Daytime running lights are the devil! ;-)
Ok, here's why I don't like them:
- Its a "feel good" measure, something that people can legislate
and they can feel like they are doing some good, when all they
are really doing is saddling society with another useless law.
Granted, it isn't law here in the US yet, but it is in Canada,
and there are people who are trying to do the same in the US.
- The theory isn't quite sound. Here is what I mean... There
is certainly no arguing that a vehicle with its lights on is
more visible than one with the lights off (under most
circumstances). However, this is an advantage that should be
exploited carefully; not employed en-masse. If everyone has
their lights on, the advantage is lost. Consider a law that
says everyone has to wear orange shirts because it makes them
more visible. All you get is a sea of orange! Similarly, all
DRLs give you is a sea of light. It only adds to the confusion,
its a lot of noise without an improvement in signal. There are
certain vehicles which use headlights all the time such as
motorcycles, school busses, emergency vehicles, etc. These
vehicles now just dissapear into the mass, and any advantage
they might have had is lost. Its as if everyone was driving
with their lights off. As a biker, DRLs make the highways less
safe for me, and I don't like that. With the idiot drivers out
there, I need all the help I can get when I'm not surrounded by
2 tons of steel!
- The situations in which having DRLs would actually make a
difference are situations where the driver should have had
their lights on in the first place. (fog, dusk, rain, poor
visibility, etc.) I have heard people argue that there are
a lot of people who are not smart enough to turn on their
lights in these situations. This is NOT a reason for another
law! Education is the answer; education and enforcement
of existing laws. Besides, these same clueless people will
be the ones to assume that the DRLs are sufficient at night and
forget to turn their actual headlights on!
Sun's up? Lights OFF! :-) Thanks.
--
-Jon-
.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --.
| 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota |
| 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD |
`------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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