Letter: Drivers should only use dipped headlights

Letter: I am delighted to have received one or two critical letters regarding my opinion that drivers do not use dipped headlights in adverse weather conditions or during dawn and dusk. It proves the letters page is read.

I proposed that the law should be changed to ensure that dipped headlights should be used continuously and lights on all new vehicles fitted to come on when the vehicle is started.

I quoted Rule 226 of the Highway Code and suggested this should be changed.

I can give you a good reason for this. As I approached a junction with the A5 recently during typically dull conditions - visibility approximately 100 metres as in Rule 226, I looked right, then left, then right again and to be on the safe side left again.

The A5 appeared to be safe to cross when out of the mist a car approached without headlights - travelling, I estimated, at 60mph.

Now this approaching speed equates to 88ft per second, leaving me with just three seconds to safely cross a three-lane carriageway.

My argument is that if the approaching vehicle had used dipped headlights or the distance in Rule 226 increased to say 215 metres or even 295 metres as in the Department of Transports Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, my safe crossing time would have been increased considerably.

Now if Mr Smith, of Pendeford, is worried about my lack of driving experience, I am pleased to inform him that I am a bus driver with probably many more safe historical miles travelled than he will ever have.

Peter Hassall

Shifnal