Polarized vehicle headlights.

Graham. · 2016-03-02T14:41:11+00:00

When I was a child, in my grandfather's bookcase there was a copy of ?Science Advances? by JBS Haldane. If you aren?t familiar with Haldane he?s well worth a Google. The most memorable concept in that book for me, other than his ?Come the revolution? Marxist style, was a few paragraphs on polarized headlamps. The idea had been proposed by the inventor of Polaroid sheet polarizers , Edwin Land. Basically the idea is we all drive about using un-dipped headlights with the lights, and windscreens polarized with a 90deg differential. I know it is said that it takes a genius to think of an idea that later seems obvious, but in this case I really feel that if Land hadn?t thought of it, I would have, and I expect many here would say the same. Here's an good article on the subject and here is the Haldane?s book see page 183 So this issue must have been considered time and time again, yet always rejected for mainstream use. Why? Hell, they can then even turn all the street-lighting off! (As they seem to be doing so anyway).

Mar 02, 2016 21 Replies

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Tim Lamb 10 years ago

Ah. OK

My back up thought is.. how much light would actually get through a polarizing filter from an incandescent source?

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Brian Gaff 10 years ago

Well there was the fringing interference pattern issues that this sort of thing caused, and of course you are not always sure the null point is going to coincide with the oncoming traffics setting if there is a camber on the road etc. Brian

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