The dangers of DRLs 4607

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 13:37:55 -0700, fbloogyudsr

Don't ask me why any specific law is in effect, you wouldn't like my answer. Rear fog lights are mandatory but one of the most hated (by almost all drivers) additions to the StVZO (Strbuttenverkehrs-Zulbuttungsordnung). They do increase visibility of a single car to a degree and at the same time make people overestimate visibility. The original implementation made people confuse rear foglights with brake lights, which is why only one rear foglight is legal. Most German drivers I know doubt that there has any human-factors engineering and science involved in making them mandatory). And most of them, given a vote in the case, would vote for abolishment of said rear foglights.

From my personal experience the rear foglights don't help at all, although we had quite a lot of dense fog in the valley of the river Amper, as visibility of single cars is never a problem given speed adjusted to conditions. They sometimes turned out to be a problem though. People would drive significantly too fast because they saw the rear foglights ahead and thought that they could see other things at the same distance. Unfortunately several accidents on the notorious B12 and B471 two-lane express highways have been attributed to people seeing a car with rear foglights far ahead and then running into an unlighted obstacle, because visibility was not even close to as good as they thought.

Now a nice piece of homework for you: Explain why all northern european countries have mandatory DRLs with all your 'human-factors engineering' and science involved? They have a lot of fog, so DRLs should be dangerous according to you. Explain.

Chris