EU proposes mandatory daytime running lights

The European Commission is proposing that daytime running lights become mandatory throughout the EU:

European Commission Consultation document (PDF)

We do not need this nonsense.  There is no clear evidence that DRLs increase road safety, and significant concerns that excessive lighting may actually have a detrimental effect.

Read the rebuttal of the proposal from the Association of Drivers Against Daytime Running Lights:

DaDRL response, short version

DaDRL response, long version

More on the Association's website here:

http://www.dadrl.org.uk/

I think I'm going to scream......

Vicky

You know, about 9 years ago I would've agreed with you. They introduced the law in Finland, and I thought it was the silliest thing on the planet.
Well, after they introduced it, it took a while to get used to, but then I stopped really noticing it...

..Until I started driving in countries where it's not mandatory.

IMO it does actually make a difference, I now find cars that cars without running lights on are a lot harder to spot, even in daytime, in some instances.

I can't see how this is necessary in the summer months or for most of the year in EU countries such as Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, most of Italy...and it seems contrary to EU policy on energy efficiency.

Vicky

I thought the same when they introduced the law in Finland.
Yet even in the brightest sunshine it does make a difference.

Do car lights really use up that much energy?

They do if it is every car in the whole of the EU!


Vicky

I now find cars that cars without running lights on are a lot harder to spot, even in daytime, in some instances.

But conversely, if all the cars on the road have lights blazing it can mask things which have no lights at all -- Such as pedestrians.

I can't see how this is necessary in the summer months or for most of the year in EU countries such as Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, most of Italy...

One problem is that even if DRLs were beneficial in the Nordic countries (which is highly dubious at best) and of no use whatsoever in southern Europe, we both know that the EU makes no provision for such variations.  In the Commission's eyes, everything has to be the same from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean and from Galway to the Balkans even when such uniformity is clearly absurd given the wide geographical and climatic variations.     They're striving for fewer differences between countries within the EU than exist between individual states in the U.S.A.

and it seems contrary to EU policy on energy efficiency.

It sure does.  The extra fuel used per vehicle over a year's average use is not going to be very great, but multiply that by the millions of vehicles on Europe's roads and the extra consumption is going to be quite significant.

Edited to add:
It's not just the cost of running the lights either.  If lights are burning all the time the car is on the road then the bulbs will need to be replaced much more frequently, so there is also the environmental aspect of having to manufacture more new bulbs and dispose of more burned out ones.