The Tin Lizzie, better known as the Ford Model T, was the car of choice for comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. As the first ever affordable car it brought private automation to the masses in the early 1900s. It was also remarkably unsafe. Not only did the Model T not have seat belts, it didn't even have a speedometer.
Of course that wasn't really a problem as the car couldn't do more than 40 mph and back then there was far less traffic on the road. Nonetheless, Laurel and Hardy still managed to saw their's in half.
Nowadays road safety is no laughing matter. With more traffic on the road than ever before the impetus on creating a safe environment on and around our roads has never been greater. Just last year more than 30,000 people were injured in traffic related accidents in the UK alone.
Automotive design and vehicular safety have developed in tandem over the years. Modern cars feature seatbelts, airbags, anti-lock braking systems and crumple zones, all of which are designed to get us from point A to point B in one piece. The latest development is 'intelligent crash avoidance' technology which manufacturers believe has brought them closer than ever to a 'crash proof' car.
However, sometimes the simplest things can save lives. Seeing and being seen is a fundamental element of road safety. The earlier a driver can see a pedestrian the more chance they have of avoiding an accident.
Modern LED car lights are being designed with this in mind. By improving the visibility of a driver they could save thousands of lives every year.
Since February 2011 new legislation has made daylight driving lights compulsory for all cars. According to the European Commission this measure could prevent as many as 2000 fatalities every year on European Roads and by 2020 the total number will be halved.
At the moment only a tiny proportion of cars have daylight driving lights. One of the main reasons for this is that the cost and energy requirements of these lights is very prohibitive.
To circumvent this problem LED Lights have stepped up to the challenge with their cheap running cost.
The low power requirements of energy efficient LEDs have made them a prime candidate for this kind of safety lighting. As they use only a tenth of the energy required by normal low beam bulbs they will enable a vehicle to use less fuel and in turn reduce CO2 emissions by up to 3 per cent.
LED Lights also turn on a fraction of a second earlier than conventional lights, making them perfect for brake lighting, which relies on fast response times to work effectively. Furthermore they can be linked to satellite navigation systems and programmed to come on automatically at crossroads and interchanges where extra lighting and concentration is needed.
The car manufacturer Audi have already begun incorporating LED technology into their latest range of cars and it won't be long until other manufacturers follow suit.
Keep your eyes peeled for energy efficient LED Lights as they keep our roads stylish, safe and carbon free in the years to come.
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