Daytime running lights: yes or no?

EU proposal tabled: you don't decide

By PH Staff / Tuesday, 26 September 2006 / Loading comments

DRLs make pedestrians hard to see

Are daytime running lights (DRLs) a smart idea that can save lives -- or a way for those cocooned in airbag-strewn metal boxes to gain advantage over pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists? That's just one debate we're not having, as the EU prepares to mandate DRLs across the continent.

According to The Association of Drivers against Daytime Running Lights (DADRL), "the decreasing trend in UK road accidents has levelled off despite advances in vehicle design. We believe a contributory factor is due to increased use of full power distracting daytime running headlights known as DRL which make vulnerable road users less conspicuous."

The association argues that there's no evidence that DRLs save lives, that they increase the danger to vulnerable, less conspicuous road users, and that, when introduced into the USA, accidents increased.

One ex-police officer from the US writes: "As a veteran and a long career in law enforcement I would like to draw your attention to a peculiar irony in the use of DLRs.

"As a way of extracting information from enemies and criminals we used to put people in a bright room and then shine a harsh light on them! And that was the most effective technique we could find to cause the most discomfort in a person, in effect it was torture. The reason it worked so well is that bright glare increases stress level, produces intense discomfort, and is in fact unbearable for any length of time.

"The technique is now considered inhumane and is no longer allowed. The effect of daytime running lights on a driver is the exact same thing. You have turned the American roadways into a torture chamber where the driver is forced to endure glaring lights in front and behind him with no way to escape.

"I think we are now beginning to see the effects of this as I read these comments. Every year it seems their are more and more cars with drls and they seem to be getting even harsher and brighter. I would strongly urge whoever is making the rules here to put an immediate end to the use of all daytime running lights."