The dangers of DRLs 4610

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 20:48:42 -0400, Nate Nagel

They are coming from the desire of the private company TUEV (and recently DEKRA) trying to boost their revenue. The percentage of accidents due to technical defects is about the same over there and here and they both are negligible. Also the TUEV does NOT test many of the real security problems. Shocks are not tested at all, just checked for fluid leakage, which is just stupid. And the list goes on and on.

The only things about rear foglights that must conform to ECE specs is the glbutt-plastic lens and the wattage of the bulb. The glbutt-plastic lens gets smashed by a child's head dummy and if it produces splinters larger than x mm it gets rejected.

Apparently not too many of them, or you would know that they on the whole make about as much sense than the regs over here.

Partly. Also because they blind drivers following even in foggy conditions (in spite of being oh so ECE certified). And because they don't make a difference.

That would be at least a small improvement. I suggested this years ago. Still doesn't help. People turn them on because they think it's cool, because they think 2 miles visibility in haze is the mandatory 50m maximum visibility in dense fog. People drive on the autobahn at 120mph with their rear foglights on although the law clearly states that they can only be used in less than 50m visibility and that the speed limit in these conditions is 50km-h (31mph).

There are too many determined idiots out there, which is why I think automatic headlights withoutanoffswitch are such a good idea.

The feature is not lambasted because it is used improperly, but because it doesn't have a beneficial effect even when used properly. On the contrary. The blinding and buttociated desensitizing of the eyes in murky or nighttime conditions are a significant disadvantage.

I never felt safer with that light back there in pea soup fog and stopped using it after almost getting rear ended several times in these conditions by people, who thought due to the fog light that visibility was significantly better than it actually was.

Good luck.

Chris