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Use Your Headlights!
One of my pet peeves is drivers who do not have lights on during the day .... particularly when it is foggy, raining very hard, or there is a very dark overcast. On our last trip we saw many vehicles with no tail lights on. It was very dark out because of low, thick clouds and rain and the lack of lights is a recipe for an accidental meeting.
This reader raises an important question: when daytime running lights were mandated in Canada, why didn't some vehicle manufacturers turn on all the lights instead of just some of the lights? Many drivers assumed that when the headlights were on the tail lights were on also because this was the normal state of affairs at the time. The lack of tail lights left them dangerously unprotected.
Daytime running lamps were legislated to reduce head on collisions by making vehicles approaching each other more conspicuous. There was no need to have rear lamps on to accomplish this, so the federal standards did not mandate that they had to turn on with the daytime running lights. Some manufacturers chose to turn them on as part of the daytime running light system and some chose not to. It was up to the buyer to choose the system they wanted as part of their vehicle purchase.
Of course when weather conditions are poor, the lights on our vehicles help us see and be seen by other drivers. It is important to turn them all on when needed and maintain them so that they function properly. If the daytime running light system doesn't turn all lights on automatically, you must be alert to the need and do it yourself.
References:
Hours Prescribed for Lighted Lamps - Division 4.01 MVAR
Daytime Running Lamps - Division 4.08 MVAR
Daytime Running Lamps - Standard 108 MVSR
Comments
Originally Posted by Oldman and Moved Here
I am a firm believer in DRL but I never see any enforcement of this law. From my knowledge all vehicles produced for sale in Canada after 1990 had to have DRL installed. I have asked highway police officers and the B.C. Transportation division inspectors why they do not enforce this law. One police officer told me that although having the lights installed is a requirement for vehicles sold in Canada, there is no law saying they have to be operational. Is this true?
I have stopped and talked to the staff manning a major commercial vehicle inspection blitz and watched as truck after truck was past without having operational DRL. To me this defies common sense.
I wear my seat belt at all times but to me this is just to protect me if I have an accident. Daytime running lights just may prevent that accident from happening in the first place. Yet I see literally thousand of vehicles running around either with them disconnected or they have been allowed to burn out. I even see Police cars being driven on the highway and city streets with these lights de-activated. I know that the Police did get special permission to have a switch to turn them off but from what I have learned this is only for use during surveillance duty. They are never to be turned off when operating on the highway.
B.C. has a very high rate of seat belt use, so would the time the officers spend checking for seat belts be better used to check on daytime running lights? I would think that all traffic officers would have to know the year and make of car by looking at them so it should be no difficulty to pick out the offending vehicles.
About 5 years back I saw a report where DRL were credited with reducing the number of kids being hit by cars by darting out into the road. The report went on to say the only reason they could contribute this to is the kids must be able to spot the lights of the car better. Unfortunately I failed to keep the article and have never been able to find it again. Have you ever heard of this? But if this is true is it not a good reason to put more enforcement into making sure everyone has there lights operational?