By Eric Blusseau, DVN regulation senior advisor
During GRE 90, in April 2024, the expert of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) presented the results of their 2024 European consumer study on glare in road traffic. Find the presentations on the UNECE website: GRE 90-20 and GRE 90-40. The main takeaways of these studies are:
- When the driver is dazzled, they can have reactions considered as potential road safety risks.
- Psychological (discomfort) glare causes distraction and reduced attention to road traffic.
- Physiological (disability) glare reduces visibility and the perception of objects and obstacles.
These should be recognized as risks to road safety. GRE invited interested parties to discuss this issue, and to prepare for the following session, draft terms of reference and rules of procedure for either a new task force or new informal working group.
During GRE 91 in October 2024, The expert of FIA proposed to establish a task force on glare prevention (TF GP) and introduced a first draft for terms of reference (GRE 91 20). GRE experts made several comments on the draft. GRE launched the task force and asked them to review the FIA proposal with the aim to submit updated terms of reference for adoption at the next session in April 2025. GRE also agreed that glare prevention should be listed among the 2025 priorities.
The task force’s first meeting was held on 23 January, 2025, chaired by Germany’s Marc Fischer. The GTB / TF Secretaries were Davide Puglisi and Federico Matarazzo.
38 persons attended the meeting who represented Contracting Parties including Australia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and UK, and some expert associations (AAPC, CLEPA, FIA, IEC, IMMA, OICA, SAE).
As outcomes of the meeting, participants reviewed and improved both the introduction and the objective sections of the terms of reference, on the basis of informal document GRE 91-20. The TF will not have the authority to commission studies, but can recommend research where there may be a knowledge gap.
- The TF will distinguish between avoidable and unavoidable glare occurrences as well as short- and long-term solutions.
- First priority shall be the glare caused by road illumination devices and, in a second step, glare caused by light signalling devices (including DRL).
- The TF shall investigate the best balance between glare, visibility: How to reduce glare while keeping a good visibility range.
- The TF did not consider within its primary objectives to develop proposal to amend the regulations, but rather to develop recommendations for GRE which will then decide how to proceed.
The revised terms of reference document should be submitted during the upcoming GRE Session as an informal document. The draft document is available on the UNECE website.
The next TF-GP meeting will occur on 8 April 2025, just before the next GRE Session.
DVN held a glare forum of our own on 18 February with 32 participants (see summary here and all presentation), ADAC is organizing a symposium on 25-26 March at the ADAC Testzentrum in Penzing, Germany—send an email to register. Michael Hamm from DVN will cover the event and will make short summary. And the SAE Lighting Systems Group will hold a glare forum, its first, on 2 April during their Spring meetings in Savannah, Georgia, USA. DVN’s Daniel Stern will be one of the panellist speakers at that event.