Red light, red light what do you say?
The only warning that a tanker is headed your way is the dim glow of the red light in its driver’s cabin.
KARACHI:
It is a dark, dreary night and there are no lights on this black highway. The only warning that a massive, heavy-weight tanker is headed your way is the dim glow of the red light in its driver’s cabin. The same light is what keeps the driver awake and the robbers away.
At least, this is the explanation the drivers give.
The vehicles may be decorated according to the individual tastes of their owners but there is one thing common in all: a red light in the driver’s cabin. Few, if any, choose green, yellow or white lights.
In Pakistani truck art, the colour red is a hot favourite. From decorative stickers to paintings and disco lights fitted inside and outside these giant vehicles, streaks and splashes of red are everywhere. However, over the years red has become more of a need and necessary comfort rather than just a favourite colour.
“A red light keeps you awake in the night,” says truck driver Zakeem Khan, who has been on the job for the last 14 years. He says the training he got as a young boy sitting beside his ‘ustaad’ in a truck included the belief in a red light’s ability to keep the driver vigilant when night falls and everything gets quiet.
When he got his own oil tanker, passed on to him by his family, he got the white light in the cabin replaced with a red one. “Red light just makes me more comfortable, more relaxed,” he explains, “The white light bothers me when I drive.”
According to Abdul Majid, a truck spare-parts dealer, who sits at the Mauripur truck station, the red light is preferred because it is dim. Other lights may be used in the interior of the vehicles, but red remains the most common cabin light used by drivers. “The red light helps prevent reflections in the windscreen. It also filters the light of the incoming traffic [making it easy to see ahead].”
Mohammad Nawaz, a resident of Mianwali who has been driving since 1988, said that in a profession that keeps you racing in the late hours of the night and which involves going to far flung and dangerous areas, a red light also helps conceal details of the truck’s interior.
“Despite being an experienced driver, passing through Kashmore still gives me the jitters because that place is swarming with armed robbers and dacoits,” he says. “That is why it is always useful to keep a dim light inside the cabin.” According to him, red cabin lights help drivers see what is outside while at the same time preventing those outside from seeing clearly into the truck. This way they cannot see who is driving and how many people are inside, adds Nawaz.
Another driver, Noor Zaman, says that he uses the light because it signifies a heavy-weight vehicle. “It is a special colour for our special vehicles,” he says proudly, explaining that oncoming traffic recognise that a big vehicle is headed their way when they see the red light.
Professor Dr Sajid Ali Mirza is the head of Ophthalmology at Ziauddin University Hospital. He says that of the seven colours that make up white light, red has the largest wavelength. It can be seen from a long way off as compared to the rest of the six colours. It can also be seen clearly in mist or fog, which is why it is also used as a warning light on high-rise buildings.
He supported the drivers’ views that red light is used to denote the size of a big vehicle for traffic coming from the other side. However, the ophthalmologist denied the claim that drivers can see clearly in red light as compared to other lights. Dr Mirza says white light is the best light for reading and seeing since the other lights are subdued.
He also supports the drivers’ opinion that they can see the panorama outside the truck more clearly when they put a red bulb inside the cabin as compared to a white one because of minimum reflection on the windscreen.
Speaking about the human brain’s relation to red light, a psychiatrist said that mostly red light is considered boring and dull but it really depends on one’s personal likes and dislikes.
There is no scientific answer and explanation for the relation of red light to sleep, he adds. Some people may feel comfortable in red light. However flickering and high intensity lights disturb sleep.
With additional reporting by Samia Saleem and Usman Farooq
Published in The Express Tribune, September 30th, 2010.
It is a dark, dreary night and there are no lights on this black highway. The only warning that a massive, heavy-weight tanker is headed your way is the dim glow of the red light in its driver’s cabin. The same light is what keeps the driver awake and the robbers away.
At least, this is the explanation the drivers give.
The vehicles may be decorated according to the individual tastes of their owners but there is one thing common in all: a red light in the driver’s cabin. Few, if any, choose green, yellow or white lights.
In Pakistani truck art, the colour red is a hot favourite. From decorative stickers to paintings and disco lights fitted inside and outside these giant vehicles, streaks and splashes of red are everywhere. However, over the years red has become more of a need and necessary comfort rather than just a favourite colour.
“A red light keeps you awake in the night,” says truck driver Zakeem Khan, who has been on the job for the last 14 years. He says the training he got as a young boy sitting beside his ‘ustaad’ in a truck included the belief in a red light’s ability to keep the driver vigilant when night falls and everything gets quiet.
When he got his own oil tanker, passed on to him by his family, he got the white light in the cabin replaced with a red one. “Red light just makes me more comfortable, more relaxed,” he explains, “The white light bothers me when I drive.”
According to Abdul Majid, a truck spare-parts dealer, who sits at the Mauripur truck station, the red light is preferred because it is dim. Other lights may be used in the interior of the vehicles, but red remains the most common cabin light used by drivers. “The red light helps prevent reflections in the windscreen. It also filters the light of the incoming traffic [making it easy to see ahead].”
Mohammad Nawaz, a resident of Mianwali who has been driving since 1988, said that in a profession that keeps you racing in the late hours of the night and which involves going to far flung and dangerous areas, a red light also helps conceal details of the truck’s interior.
“Despite being an experienced driver, passing through Kashmore still gives me the jitters because that place is swarming with armed robbers and dacoits,” he says. “That is why it is always useful to keep a dim light inside the cabin.” According to him, red cabin lights help drivers see what is outside while at the same time preventing those outside from seeing clearly into the truck. This way they cannot see who is driving and how many people are inside, adds Nawaz.
Another driver, Noor Zaman, says that he uses the light because it signifies a heavy-weight vehicle. “It is a special colour for our special vehicles,” he says proudly, explaining that oncoming traffic recognise that a big vehicle is headed their way when they see the red light.
Professor Dr Sajid Ali Mirza is the head of Ophthalmology at Ziauddin University Hospital. He says that of the seven colours that make up white light, red has the largest wavelength. It can be seen from a long way off as compared to the rest of the six colours. It can also be seen clearly in mist or fog, which is why it is also used as a warning light on high-rise buildings.
He supported the drivers’ views that red light is used to denote the size of a big vehicle for traffic coming from the other side. However, the ophthalmologist denied the claim that drivers can see clearly in red light as compared to other lights. Dr Mirza says white light is the best light for reading and seeing since the other lights are subdued.
He also supports the drivers’ opinion that they can see the panorama outside the truck more clearly when they put a red bulb inside the cabin as compared to a white one because of minimum reflection on the windscreen.
Speaking about the human brain’s relation to red light, a psychiatrist said that mostly red light is considered boring and dull but it really depends on one’s personal likes and dislikes.
There is no scientific answer and explanation for the relation of red light to sleep, he adds. Some people may feel comfortable in red light. However flickering and high intensity lights disturb sleep.
With additional reporting by Samia Saleem and Usman Farooq
Published in The Express Tribune, September 30th, 2010.