Editing Headlamp (section)

=== Adequacy ===
Vehicle headlamps have been found unable to illuminate an [[assured clear distance ahead]] at speeds above 60&nbsp;km/h (40&nbsp;mph).<ref name="AAA headlights">{{cite news |last1=McKernan |first1=Megan |title=AAA Tests Shine High-Beam on Headlight Limitations |url= https://newsroom.aaa.com/2015/05/aaa-tests-shine-high-beam-headlight-limitations/ |access-date=3 July 2018 |agency=AAA Automotive Research Center |website=NewsRoom.AAA.com |date=13 May 2015 |quote=AAA’s test results suggest that [[#Tungsten-halogen|halogen headlights]], found in over 80 percent of vehicles on the road today, may fail to '''safely''' illuminate unlit roadways at speeds as low as 40 mph. ...high-beam settings on halogen headlights...'''may only provide enough light to safely stop at speeds of up to 48 mph''', leaving drivers vulnerable at highway speeds...Additional testing found that while the advanced headlight technology found in [[#High-intensity discharge (HID)|HID]] and [[#LED|LED]] headlights illuminated dark roadways 25 percent further than their halogen counterparts, they still may fail to fully illuminate roadways at speeds greater than 45 mph. High-beam settings on these advanced headlights offered significant improvement over low-beam settings, lighting distances of up to 500 feet (equal to 55 mph). Despite the increase, '''even the most advanced headlights fall 60 percent short of the [[sight distance]] that the full light of day provides.'''}}</ref><ref name="NHTSA Night&Day">{{cite web |url=https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/810637 |title=Passenger Vehicle Occupant Fatalities by Day and Night – A Contrast |last1=Varghese |first1=Cherian |last2=Shankar |first2=Umesh |agency=National Center for Statistics and Analysis |publisher=National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |location=Washington, DC |date=May 2007 |quote=The passenger vehicle occupant fatality rate at nighttime is about three times higher than the daytime rate. ...'''The data shows a higher percentage of passenger vehicle occupants killed in speeding-related crashes at nighttime.'''}}</ref><ref name="Leibowitz&Herschel">{{cite journal |last1=Leibowitz |first1=Herschel W. |last2=Owens |first2=D. Alfred |last3=Tyrrell |first3= Richard A. |year=1998 |title=The assured clear distance ahead rule: implications for nighttime traffic safety and the law |journal=Accident Analysis & Prevention |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=93–99 |doi=10.1016/S0001-4575(97)00067-5 |pmid=9542549 |quote=The assured clear distance ahead (ACDA) rule holds the operator of a motor vehicle responsible to avoid collision with any obstacle that might appear in the vehicle's path. Although widely considered a fundamental responsibility of safe driving, '''the ACDA rule is routinely violated by most drivers under nighttime conditions.'''}}</ref><ref name="236 Cal. App. 2d 555">{{cite court|litigants=Bove v. Beckman, 236 Cal. App. 2d 555|vol=236|reporter=Official California Appellate Reports|opinion=555|court=[[California courts of appeal|California Appellate Court]]|publisher=Bancroft-Whitney; LexisNexis |date=16 August 1965|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/california/calapp2d/236/555.html|access-date=2018-07-11|quote="A person driving an automobile at 65 miles an hour on a highway on a dark night with his lights on low beam affording a forward vision of only about 100 feet was driving at a negligent and excessive speed which was inconsistent with any right of way that he might otherwise have had." (CA Reports Official Headnote #[8])}} See [http://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/CACourts/ California Official Reports: Online Opinions]</ref><ref name="245 Mich. 88">{{cite court |litigants=Ruth v. Vroom, 245 Mich. 88, 222 N. W. 155, 62 A. L. R. 1528 |vol=245 |reporter=Mich. |opinion=88 |court=[[Supreme Court of Michigan]] |date=4 December 1928 |url=https://casetext.com/case/ruth-v-vroom |quote=It is settled in this State that it is negligence as a matter of law to drive an automobile at night at such speed that it cannot be stopped within the distance that objects can be seen ahead of it; and, if a driver's vision is obscured by the lights of an approaching car, it is his duty to slacken speed and have his car under such control that he can stop immediately if necessary. ... The rule adopted by this court does not raise merely a rebuttable presumption of negligence. It is a rule of safety. ... It is not enough that a driver be able to begin to stop within the range of his vision, or that he use diligence to stop after discerning an object. The rule makes no allowance for delay in action.}}</ref> It may be unsafe<ref name="AAA headlights"/> and, in a few areas, illegal<ref name="NY Jur">{{cite book |title=New York Jurisprudence |series=Automobiles and Other Vehicles |number=4A |page=§ 720 |author=Lawyers Cooperative Publishing |location=Miamisburg, OH |publisher=LEXIS Publishing |url=http://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/law-products/Legal-Encyclopedias/New-York-Jurisprudence-2d/p/100029357 |oclc=321177421 |quote=It is negligence as a matter of law to drive a motor vehicle at such a rate of speed that it cannot be stopped in time to avoid an obstruction discernible within the driver's length of vision ahead of him. This rule is known generally as the 'assured clear distance ahead' rule * * * In application, the rule constantly changes as the motorist proceeds, and is measured at any moment by the distance between the motorist's vehicle and the limit of his vision ahead, or by the distance between the vehicle and any intermediate discernible static or forward-moving object in the street or highway ahead constituting an obstruction in his path. Such rule requires a motorist in the exercise of due care at all times to see, or to know from having seen, that the road is clear or apparently clear and safe for travel, a sufficient distance ahead to make it apparently safe to advance at the speed employed.}}</ref><ref name="232 Mich. 300">{{cite court |litigants=Gleason v. Lowe, 232 Mich. 300 |vol=232 |reporter=Mich. |opinion=300 |court=[[Supreme Court of Michigan]] |date=1 October 1925 |url=https://casetext.com/case/gleason-v-lowe |quote=...every man must operate his automobile so that he can stop it within the range of his vision, whether it be daylight or darkness. It makes no difference what may obscure his vision, whether it be a brick wall or the darkness of nightfall. ... He must ... be able to see where he is going, and if his range of vision is 50 feet, if he can see 50 feet ahead of him, he must regulate his speed so that he can stop in a distance of 50 feet; if he can see 20 feet ahead of him, he must regulate his speed so that he can stop within 20 feet, and so on.}}</ref><ref name="235 N.C. 568">{{cite court |litigants=Morris v. Jenrette Transport Co. |vol=235 |reporter=N.C. |opinion=568 |court=[[Supreme Court of North Carolina]] |date=21 May 1952 |url=http://law.justia.com/cases/north-carolina/supreme-court/1952/451-2-1.html |access-date=February 2016 |quote=It is not enough that the driver of plaintiff's automobile be able to begin to stop within the range of his lights, or that he exercise due diligence after seeing defendants' truck on the highway. He should have so driven that he could and would discover it, perform the manual acts necessary to stop, and bring the automobile to a complete stop within the range of his lights. When blinded by the lights of the oncoming car so that he could not see the required distance ahead, it was the duty of the driver within such distance from the point of blinding to bring his automobile to such control that he could stop immediately, and if he could not then see, he should have stopped. In failing to so drive he was guilty of negligence which patently caused or contributed to the collision with defendants' truck, resulting in injury to plaintiff."...it was his duty to anticipate presence of others, [...] and hazards of the road, such as disabled vehicle, and, in the exercise of due care, to keep his automobile under such control as to be able to stop within the range of his lights}}</ref> to drive above this speed at night.