Any - Daylight running lights

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Tue 25 Jun 2013 21:42
Any - Daylight running lights - tony g
There seems to be a sudden obsession locally to drive with either side or dipped headlights switched on .
Once a speciality of Swedish cars it now seems to being used on everything from ford to vw .why ?
In poor daylight conditions its a useful safety device ,but in the bright summer light what's the point ? Has there been a change in the law .

Personally I find it irritating especially with the very bright xenon lights .
Anyone else noticed a sudden increase in driving in daylight with lights on ?
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Tue 25 Jun 2013 21:45
Any - Daylight running lights - unthrottled

Yup. :(

Think there's new EU legislation mandating the fitment of DRLs that's either in place or iminant. The LEDs emit a particularly piercing light. The roads are starting to look like Las vegas!

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Tue 25 Jun 2013 22:06
Any - Daylight running lights - SlidingPillar

DRLs became compulsory for any car homolgated/type approved fairly early in 2011. However, quite a few manfacturers were fitting them before the fitment became compulsory. You can still buy a new car without them, but it won't be a new model if you see what I mean.

Personally I think it's a silly and annoying thing as DRL cars shine brightly at the front, but don't even have a glimmer from the rear. Quite a few owners forget this and imagine the car is adequately lit all round. Plus older cars don't have them, nor do pedestrians, cycles and horses and all of the last three are more at risk than the tin box driver with his seatbelts, airbags and various bits of padding.

Edited by SlidingPillar on 25/06/2013 at 22:08

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Tue 25 Jun 2013 22:04
Any - Daylight running lights - colinh

From EU website:

"Following a wide public consultation, the Commission decided not to propose DRL on existing vehicles. As for new vehicles, however, Directive 2008/89/EC makes them mandatory (in the form of dedicated lights) as of 7 February 2011 for cars and light vans, as of 7 August 2012 for other vehicles."

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Tue 25 Jun 2013 22:13
Any - Daylight running lights - gordonbennet

Rather too camp in some cars, Audi and Range Rover especially, a dainty display of fairy lights of little or no use 99% of the time but needed for the tiny minority of half wits who don't know when to use normal vehicle lights...the same ones unable to fathom why they can't see where they're going until the auto wipers miraculously clear the screen for them.

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Tue 25 Jun 2013 23:31
Any - Daylight running lights - tony g
( DIRECTIVE 2008/89/EC )

b***** EEC ,is there no end to the dead hand of Europe controlling every aspect of our lives , while the uk falls apart .

Would we better off outside the EEC ,after all in almost everything ,Europe needs us just as much as we need them .
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Tue 25 Jun 2013 23:12
Any - Daylight running lights - Avant

I've no evidence for this, but I wonder if the reason for not coupling rear lights with DRLs is that there would be less of a contrast with brake lights (i.e. from nothing to bright red is more noticeable than faint red to bright red).

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 00:02
Any - Daylight running lights - Ben 10

The fact that you're all moaning about them proves they perform the duty they are there for. To be noticed. Job done.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 00:15
Any - Daylight running lights - Andrew-T

The fact that you're all moaning about them proves they perform the duty they are there for. To be noticed. Job done.

Pah. Many of them are irritating because they are unnecessarily bright. It should not be necessary to annoy just to get attention.

And of course some are little more than a stylist's 'artistic' licence.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 01:03
Any - Daylight running lights - Ben 10

To be noticeable in the daylight they have to be bright. If they were too dim you would be complaining they should be brighter.

They are a good idea, get used to it. So stop staring at them if your eyes can't take it.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 01:31
Any - Daylight running lights - Smileyman

I drive on dipped headlamps all the time - come rain shine tunnel sun shade fog snow and all other options. As I have Xenon headlamps I don't expect to ever need to change the lamps (at £100+ a go nor do I want to). In my previous car I drove on dim-dip headlamps, a British lighting solution which I grew to like but was kicked into touch by the EEC (or EU or whatever name it is these days)

What I cannot stand are all the fairy lights on the front of cars ... silly patterns and even worse when one side is brigher than the other (probably a faulty light unit - I understand very expensive to replace). Nothng to do with road safety, all to do with (false) macho pride. If my next car has them I'll stick with headlamps.

IMO the Volvo / SAAB solution was good, the current situation is awful.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 10:31
Any - Daylight running lights - Andrew-T

To be noticeable in the daylight they have to be bright. If they were too dim you would be complaining they should be brighter.

They are a good idea, get used to it. So stop staring at them if your eyes can't take it.

Please don't be daft - if one has to consciously not 'stare at them' they are becoming a significant distraction. Vehicle lights keep getting brighter with advancing technology, on a kind of leapfrogging basis - the theory seems to be Bright lights are good, lights twice as bright must be twice as good. They may be tolerable in good daylight, but not after dark or on wet roads as none of them adjust brightness to suit the conditions.

Back in the late 60's Triumph cars included a relay which dimmed the rear lights when the headlights were on. It was a good simple idea which didn't stay long, presumably because of marginal cost.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 10:36
Any - Daylight running lights - RT
Back in the late 60's Triumph cars included a relay which dimmed the rear lights when the headlights were on. It was a good simple idea which didn't stay long, presumably because of marginal cost.

Wasn't that just overload on the generator?

I was never aware of any legislation under UK C&U regulations (pre Common Market) to permit that.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 10:51
Any - Daylight running lights - bathtub tom

>>Back in the late 60's Triumph cars included a relay which dimmed the rear lights when the headlights were on. It was a good simple idea which didn't stay long, presumably because of marginal cost.

I remember that system. Many owners weren't aware of its existence. Some thought it was a fault!

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 21:19
Any - Daylight running lights - Andrew-T
Back in the late 60's Triumph cars included a relay which dimmed the rear lights when the headlights were on.

Wasn't that just overload on the generator?

No, I had a Triumph 1300 and I remember examining the relay in question.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 10:48
Any - Daylight running lights - tony g
(The fact that you're all moaning about them proves they perform the duty they are there for. To be noticed. Job done.)

No ,while I'm distracted and looking away from the too bright lights ,I miss the car pulling out from the side of the road that collides with my nearside .Job really well done !
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Wed 26 Jun 2013 14:11
Any - Daylight running lights - unthrottled

The fact that you're all moaning about them proves they perform the duty they are there for. To be noticed. Job done.

That is an imbecilic conclusion.

Anything that makes a vehicle stand out from other cars will get that vehicle noticed. The problem is that if everyone else adopts the same technique to make their vehicles noticeable, it no longer works. When everybody is somebody then nobody is anybody scenario.

DRLs appear to work only mainly because most cars on the road don't use them.

A lot of work went into developing car lighting convention. Unfortunately, lighting cluster design has become the main styling feature on cars since most other external features are governed by pedestrian safety or aerodynamics.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 12:11
Any - Daylight running lights - FP

I feel we are approaching a "light overload" situation - there is simply too much light on vehicles, especially after dark - in general there are too many lights, and lights that are too bright.

Fortunately I don't have a problem with my eyesight and can cope, but it's a distraction which drivers could do without.

It's compounded by cars driven at one extreme by people who think it's OK to switch on every single light all the time and at the other by those who insist on driving after dark on parking lights alone (as on the M1 the other night), or who fail to replace faulty headlight bulbs.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 13:19
Any - Daylight running lights - Snakey

So if DRL's are mandatory on new cars from 2012, how come my 2013 Zafira hasn't got them? Is it just cars classed as a new design from that period?

I'm not bothered as I find them a) useless on most cars and b) amusingly camp looking on most Audis

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 13:58
Any - Daylight running lights - SlidingPillar

Because your 2013 Zafira was not a new model needing new type approval after the fitment was compulsory.

As always with a fashion accessory (must be, look at some of the wierd light on some cars) some makes do the DRL thing reasonably, and others are 'a in your face' way of pointing out this is an expensive car etc.

Meanwhile the numpties that can't see pedestrians, cyclists and horses kill rather more of them.

Edited by SlidingPillar on 26/06/2013 at 13:59

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 14:08
Any - Daylight running lights - davecooper

DRL's are front only I believe. What would make more sense would be to make them front and rear. Some idiots drive in atrocious conditions with no rear lights on, probably a multi-tasking problem!

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 20:53
Any - Daylight running lights - markweatherill

Just like the LED third brake lights that some manufacturers fitted, expect to see DRLs with blown LEDs over the next few years...

At least the 'DRL brightness wars' will drive the development of high powered LEDs for headlights.

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Wed 26 Jun 2013 23:10
Any - Daylight running lights - unthrottled

At least the 'DRL brightness wars' will drive the development of high powered LEDs for headlights.

The problem with LEDs is that the illumination tends to be directional which is undesirable for general lighting purposes.

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Thu 27 Jun 2013 05:06
Any - Daylight running lights - 1litregolfeater

That'll end when we leave the EU, then.

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Thu 27 Jun 2013 18:47
Any - Daylight running lights - gordonbennet

That'll end when we leave the EU, then.

If only, those at the trough won't let it happen by fair means or foul.

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