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Disco lights belong in the disco!

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Has anyone else noticed the cars on our Zimbabwean roads that are serving as mobile discos?

If you travel at all at night, I am sure you know what I mean.

You too have probably seen those SUVs and Mercedes Benz with those loud and garish neon lights that their drivers justify as headlights.

I prefer to call them disco lights because they are bright, busy and blinding!

If you are a night driver and have to deal with the blue and green flashing lights of an oncoming vehicle, I believe you too will understand the health hazard that this senseless showmanship poses.

It’s bad enough that some drivers are too selfish to dip their lights for oncoming traffic – but having to dry to demarcate your side of the lane with Circus Nightclub parading ahead of you makes things even worse.

I have been blinded enough times to know. And it is always so scary to be in a position where you can’t really get your bearings right and have to trust that you aren’t veering off the road, or worse still, veering into something.

And so, I need to ask these question: Are there traffic regulations on the levels of brightness that a car’s headlights can reach? Are there also regulations on the number of different colours that these lights can come in – one on vehicle?!

Driving at night has enough hazards without people having to navigate the party lights on showy cars.

Let’s give this due thought before someone has to die to prove the point.

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