Headlight alignment a safety issue

Valley resident Emery Friend started with a theory that maybe certain accidents on dark Alaska roads boiled down to a simple problem -- headlights.

When the beam from headlights goes off its proper aim, the light angles and glares in the eyes of oncoming drivers. Or its path lights up the side of the road more than the front of it.

"I just fixed a pair of headlights that were looking off in a field somewhere," said Friend, the owner of Emery and Linda's Headlight Adjustment of Wasilla.

"We drive more in darkness than anywhere in the Lower 48 and take it for granted that when we turn on our lights, they work okay," Friend said.

The truth is, Friend said, most headlights he looks at are off adjustment.

Alaska State Trooper Capt. Simon Brown said his officers tell motorists they need to get their headlights adjusted in certain instances in which they are off the mark. And while he agrees misdirected beams can help cause accidents, he said he hasn't seen any documentation on how much affect it has.

"It's definitely a contributing factor, especially in fog conditions and during break-up times when it gets muddy out," Brown said. "Headlights pointed in the wrong direction or that need to be cleaned -- those become contributing factors in vehicle accidents."

Friend began to research the issue after a friend nearly died in an collision with a moose. He decided to open his own shop based on what he discovered.

The formula for calculating just how far off the mark a pair of headlights might be is slightly technical. Using a special computer with a laser locator facing the front of the car, Friend is able to see on the computer screen how many centimeters off the lights are.

A mere 15 centimeters skewed to the left projects out 2 feet in the beam, which multiplies four times in the beam's outer arc to 8 feet off. That casts the light straight into the other driver's or passenger's eyes.

Adjusting the headlights means bringing the beam back to dead center.

The computer Friend uses, a $5,000 Hoppy Vision 1 Image Processing Headlight Aimer, prints out a headlight report card. It passes or fails each headlight, telling if the beam is up or down and by how much, and lists the candle power of each headlight.

Candle power ranges from 8,000 to 30,000, which is another part of the problem, Friend said. If a motorist has high candle power and the beam is misdirected, it can create a real problem for oncoming traffic.

"Especially older people are caused problems by this. People who feel like the lights are directly blinding them are right," Friend said. "And that becomes a safety issue."

Wasilla Police Chief Don Savage agrees poorly angled brights are a potential problem.

"Maybe certain motorists just aren't aware their lights have that affect on other motorists, and perhaps they should seek out an adjustment," he said.