It has surfaced - again!
NOW EUROCRATS TELL DRIVERS TO KEEP CAR LIGHTS ON ALL DAY
tinyurl.com/4g4fao
Now Europe wants us to keep headlights on ALL day - inflating fuel costs by up to £160 a year
tinyurl.com/3qc45n
What is the point of having head light on on daytime??? Why other EU countries are supporting this? I don't think any EU country except Scandinavian areas doesn't get enough sun shine.
Why do we need to follow every EU directive? How long before they'd force us to drive on right??
{both links made clickable}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 25/09/2008 at 11:31
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Not looked at the link but Mail or Express immediately spring to mind.
If I'm correct stop reading the rubbish they print, it will do wonders for your blood pressure.
The fact they mention headlights being on all the time suggests yet another badly researched and reported article.
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I do agree with your comments about Daily Mail & Express :)
But DRL is indeed going to be in introduced from 2011 for cars and from 2012 for HGVs.
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IF the powers that be really want us to reduce CO2 emissions by turning down our central heating there is little point in introducing laws which will increase CO2 emissions, even if it is only by 0.001%. Every little helps!
Next step will be modifiying ANPR cameras to send you a fixed penalty if you haven't got your lights on! The descent into State Surveillance and Petty Oppression continues!
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 25/09/2008 at 11:16
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It's a mind-control experiment called Project Hundredth Monkey. They want to see who will carry out the absurd act of switching on their lights on a sunny day just because other peoples' are stuck on. Those whose lights remain unlit will initially receive a visit from the Community Illumination Partnership Team to discuss ways of improving your visibility and work out an action plan. After that you will receive a £300 fixed penalty.
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Motorcycle related accidents have reduced (cars pulling out etc)by bikes built (IIRC) 2002 on having always-on lights, if cars are the same then road users will again have difficulty in distinguishing motorcycles.
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Particularly if there isn't a clampdown on the number of cars driving around with one headlight bulb failed! I can always recognise motorbikes as over 50% of them seem to drive around in daylight on Full/main beam!
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Those articles range from deliberately misleading to wrong, as seems to be typical for certain newspapers and the EU. One even contradicts itself:
"MOTORISTS in new cars will have to drive with dipped headlights on during the day even in midsummer under a ?barmy? EU directive, it emerged yesterday.
....
The UK has been successful in arguing against the introduction of mandatory use of dipped headlamps during daylight hours by drivers of existing vehicles."
Don't take those sorts of newspapers seriously...
There was a proposal to compel non-DRL cars to run with dipped beam throughout the EU, as already happens in some countries. This was opposed by the UK, and the EU is going to leave it to individual countries to decide.
So there shouldn't be any requirement to run dipped beams here. But cars will be fitted with DRLs. I don't know what the situation will be about being compelled to use DRLs if fitted.
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Oops - it's not contradicting itself, it said NEW cars will have to drive with dipped headlights. So it's just wrong.
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Is it possible to switch off the DRL in new Audis?
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Movilogo - yes it is.
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I think it is Italian law for all vehicles to have headlights on at all times. Being Italy the compliance is well under 50%, at least during my trip there in May this year
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In Italy I understand that dipped beam must be used by cars that don't have DRL, but only outside towns. This is presumably why Audi and Fiat are starting to produce cars with dedicated DRLs. I don't think Italy can require DRLs to be fitted, for the same reason we can't require dim-dip - that has to wait for the EU-wide agreement.
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In Italy the law states that if you are driving on a highway (strada statale) or autostrada you must have your headlights on at all times but is not required if you are driving in the city.
With regards to your comment about under 50% compliance, this is not entirely accurate. In the north (Veneto, Friuli, Lombardia, Piemonte ect) complaince is around 99% but then again we in the north do not consider ourselves to be Italian. The further south you go the less people respect the law. From Tuscany & below I would say that compliance drops from 50% - 0% not just for headlights but for everything. For example 3 up on a scooter, no insurance, no helmets, unroad worthy vechiles, drunk driving, no license ect are normal & the police dont do anything about it because they themselves ar corrupt. Facts of life in the third world.
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Heh heh scipi...
Remember meeting a classy young fellow from Lombardy in Lecce in 1969 or so, there doing his army national service. His view was that Africa started at Rome and got more African the further south you went. He was also highly critical of the local baroque churches in Puglia, whose profusion of stone pineapples etc. seemed to me charmingly exuberant. But they weren't nearly geometrical enough for him.
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The current DRL rules say that it must be possible to deactivate DRLs "without the use of tools". On current Audis and BMWs I believe they're controllable through a menu.
Once they become compulsory fittings, they may no longer be disableable.
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they may no longer be disableable.
You mean disdisableable?
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Before the EU makes it compulsory to drive with lights in daylight, they should make it compulsory for the manufacturers to make changing bulbs easy enough. As it stands, too many cars have to be run into the dealerships to have the dam things changed. Not a roadside task anymore for many modern cars. Having them on all the time means they will need changing more often.
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Most people agree that it's sensible for bikers to use headlights at all times to increase visibility. Cars and commercial vehicles are more easily visible than bikes but using headlights makes them even more visible. It costs virtually nothing and might save a few lives. Audi owners might be a bit upset because it will dilute the effect of their rows of LEDs
Edited by Sofa Spud on 26/09/2008 at 17:05
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Most people agree that it's sensible for bikers to use headlights at all times to increase visibility. >>
A lot of people who have not taken that mantra at face value and have actually studied the issue disagree with that.
Should this forum still be here in twenty years time I look forward to an impassioned debate over some EU proposal that pedestrians be fitted with daytime running lights as many are neglecting to use their mandatory headlights in poor visibility.
And another on why people with German made shoes don't use there indicators when turning into a shop.
Edited by Robin Reliant on 26/09/2008 at 17:41
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Never mind the Audi drivers, the motor cycles will presumably lose (n.b. not loose) some of their stand-out when everything around them is lit up.
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Before the EU makes it compulsory to drive with lights in daylight they should make it compulsory for the manufacturers to make changing bulbs easy enough.
Theoretically it is compulsory that all bulbs have to be replaceable by using only commonly available tools and without having to remove bumpers and such. However, manufacturers get around the legislation by exploiting a badly worded amendment to the legislation intended for Xenon lights which means putting a sentence in the manual along the lines of "For changing headlight bulb please take the car to an authorised service outlet". The legislation is in the throes of being changed but the manufacturers are trying to put the brakes on it.
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