2026-01-15

96. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport if he is aware of a survey commissioned by the RAC in the UK into the safety of LED headlights in modern vehicles, which found that four in five drivers were concerned about dazzling headlights; if he, his Department or the Road Safety Authority has considered the independent research study published by TRL in October 2025 titled ‘Glare from road vehicle lighting on UK roads’ that was commissioned by the UK government; if he or the RSA will now commission a similar study in Ireland to review the safety of LED headlights in modern vehicles and present the findings to the European Commission and the UNECE Working Party on Lighting and Light-Signalling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3293/26]

I am glad to hear the Minister's comments on DART+ South West. We will keep pressure on him there. This question relates to road safety. The brightness and intensity of the new style LED car headlights is a cause of concern for a lot of people. Is the Minister aware of a survey commissioned by the RAC in the UK into the safety of LED headlights in modern vehicles? It found four in five drivers were concerned about dazzling headlights. Has the Minister, his Department or the RSA considered the independent research study published by TRL, Transport Research Laboratory, in October 2025 titled Glare from Road Vehicles?

I thank Deputy Ahern for raising this question. Ministers of State, Deputies Canney and Buttimer, and I had good discussions on this with officials yesterday in preparation for questions here. This issue of the new LED lights and high intensity discharge, HID, headlights are known to provide greater brightness, improved colour rendering, increase efficiency and, in the case of LED in particular, longer performance life. That is fine and that is good. However, I am aware of the concerns and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and I have discussed the concern expressed in some quarters in relation to glare particularly with LED and HID headlights. The Deputy might note that the use of these headlights in the EU is regulated by the European type-approval system. This system establishes the technical and safety standards required for a vehicle or component of a vehicle to be placed on the European market and to place a vehicle or a vehicle component on the market and used within any member state. Type-approval requires the vehicle or component to meet specific safety requirements. Accordingly,if a headlight has been approved and entered into service, it is considered safe to use within the EU. During roadworthiness testing, the lighting system in a vehicle is tested to ensure it is in full working order and, importantly, correctly aligned for the safe performance of the vehicle. Factors which can contribute headlamp glare include misaligned aim and various other things. I understand that the UNECE Working Party on Lighting and Light-Signalling is going to establish a task force to investigate this issue and I can assure Deputy Ahern that I, Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and my Department will be guided by that work. On a personal level, I have experienced this as well. I do think this is a matter which needs to be looked at. It is a European competence in relation to the specifications. However, the survey clearly shows that four in five motorists have experienced this. All of us have at this stage. It does merit further investigation. That working group will be important and we will be guided by its recommendations.

Many constituents, friends and family of mine who perhaps were travelling a little bit more on country roads over the Christmas period have come to me saying this is not a comfort issue and that it is a serious road safety issue. Depending on the direction or the angle of these lights coming at the driver, which is often from new higher cars and higher positions, they can temporarily blind the driver. Unfortunately, I am raising this in the context of a record of 190 people dying on our roads last year which is the highest since 2014. I raise this with a the view to try to probe any and all solutions to improve our road safety record. It is all well and good having the Minister and I discuss our anecdotal experience. I would push the Minister to carry out some research into this and not necessarily rely on the UK research but doing our own to try to push this issue forward to determine the cause and effect.

The Deputy is right but we do have a way of doing this now. As I mentioned, the UNECE Working Party on Lighting and Light-Signalling is going to establish that task force. That had to be done looking at European standards as opposed to British standards. As I said, I have discussed this with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and he will be putting this on the agenda for work to be done at a European level because anecdotally and from my experience, I think it is an issue. I am not a lighting specialist. I do not set the standards either as they are set at an EU level but it does merits further investigation. The question the Deputy put down is not only very timely but is very apt too and is an important one. The Deputy mentioned road safety. Road safety for us is an absolutely critical priority. Last year was a terrible year for road fatalities and road injuries. All of us want to improve that. Every life lost on our roads is an absolute tragedy for families and communities across the country. We all must work together to do whatever we can to reverse that trend we have seen in the past couple of years of increasing road fatalities. Any measures, such as this one, which I am not saying is the reason for any of those fatalities, merits further investigation and work to be done in a structured way.

It would be interesting to get the statistics on collisions and fatalities in order to understand what the contributing factors are. I appreciate this is a European competency but I want to ensure we are feeding into the European agenda and, to the extent we have any data, providing it in support of any changes needed. Acknowledging the European competency, there are some things from an enforcement perspective we could focus on as part of the NCT. I understand the illegal retrofit of certain LED lights is an issue. Maybe that is something we could clamp down on to ensure it does not happen and bring it more to the attention of the RSA and the Garda when it comes to enforcing the existing standards in our cars.

I will make a suggestion. It would be helpful to all of us working on this if the transport committee looked at it. Through the UNECE working group, it will be, and is, on the agenda. I do not have any data at this stage to support claims the changes in standards have led to road accidents, though I am not saying that has not happened either. The transport committee's input would be useful. It could get lighting experts, Department officials and the RSA in to discuss this. The next question, which the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, will take, relates to road safety. We all need to work together on that. We have responsibility and are acutely aware of that. We take it really seriously. Every party and individual has an input into doing everything possible to improve road safety. Core to that in many instances is driver behaviour. We have to address that. The State can only do so much. We need further resourcing - as the Minister of State will go through in more detail - and further measures in relation to speeding, which we are doing. We have to get extremely serious about this issue over the course of this year. I look forward to working with colleagues on it.