Daytime running lights

[Jody]

An addendum - one of the things that really annoys me about car lights is the tendency to replace light bulbs with ULTRA BRITE / NEON / Retina burning replacements that seem to be all the fashion at Halfords.

Most of the retina burners you see now are Chinese aftermarket retro fit LED. Everyone jumped ship to LED when the government tightened the MOT regulations on retro fit Xenon. OEM Xenon/LED are bad enough but aftermarket needs curbing.

 

[snorri]

We also ought to ask what is the reasoning behind daylight running lights, and is it sound?

Perfectly sound from the motor vehicle construction and repair industries point of view.
The more non essential components attached to a car the more you can charge the buyer, and every added component increases the liklihood of a failure at some point which keeps the car repair and spare parts industry in business.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

See my post above. The reasoning seems to be encapsulated on the wikipedia page:



We got DRLs due to an EC directive that brought them in in Europe. Canada adopted the policy for similar reasons to Scandinavia. Then US manufacturers started adding them to all cars to reduce costs and the USA decided to adopt them universally too.

The thing is they are being introduced in the days of good LED lights and sensors that detect ambient light levels and come on only if the light us poor. So they could have mandated that lights only need to automatically come on if light levels are poor. Bit like bike dynamos with senso mode.

 

[mjr]

But why did the Nordic countries get them? It reads to me like they made them mandatory because motorists were too stupid to switch lights on in winter on very dark days. What a reason to set us all on this road!

 

[mjr]

Perfectly sound from the motor vehicle construction and repair industries point of view.
The more non essential components attached to a car the more you can charge the buyer, and every added component increases the liklihood of a failure at some point which keeps the car repair and spare parts industry in business.

Is there a similar reason why headlight aiming is made so difficult? My car's not too bad, but aiming is still done by turning four 11mm plastic nuts in places that would be much easier to reach if your wrist bent backwards! It seems like most drivers simply fit new bulbs and don't bother to aim.

 

[icowden]

Found a nice paper here that goes into some of the rationale and research...

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:674618/FULLTEXT01.pdf

 

[glasgowcyclist]

But why did the Nordic countries get them? It reads to me like they made them mandatory because motorists were too stupid to switch lights on in winter on very dark days. What a reason to set us all on this road!

My old 1978 Volvo 244 had them as standard, and I believe all Volvos were built this way back then. When you switched the lamps on at night, the extra bright DRLs dimmed about 50% and the next setting over was headlamps. At least with Volvo the rear lights were always on too so there was none of this running around with front DRLs only at night.

 

[Shearwater Missile]

My old 1978 Volvo 244 had them as standard, and I believe all Volvos were built this way back then. When you switched the lamps on at night, the extra bright DRLs dimmed about 50% and the next setting over was headlamps. At least with Volvo the rear lights were always on too so there was none of this running around with front DRLs only at night.

The problem with having only front DRLs is that people forget to switch their lights on in poor visibility, lots of days at this time of year. Why don`t they have rear DRLs on as well ?
I do have my lights on, on the bike but they are not bright enough to use at night especially the front. I would hate it if they dazzled anybody. If it makes me more visible by a few seconds then it is worth it. Each to their own view.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Each to their own view.

I should have added that I feckin' hate them!

 

[Shearwater Missile]

I should have added that I feckin' hate them!

Why do you hate them on bikes, cars or both ? I don`t like the ones that blind you as I have seen on both bikes and cars.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Why do you hate them on bikes, cars or both ? I don`t like the ones that blind you as I have seen on both bikes and cars.

Both.

They're unnecessary and another abdication of responsibility by people who should be taking care to look and see what's around them.
On my car I've turned them off.

 

[mjr]

On my car I've turned them off.

OMG!!!!!1! aren't you dead yet driving around in an invisible car?????/?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

OMG!!!!!1! aren't you dead yet driving around in an invisible car?????/?

I hope you're sitting down because I don't use headlamps at night on 30mph roads with street lighting either!

 

[Drago]

I hope you're sitting down because I don't use headlamps at night on 30mph roads with street lighting either!

You're not required to do so. A 30 road will almost certainly be properly lit, so you need to be seen rather than see where you are going.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

You're not required to do so. A 30 road will almost certainly be properly lit, so you need to be seen rather than see where you are going.

I know, yet I’m repeatedly told by other drivers and even passengers that I need to put headlamps on. It’s crazy.

I remember one guy getting out of his car while stopped ahead of me at some lights claiming he couldn’t see me with only my sidelights on. I asked him how he knew my sidelights were on and as he began to answer you could see the penny drop so he just said, “oh, fcuk off” and went back to his car. I proper guffawed at that one.