Daytime running lights - DRLs. One of my pet peeves. Why? Well I ride a motorcycle and motorcycles are, whichever way you look at it, more vulnerable on the roads and less likely to be seen by idiot car drivers. The solution was to ride with our lights on to make ourselves more visible to everyone else - to draw attention to ourselves. Sadly, in recent years, car manufacturers the world over have started wiring headlights on cars to be always-on, calling them "Daytime Running Lights". Now, motorcyclists are lost in a sea of car headlights. And why? Because misguided politicians quoting non-existant safety reports have convinced the world that we all need our headlights on all time time.
Eeesh.
Well at least on some cars you can prevent this - see my post from a while back ("Hack Your Car") where I disabled the DRLs on my VW. Frankly I think we should all be able to prevent this and apparently I'm not the only one. An increasingly vocal group calling themselves Drivers Against Daytime Running Lights (DaDRL) are also getting alarmingly agitated about this same issue. DaDRL is a worldwide voluntary group of experienced motorists including Scientists, Engineers, Mathematicians, Lawyers and Ophthalmological experts who are supported by the leading Pedestrian, Cyclist and Motorcyclist organisations committed to improving road safety by reducing glare and distraction.
If you're interested, their various sites are listed below. Take the time to read over some of the studies that have been actually carried out as opposed to manufactured by politicians. It makes interesting reading. Then turn your bloody headlights off in the daytime!
DaDRL UK
DaDRL USA (LightsOut)
DaDRL Bulgaria
DaDRL Poland
DaDRL Lithuania
