>If you're the one against mandatory DRLs, please send letter to NHTSA
>before it's too late!
>Check http://www.lightsout.org/ for more information.

I think that mandatory DRLs are an incredibly good idea.  I visited the above site, which makes a number of really stupid arguments
that are easily rebutted, such as:

> Q. Will other drivers be bothered by the glare from DRLs?

> A. Again, undoubtedly. Think about how much YOU would be bothered
>    by oncoming headlights on an already sunny day.

Note the lack of real data here.  Also note the attempt to 'argue through misinformation'.  DRLs are not headlights... they're
significantly dimmer.  The authors attempt to imply that headlights are brighter than the sun, which is simply silly if you think
about it.

> Q. How effective are DRLs?

> A. In Canada, where DRLs have been in place since 1989, the government
>    has done no studies but ESTIMATES that DRLs save 120 lives each year.
>    How can they make such an estimate with no research or data?

Hillarious.  The authors select the country which has had DRLs for the shortest amount of time, and then complain because there are
no studies.

Let me offer some:

     http://www.pascousa.com/febs/trb/dayruli.ref.txt
     "Based on current data (1986), the Dutch Institute for Road
      Safety Research  SWOV  has estimated a reduction of approximately
      5% in the total number of injury accidents."

     "Keeping vehicle lights on to increase vehicle conspicuity during
      daytime hours  has  been  found to reduce crashes in
      Scandinavia and the United States.  Crashes of vehicles with and
      without daytime running lights owned by the Central Vehicle
      Agency of the Province of Saskatchewan were compared to a random
      selection  of  crashes drawn from provincial crash files involving
      vehicles without daytime running lights for the years 1982 through
      1989.  Daytime two-vehicle crashes involving vehicles approaching
      from the front or side were reduced by about 28% for the daytime
      running light equipped vehicles. A 28% reduction in daytime
      running light relevant daytime two-vehicle crashes corresponds to
      a 15% reduction in all daytime two-vehicle crashes.  This revised
      report supercedes the report dated Oct. 1991."

      http://www.hike.te.chiba-u.ac.jp/ikeda/CIE/publ/abst/104-93.html
      "Accident statistics from Finland, Sweden, Norway, USA where
       comparisons of vehicles with and without DRL have been carried
       out support the concept. The reduction of the daytime collisions
       due to DRL is estimated to be in the size of 10 percent."

      http://sunsite.unc.edu/rdu/DRLs/studies.htm
      "DRLs, at sufficient levels of intensity, increase visual contrast
       between vehicles and their background."

      "In a much larger fleet study conducted in the 1980s, more than
       2,000 passenger vehicles in three fleets were equipped with
       DRLs.

       One fleet operated in Connecticut, another in several States
       in the Southwest, and the third operated throughout the United
       States. A 7-percent reduction was found in daytime
       multiple-vehicle crashes in the DRL-equipped vehicles compared
       with control vehicles."

       "Damage severity in the non-DRL group (measured in terms of cost)
        was 69% greater than that of the DRL-equipped fleet. Only the
        non-DRL vehicles experienced damage in excess of $15,000. The
        Avis study involved 1500 cars with DRLs, and 1500 without,
        representing approximately 29,000 rentals in eight cities in
        Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Washington."

Humorously, the anti-DRL web page for 'Studies' lists NO studies (http://www.lightsout.org/studies.htm), whereas I was able to find
more than a dozen in minutes on the WWW.  (See http://sunsite.unc.edu/rdu/DRLs/studies.htm).  I assume that their page is blank
because they weren't able to find any studies *supporting their position.*

Incidentally, the proposed legislation only applies to new model year cars.  We wouldn't be required to retrofit older cars.

Support daytime running lights.  The Vanagon you save may be your own.

Coyote

--                      /\_/\      ____
Ron 'Coyote' Lussier   (     )     \ _/__             LikeMinds, Inc.
coyote@likeminds.com    \   /       \X  /              457 Bryant St.
1.415.284.6972           \_/          \/ San Francisco, CA 94107-1316