I was watching the TV last week, and I saw a quick clip on the US
auto industry. I forget which show it was (20/20, 60 mins, something like
that), but the said in 1995 over half of the GM cars and all of the Volvo
cars (for the US) will have the automatic daytime headlights, like Canada.
Both companies stated that they know there is not a law about this, but
they just want to be extra safe. The news clip said hat other car
companies will soon follow suit. Opinions?
Personally, I don’t like the idea. I think it looks very out of
place to have headlights on in the daytime. OTOH, I suppose that, if
there had been a law about that here for 20 years or so, I’d think it is
normal. I don’t know what companies will do about pop-up headlights.
Like I said, not all GM cars will have this next year, but I suppose they
all will eventually. Other than a reskin to eliminate the pop-up lights
(a-la Diamond star turbo reskin in, ah, 1992 I think), what will GM do?
What do they do in Canada? Do they just run with parking lights? Replys
on the Net are most welcome.
Mike
26
Feb
Mandatory headlights in daytime in USA
posted by admin in Uncategorized and have Comments (12)
12 Responses to “Mandatory headlights in daytime in USA”
In article <31jll5$…@mustang.alleg.edu>
rom…@bio5.alleg.edu (Michael Romeo) writes:
[snip]
> I don’t know what companies will do about pop-up headlights.
> Like I said, not all GM cars will have this next year, but I suppose they
> all will eventually. Other than a reskin to eliminate the pop-up lights
> (a-la Diamond star turbo reskin in, ah, 1992 I think), what will GM do?
> What do they do in Canada? Do they just run with parking lights? Replys
> on the Net are most welcome.
> Mike
They are a pain (it does look strange), but we’re getting used to them.
Fortunately, there are ways of shutting them off: on my ’93 T-Bird,
there is a small switch connected to the parking brake; apply the
parking brake (or simply disconnect the wire and ground it) and the
DRL’s go off. A necessity for drive-ins or anywhere else you’d want
to run the engine and not have the DRL’s on.
The pop-up headlight cars run with brighter parking lights. Now, this
really looks wierd! The Miata’s parking lights are so bright they
almost look like fog lights.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fred M. Davis VA3FD | These opinions are mine and are not
Nepean, ON. | necessarily those of my employer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One example to bear in mind is that motorcycles have been coming with
this feature standard for years. The point is to increase your
visibility to other drivers. I think it is very attention-getting. One
device they were selling for motorcycles made the headlight’s brightness
pulse slightly. I’ve seen some cop motorbikes that do this. I wonder if
this would catch on for cars.
David
In article <Ctz3Cw….@corel.ca> () writes:
>With daytime running lights being commonplace in Canada, it is easy to get
>used to them. It does increase visibility especially if some drivers insist
>on driving in low visibility conditions without their lights (fog, rain, snow,
>dusk). I like the idea… but then again I sometimes turned my lights on in the
>daytime BEFORE they were mandated. I did this often when driving on two lane
>highways and high glare conditions such as sunset. The biggest drawback
>is that they have a slight effect on fuel economy and bulb wear
>but this is a small price to pay for improved safety (there are statistics to
>back this up)
Could you please provide the source of these stats? I hear a lot of
advocates claiming there are stats to back up the use of this "safety"
feature, but no one seems to know where these stats reside. Some say a
European country did the original study, some say the Canadian gov’t
commissioned a study. But the Canadian gov’t has never required proof of
the effectiveness of something before making its use manditory, so I don’t
know about the last one.
Anyone? Anyone? Anyone know where the stats are?
And once these stats are produced, someone should examine them for validity,
since the nature of stats allows them to be used to prove whatever one
wants. Sorry, gonna have to see the study itself before I’m converted.
-Chris
In article <31k7cp$…@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>, levin…@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu (David Levinson) writes:
> One example to bear in mind is that motorcycles have been coming with
> this feature standard for years. The point is to increase your
> visibility to other drivers. I think it is very attention-getting. One
> device they were selling for motorcycles made the headlight’s brightness
> pulse slightly. I’ve seen some cop motorbikes that do this. I wonder if
> this would catch on for cars.
> David
It sure does grab attention. Bic need the attention because they
are small and hard to see. Those light save many life of the riders
after so many of them were killed. But I wonder if a minivan or a
18 wheeler truck needs such attention. If every car and truck has
their light on, how do you pickup a motorcycle from the hundreds
of lights coming to you?
My Ford Minivan has those lights, too. It is probably cheaper for
the car maker to give every car those lights than put on different light
system depends on where the car is going? What would you do if you have
2,000 extra American bound cars and Canadian dealers are begging for
2,000 supply?
IMHO, please don’t mandate it by law. See what happens to
the "Active Restrain System" requirement and the implementation.
Georgia has a law require lights on when your windshield wiper
is on. This is a good idea. Rain in daylight and Motorcycle are
small portion of the general condition. The light system is there
for the driver to use. Goverment of DOT should remind drivers at
places like tunnel, bridge etc. Mandating light on all occasion
is excessive and unecessary.
>>>>> "F" == Fred M Davis VA3FD <fmda…@bnr.ca> writes:
F> In article <31jll5$…@mustang.alleg.edu>
F> rom…@bio5.alleg.edu (Michael Romeo) writes:
F> [snip]
>> I don’t know what companies will do about pop-up headlights.
>> Like I said, not all GM cars will have this next year, but I suppose they
>> all will eventually. Other than a reskin to eliminate the pop-up lights
>> (a-la Diamond star turbo reskin in, ah, 1992 I think), what will GM do?
>> What do they do in Canada? Do they just run with parking lights? Replys
>> on the Net are most welcome.
>> Mike
F> They are a pain (it does look strange), but we’re getting used to them.
F> Fortunately, there are ways of shutting them off: on my ’93 T-Bird,
F> there is a small switch connected to the parking brake; apply the
F> parking brake (or simply disconnect the wire and ground it) and the
F> DRL’s go off. A necessity for drive-ins or anywhere else you’d want
F> to run the engine and not have the DRL’s on.
On my car, the lights come on after the parking brake is released. If
the parking brake is reapplied they stay on, unless the car is shut
off again. I’m not sure I’ve been in many situations where I had to
shut them off, but turning the car off, setting the parking brake,
then restarting the car is necessary.
F> The pop-up headlight cars run with brighter parking lights. Now, this
F> really looks wierd! The Miata’s parking lights are so bright they
F> almost look like fog lights.
My 1990 Prelude (avec popups) uses separate driving lights in the
front spoiler. Most similar cars also do the same thing, I’m not sure
about the Miatas.
Jeff Goss
In article L…@corel.ca, () writes:
>On cars with pop-up style headlights, most use the parking lights or turn
>signal (Miata is an example). On the Probe GT and probably other cars,
>the integrated fog lights are used.
On the Probe GT, the fog lights are used as DRLs. The regular fog lights
will only work with the main headlights on. So when you put the mains on,
the DRLs go out. Hitting the fog light button will than activate the real
fog lights. Or so I was told. I just picked up a 94 Probe GT and was told
it would cost about $400 to retrofit the thing with the Canadian DRL system.
==============================================================================
Mark A. Woyna |
Advanced Computer Applications Center | "I love my country –
Decision & Information Sciences Division | I fear my government"
Argonne National Laboratory |
Argonne IL 60439 |
|
wo…@anl.gov |
==============================================================================
In article <1994Aug4.190630.13…@bnr.ca>, Chung Lu <chun…@bnr.ca> wrote:
> It sure does grab attention. Bic need the attention because they
>are small and hard to see. Those light save many life of the riders
>after so many of them were killed. But I wonder if a minivan or a
>18 wheeler truck needs such attention. If every car and truck has
>their light on, how do you pickup a motorcycle from the hundreds
>of lights coming to you?
Please, let’s not exaggerate here. "Hundreds of lights" amount to
hundreds of cars, when was the last time you had *hundreds* of cars
coming to you? Besides, why do you want to pick up motorcycles in
particular, why should you treat them any differently than cars?
In article <Cu1F5J….@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca>, lq…@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (Lee Qiao) writes:
> In article <1994Aug4.190630.13…@bnr.ca>, Chung Lu <chun…@bnr.ca> wrote:
> > It sure does grab attention. Bic need the attention because they
> >are small and hard to see. Those light save many life of the riders
> >after so many of them were killed. But I wonder if a minivan or a
> >18 wheeler truck needs such attention. If every car and truck has
> >their light on, how do you pickup a motorcycle from the hundreds
> >of lights coming to you?
> Please, let’s not exaggerate here. "Hundreds of lights" amount to
> hundreds of cars, when was the last time you had *hundreds* of cars
> coming to you? Besides, why do you want to pick up motorcycles in
> particular, why should you treat them any differently than cars?
From the other side of the highway, say six lane, two lights for each car,
that’s 15 cars per lane makes a hundred. In rush hour, I do see that happen.
I do work with some bic riders. Several lost part of their leg because
of other drivers. ALL of them have horrible experience on close contact.
The light helps them being picked up in the crowd at reaching speed of
the combined speed. Now their real threat come from behind. As I said,
every car has lights on will throw them back to where they were. I
don’t ride bic, but they do have their right to their choice.
A jerk I knew told me his accident with a bus as he was driving
drunk. He wanted to show that he was capable of going between "Two Bic"
that night. The bus stopped for him as he tried to drive "Between".
In article <CAMARWOOD.18.2E40E…@BIOLOGY.watstar.uwaterloo.ca>,
Chris Marwood <CAMARW…@BIOLOGY.watstar.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>In article <Ctz3Cw….@corel.ca> () writes:
>>……
>>highways and high glare conditions such as sunset. The biggest drawback
>>is that they have a slight effect on fuel economy and bulb wear
>>but this is a small price to pay for improved safety (there are statistics to
>>back this up)
>Could you please provide the source of these stats? I hear a lot of
>advocates claiming there are stats to back up the use of this "safety"
>feature, but no one seems to know where these stats reside.
A new Canadian study described in "The Toronto Star" (94/08/06 in the "Wheels"
section) concluded that two-cars day-time collisions (in Canada) have been
reduced by 9% with the use of Day-time Running Lights.
As I am recalling this from memory, I am not sure if they quoted the
exact source where further info can be obtained. They said that further
details about this study will be released in the near future.
They went on to say that GM, partly because of this and other studies, has
decided to put DRL in all their new cars in USA in the future; but it will
be implemented in stages.
–
/————————————————————————-\
| Lawrence Kwan | PGP via finger or server | Key ID: 0x990E468D |
| lawre…@io.org | B0 06 2A 32 B5 C5 0D 60 97 B3 81 C4 90 1F 84 6C |
\———————————————————-Toronto-Canada-/
One advantage of a car wired with side lights as running lights is you can
tell at a distance whether it’s running or not, and hence easily
distinguish a parked car from one that’s about to pull out in front of you.
On the whole, such running lights are a good idea and I can forsee more
countries legislating for them.
Dave
—
David Crooke, Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh
Janet d…@ed.dcs : Internet d…@dcs.ed.ac.uk : IP talk d…@129.215.160.2
Work: JCMB Rm 1408, King’s Bldgs, W Mains Rd., Edinburgh EH9 3JZ. 031 650 5164
Home: 12 (GFR) West Savile Tr, Edinburgh, SCOTLAND EH9 3DZ. 031 667 4854
Lee Qiao (lq…@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca) wrote:
: [ ... ] Besides, why do you want to pick up motorcycles in
: particular, why should you treat them any differently than cars?
Motorcycles are fundamentally less stable than automobiles, therefore
they are more susceptible and vulnerable to changing environments (e.g.,
crosswinds).
–
-todd
t…@mudbug.nrlssc.navy.mil
’74 MGB 101K mi
’84 VW Rabbit Diesel 176K mi (broken timing belt; immobile)
’84 Volvo 245GL 173K mi
’85 Nishiki Prestige custom (not ridden these days; make an offer)
"People said it because other people said it. They did not know why it
was being said and heard everywhere. They did not give or ask for
reasons."
– Ayn Rand, from _Atlas Shrugged_
In article <1994Aug4.190630.13…@bnr.ca>, <chun…@bnr.ca> writes:
> Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
> It sure does grab attention. Bic need the attention because they
> are small and hard to see. Those light save many life of the riders
> after so many of them were killed. But I wonder if a minivan or a
> 18 wheeler truck needs such attention.
On a recent trip through the upper peninsula of Michigan (people there
seem to use their lights in the day much more than elsewhere in the U.S.,
maybe it is the proximity of Canada) along many long, relatively wide open
stretches of road the oncomming lights made it much easier to see the vehicle,
in broad daylight even if it was a pick-up of 18 wheeler. It can be hard to
see an oncomming vehicle, especially on a long straight where the rosd
disappears into the trees or there is a curve at the end with trees across it.
> If every car and truck has
> their light on, how do you pickup a motorcycle from the hundreds
> of lights coming to you?
Why do you care *what* is comming towards you? If yopu can see something that
is enough to be aware.
Jim kastenholz