Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of road accidents attributed to glare from (a) LED and (b) halogen bulbs in car headlights in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

The Department does not collect data on road accidents which were attributed to glare from LED and halogen bulbs in particular.

The published table series RAS50 show contributory factors in reported road accidents involving personal injury: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/ras50-contributory-factors. This includes the contributory factor of ‘dazzling headlights’ where the driver/rider was dazzled by headlights.

In 2017, there were 315 reported accidents where ‘dazzling headlights’ were reported as a contributory factor in Great Britain. This represents 0.3% of all accidents where a police officer attended the scene and a contributory factor was allocated. The proportion remained stable since 2005 when the recording of contributory factors started.