Comment from Megan Swett

The state of vehicle lights (headlights and auxiliary lights) in the 2020s is incredibly dangerous for everyone in involved. Many factory-standard lights are bright enough to cause temporary blindness in other drivers and are also *less* effective for the drivers behind the wheel. Older headlights have more directed lighted, allowing drivers to see specifically the road in front of them. Modern LED lights are do not necessarily illuminate the immediate road, but cast their light in all directions. This lessens the amount of road the driver can see, increases peripheral distractions during night driving, and damages other drivers' ability to see. Not only are the new factory-standard headlights dangerous for everyone on the road, but the increase use of commercial and consumer auxiliary lights is unsustainable. There have been several times in the past few years that I've driver past an accident scene at night and not been able to see any of the human beings walking around because the "safety" lights on the responding cop cars are, in fact, so bright that any human silhouette is lost in the haze of blinding light. Beyond this, many private citizens have taken to mounting battery-operated LED auxiliary lights on their vehicles for strictly fashion purposes, causing unnecessary visual impairment to every person they drive past. While many of these auxiliary lights are already illegal, states don't seem to care about enforcing those safety policies. The current status of LED lights on vehicles is detrimental to the safety of our roads. When I am driving in front of someone with LED headlights I have completely disengage my rear view and side view mirrors. Simply flipping the rear view mirror no longer works, as the modern headlights are too bright for a decades-old solution. If I leave my mirrors in their day-time positions (their *functional* positions) I am blinded by the headlights of the vehicles behind me. This means that every night when I am driving home from work, I am driving without mirrors. Mirrors that should be important factors in driving safe have become nightly hazards. But at least I can do something about my mirrors. I can adjust their angles into uselessness. There is nothing I can do about on coming traffic. And make no mistake, on coming traffic is the worst offender. The use of "automatic highbeams" in luxury vehicles have led to driver carelessness. Drivers trust that the all-knowing computer in their car will adjust their lights for them, which is functionally untrue. No car sensor is as quick to register and respond to stimuli as the human brain. These fancy, useless sensors take full seconds to respond to the presence of on coming traffic whereas a human brain takes nanoseconds. But manufacturers have convinced drivers to turn off their brains behind the wheel, and so they do. And even on the rare occasion someone *isn't* driving around with their highbeams permanently on, the current LED headlights are so absurdly bright that the difference is negligible. I have to wear *sunglasses* when driving through the populated areas at night because the constant stream of blinding headlights impedes my night vision more than actual, literal sunglasses. The situation is not just bad for drivers, either. Whenever I am walking around town at night I am blinded by every set of lifted-truck headlights that are over 5 ft off the ground - perfectly positioned to blast the power of a thousand suns straight into my corneas. Even when their halogen lights, the position of the headlights on these giant consumer vehicles is ridiculous. I've seen semi-trucks with more conscientious headlights than most pick ups trucks or luxury SUVs. If people need a special license to drive a semi-trucks, they should need a special license to operate a vehicle with a grill height taller than the average woman. Especially when the headlights on those vehicles are so bright that the blind literally everybody else on the road. Better yet, just get rid of the damn headlights.