Daytime Running Lights:

Necessary Safety Equipment or Busy Work for Product Planners?

A couple of weeks ago, we were driving our 1996 Volvo 850 test car down a suburban four-lane thoroughfare in Tempe, Arizona. It was a bright, sunny day (typical in Arizona), and the Volvo was painted a brilliant Titanium metallic color which reflected natural light beautifully. The Volvo also had daytime running lights (DRLs), which were dutifully blazing away.

Suddenly, a new Toyota Corolla driven by a round-faced man with a thick mustache, and packed with ice cream smeared children, turned into traffic from a Dairy Queen driveway on our side of the road. To make matters worse, this dolt turned into our curb side lane, not the vacant left centerline lane. We jammed on the brakes, and the Volvo's monstrous four-wheel discs chittered as the anti-lock braking system brought the 850 down to the Corolla's much slower pace. Our DRLs illuminated the Toyota's rear reflectors as Mr. Mustache and the Ice Cream Crew massaged the Corolla up to the speed limit.

Later that week, we took the Volvo to Los Angeles. Interstate 10 ribbons across the desert from Phoenix to La La Land, and there ain't much but scrub and podunk towns between the two. Notched up to 75 mph, we set the Volvo's cruise control. Like most other days in this region of the country, it was bright and sunny. The DRLs were on duty at the front of the car. Traffic was light during this weekday morning. Not far outside suburban Phoenix, we happened upon some slower vehicles in the right lane. We moved left in plenty of time to safely overtake the two slower cars. Just as we were approaching, the second member of the two-car caravan pulled into our lane. Seniors in their cruise-controlled Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme cut us off. We braked, and followed patiently as they leisurely passed the car that remained in the right lane.

The very same day, we encountered heavy (typical) traffic on the inbound I-10 into Los Angeles. Admittedly, a hazy combination of condensation and pollution blanketed the San Bernadino area. We were in one of the left lanes on a six-lane stretch of freeway, and traffic was moving along at about 70 mph. The DRLs were standing guard, flanking the classy Volvo grille up front. At our two o'clock position, a woman driving an Aerostar van began to pull into our lane. As she came over the broken white line, we applied our brakes. After a moment, she finally took notice of the brightly lit Volvo, and abruptly whipped back into her own lane, exploring the outer stability limits of her tall Ford in the process.

Volvo, Saab and Volkswagen have taken to equipping their cars with daytime running lights. Commonly referred to as DRLs, these low-intensity headlamps are designed to operate whenever the vehicle is running and in gear. General Motors has also begun equipping its product with these types of lights, and plans to have them as standard equipment on all GM models by 1997.

General Motors cites the following reason for equipping GM cars and trucks with DRLs, quoted from the 1996 Pontiac press kit; "The DRL system's approach to safety is straight forward: Your car or truck is easier to see and therefore avoid." Evidence suggests that DRLs have lowered the incidence of daytime opposite-direction two vehicle collisions by 11% in Canada, where the lighting systems have been required on vehicles sold there since 1989. Similar drops have been reported in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Avis Rent A Car claims that a study they conducted using their rental fleet indicated that cars equipped with DRLs suffered 69% less damage than those cars not equipped with DRLs.

Sounds good, right? If it works in other countries, it will work in the United States. General Motors, Saab, Volvo and Volkswagen apparently think so. Sam Moses, columnist from AutoWeek magazine, isn't convinced.

Moses thinks DRLs are the dumbest idea since the national speed limit. In a column titled "Scream first, shoot later," which appeared in the June 19, 1995 edition of AutoWeek, he cites several reasons why DRLs might actually be more dangerous than safe. He points out that motorcycles have DRL systems, and he thinks that's just dandy. However, he reasons, if cars get them too, then motorcycles will become virtually invisible.

People will eventually become desensitized to DRLs as the subconscious adjusts to them, Moses theorizes. He also points out what is likely to happen when all GM, Saab, Volvo and Volkswagen cars are running around with their lights on. The cars that don't have DRLs will be easier to miss; accident rates for cars without DRLs will rise, and the government will step in to make DRLs mandatory on all cars. Other safety concerns are also expressed in his column, including the observation that blinkers will be harder to see, and that DRLs in your rear view mirror will distract attention that ought to be paid to the road in front. Moses also wonders why DRLs are necessary in a country where more miles are driven on one-way, mega-lane freeways than two-way two-lane rural roads. He has a point. Look at a map and see how much freeway there is in Canada. Or Finland, for that matter.

Oldsmobile's 1996 press kit says "In one out of seven accidents, drivers report that they simply did not see the other vehicle." Of course they will say that. Does anyone, aside from Oldsmobile, believe people would actually tell the investigating officer, much less their insurance company, "I was trying to beat traffic" or "I wasn't paying attention" or "I couldn't find my Engelbert Humperdink tape under the passenger seat"? Remember, we live in a country where a state court found Ford Motor Company at fault for the death of a motorist driving a 1988 Escort because the car wasn't equipped with airbags. Nevermind that the car met all 1988 federal safety standards. In the United States, it's always the other guy's fault. DRLs aren't going to change that. "I didn't see the other car," so therefore, it must be the other car's fault.

Sam Moses says, "Competent drivers use lights at dusk, in fog and during other times of low visibility. The argument for DRLs that now people won't have to remember to turn them on (or know when they should be turned on) is scary." He's right. Our experience in the Volvo 850, the first test car we've had that was equipped with DRLs, would indicate that they do nothing to make better drivers out of the general public.

General Motors estimates that the added fuel cost from running DRLs will be in the range of $3 per year for the average motorist. Oldsmobile's press kit further predicts that "Anticipated reductions in auto insurance fees should more than cover that expense." Right. Just like the anti-lock brake discount that is now vanishing from drivers' policies. Hey GM, why not take that $3 per person per year total, and spend it on programs that improve driver ability. At the same time, we could reduce the amount of emissions extra fuel consumption would create. And, we might get those ABS discounts back once folks learn how to use them properly.

Driver education, or re-education, is the key to reducing crash-related fatalities. As Sam Moses says, closing his fine editorial, "The notion that we as drivers are not capable of seeing vehicles coming the other direction unless their lights are on caters to the oblivious. It lowers the standard -- a standard that already says, in effect, that we as drivers are not capable of safely controlling a vehicle on an open flat (two-lane) highway at 56 mph. Lowering the standard -- the minimum expectation -- has always been the government's approach to problem-solving, which of course only creates more problems by reducing skills." If the skills we observed while driving our DRL-equipped test Volvo in clear, well-lit weather are any indication, that standard has already been dropped as low as it can possibly go.

Let us know what you think! Drop us a line at editor@edmunds.com. In your message, please include your age, education level, occupation, and home state. We'll post the most intriguing responses weekly

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