road users.
Now, think about private car owners and how many you see with weak headlights, only one headlight, no brake or tail lights, misaligned headlights, malfunctioning indicators and you begin to wonder what’s going on.
The answer is simple. Many car owners are apathetic about vehicle maintenance and never check it to ensure everything is fully functional.
Lights more specifically, poor lights or no lights would contribute to many road deaths in this state.
There is justification for a crackdown at various levels to ensure drivers can at least see reasonably well at night or be seen by other road users.
Headlights or headlight filaments don’t last forever and must be replaced after a few years.
Its capacity to generate light diminishes over time to the point where old halogen lights emit only a dull yellow glow. Letting headlights deteriorate to the point of failure is foolhardy. They can be tested for candlepower output relatively easily and replacements are cheap.
The car’s electrical system should also be monitored because failing electrics for whatever reason (battery, alternator, faulty wiring) can also cause dull lights.
Another consideration is beam alignment.
This, along with the lights, should be checked each year with a registration inspection but seem to be a low priority given the number of cars with obviously misaligned headlights.
These are the ones that dazzle oncoming drivers because they are set too high or point too low or too far to one side to the point of being ineffectual.
Headlight alignment is a simple, quick task that can be carried out by your rego inspector.
Other lights need monitoring: the brake, tail and indicator lights all perform critical functions. If faulty, they can cause a collision.
Even rear fog lights and reversing lights play an important part but unfortunately, most car owners never check them.
When you boil it all down, there’s a huge safety bonus from spending a couple of minutes each week checking the condition of a handful of globes that cost a couple of dollars and take about five minutes or less to replace for a huge boost in safety.
Some cars also have blown light warning systems on the dash.