A Blue Dog House Democrat is growing concerned with “absurdly bright” car headlights and is taking action.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), of the centrist Democrat Blue Dog Coalition, urged the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to address the headlight issue in congressional testimony last week. She wants to work with the committee to ensure the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration addresses her concerns.
She said in a post on X on Wednesday that headlight brightness has “roughly” doubled in recent years.
“If you spend any time on certain subreddits, some of which have thousands and thousands and thousands of subscribers, you will know about overly bright headlights. This is something that draws ire from rural Americans, from older Americans, from law enforcement,” she said.
“I understand the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law tried to improve this issue by allowing manufacturers to make adaptive driving beams, but let’s be honest, it has not helped,” she continued. “I’m interested in working with the committee to ensure that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration develops overall maximum brightness on the lumens, standardizing headlights for automobiles that retain visibility for drivers, but also reduce glare and increase safety for other drivers on the road.”
Car headlights have gotten absurdly bright – roughly doubling in recent years – and it’s dangerous for others on the road.
I encouraged the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to look into setting better maximum brightness standards in their upcoming infrastructure… pic.twitter.com/ZWclBJajJM
— Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (@RepMGP) May 21, 2025
The exact standards for car headlight brightness are unclear, though a letter response from John Donaldson, then-acting chief counsel for the NHTSA, in February 2024 cleared up some of them.
He said headlamp requirements are based on the entire system, like the lens, reflector, and light source, and not the light source itself. Headlamp bulbs may be replaced only if they meet certain requirements.
“While LED light sources that are part of an integral beam headlamp are permitted … no LED light source is currently permitted to be used in a replaceable bulb headlamp,” Donaldson wrote.
The focus on vehicle headlights is not unusual for Gluesenkamp Perez, who has often focused on blue-collar issues given her status as a swing-district congresswoman. Previously, the congresswoman humorously questioned Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson about McDonald’s ice cream machines. She believes the owners of such machines should have the right to fix them without outside authorization. Ferguson went on to respond positively to her inquiry.
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Light regulations aren’t unusual. Cities such as Pittsburgh have implemented light regulations to convenience their residents and enjoy a darker sky.
The Pittsburgh City Council voted in 2021 to reduce the city’s light pollution and become “dark sky compliant” based on standards outlined by DarkSky International through the use of more motion-sensor lighting, lower-temperature bulbs, and light shielding around town.
