Dear Supporters,
I sent this letter today to the National Distracted Driving Coalition which consists of members of Congress, safety organizations, and many others (https://usnddc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NDDC-Steering-Committee-16.pdf)
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Dear National Distracted Driving Coalition,
I was sent the article by Russ Mitchell of the Los Angeles Times which discussed distracted driving, but which made no mention of blinding LED headlights. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-03-14/deaths-broken-limbs-distracted-driving
There may be nothing more distracting than LED headlights that cause drivers to put their hands over their eyes or their mirrors to block blinding glare from LED headlights. The petition to ban blinding LED headlights has over 40,000 signatures and comments: https://www.change.org/p/u-s-dot-ban-blinding-headlights-and-save-lives
The Food and Drug Administration has sole regulatory authority for electromagnetic radiation from electronic devices, including LED vehicle headlights. Yet, the FDA has not vetted LED headlights and has not published the required performance standards as mandated by Congress in the 1968 Radiation Control for Health and Safety Act. The automakers have no legal authority to use LED headlights and all vehicles with LED headlights must be recalled because they are unsafe and unregulated. Attached is a letter from Senator Maria Cantwell regarding her inquiry into the FDA's regulation of LED products. (https://www.softlights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Maria-Cantwell-Letter.pdf) Contact FDA CDRH Director Jeffrey Shuren (jeff.shuren@fda.hhs.gov) for details.
LEDs emit a directed energy beam of spatially non-uniform energy that has little dispersion. The FDA must set performance standards and restrictions for peak luminance, dispersion characteristics, spectral power distribution (blue wavelength light), and square wave flicker. Without these comfort, health, and safety limits, LED headlights will continue to cause crashes, injuries, and death.
We urge the NDDC to collect data on crashes caused by LED headlights and the glare associated with LED streetlights, LED floodlights, and LED strobe lights on emergency vehicles, and to push both the FDA and NHTSA to regulate the visible radiation emitted by LED products, as required by federal law.
Sincerely,
Mark Baker
President
Soft Lights Foundation
www.softlights.org
mbaker@softlights.org