A Sacramento man is suing several government agencies over a project to install lights on the Bay Bridge, claiming they’ll “discriminate against individuals with disabilities who cannot neurologically tolerate” LEDs.
Mark Baker, who is representing himself in court, is president of the Soft Lights Foundation, an Oregon-based nonprofit that seeks to end “LED light discrimination.”
“The project consists of installing 50,000 LED lights on the Bay Bridge for the sole purpose of providing eye candy for a few private individuals who wish to use the public San Francisco Bay Bridge as their own personal playground,” Baker’s lawsuit reads.
An estimated 42 million vehicles cross the Bay Bridge every year.
The suit names as defendants the Bay Area Toll Authority, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Caltrans, and Federal Highway Administration.
“Caltrans does not typically respond to questions relating to pending litigation,” a spokesperson told The Standard. The Federal Highway Administration similarly declined to comment, and the other defendants did not reply to The Standard’s inquiries.
A spokesperson for Illuminate, the nonprofit responsible for the Bay Bridge installation, which is not listed as a defendant, also declined to comment.
The 20-page suit details the alleged “adverse impacts” of LEDs in jargon-laden discussions of “flat surface geometry” and “sine wave flicker.” Those impacts, the suit claims, can include “thoughts of suicide” upon exposure to “even tiny amounts of LED light.”
“Many individuals with disabilities are now confined to their homes and unable to travel because of their severe reactions to LED lights,” the suit says, listing migraines and autism as examples of such disabilities.
The suit is seeking to force government agencies to conduct what it says is a legally required environmental review of the project.
Some 25,000 LEDs were installed on the Bay Bridge in 2013, but they went dark in 2023. The lights will return in March at double the number thanks to $10.5 million in crowdfunded donations to restore what many consider a public art display.
In an email to The Standard, Baker said he used to live in the Bay Area but moved to Sacramento after a brief stint in Oregon — because he needed to be “as far away from the LEDs as we could get.”
Baker once told EdisonReport, a lighting trade publication, that he is a former middle school math teacher who began to struggle with high-powered LEDs, leading to a mental breakdown and an autism diagnosis that led him to start his foundation.
Nonprofit filings show the Soft Lights Foundation earned $228 in 2022, the only year it has filed a tax return. Baker is listed as spending 50 hours a week on his volunteer work.
The Soft Lights Foundation’s Facebook group has more than 300 members, and its website is replete with testimonials about the alleged dangers of LEDs.
“I’ve almost been killed driving at night on my mountain roads,” one comment says, referring to car headlights. “Whomever thought this was a good idea should be shot!”
Other testimonials have headings such as “I get a headache from the bright light” and “I developed a sunburn-rash to my face.”
The foundation has submitted to government regulators scores of lawsuits, letters, and petitions that are compiled on its website. In one petition, Baker asked the California Highway Patrol to ban flashing sirens and limit their sound to 80 decibels — about as loud as a vacuum cleaner.
His request was denied.
Baker’s formidable online presence extends to Reddit, where he frequently posts on “r/fuckyourheadlights,” a community message board that notes it isn’t directly affiliated with the Soft Lights Foundation but encourages members to sign Baker’s petitions.
“The people who use super bright LED headlights are only doing so to compensate for the fact that they will never see the light of heaven,” one recent post with 250 upvotes on the subreddit says.
Car headlights are, in fact, getting brighter, but the jury is out on whether they are responsible for serious medical conditions, as Baker claims.
When asked what he would say to readers skeptical of LED’s perceived dangers, Baker asked The Standard to link to the foundation’s incident reports “so that they may read the horrific accounts of how LEDs have negatively impacted people’s lives.”
“I was driving East on E. Monte Vista Ave. when I was struck by the LED flashing lights,” one report says. “I start yelling fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck as I tilted my head down and drove straight through to escape the LED assault and save my life.”