Daytime running strobes

[ducnick]

I have noticed that since drl's were mandated on new cars the manufacturers seem to be having a brightness war. The early ones as fitted to fiat 500's are perfectly acceptable to me and don't seem to cause blindness. The more recent ones fitted to German cars, renaults, Korean cars etc are overly bright and dazzle me to the point of not being able to look at the road. Of course we have dull grey skies and these things are designed to overpower bright sunlight in clear skies. They should therefore turn off on grey days or when going through shaded areas to be replaced by good old fashioned side lights.
Does anyone else suffer this problem? Flashing oncoming traffic doesn't work as they can't be easily turned off. I have taken to wearing sunglasses when not sunny to make it more comfortable.
Perhaps new cars could also be fitted with shades on the side of the screen closest to oncoming traffic for the driver to shield behind, although this would obviously endanger pedestrians and people turning out of junctions.

Isn't it about time for the motoring lobbies to put an end to this madness and rule drl's illegal or place a brightness restriction on them for each country based on the average ambient light?