Daytime Running Lights for cars

[Neilm]

I always thought that the reason the UK drives on the left date back to the middle ages. When travelling down a narrow lane you might meet someone coming the other way. If you move to the left it then allows you to draw a sword and strike or parry in one movement if necessary. This assumes that you are right handed and have the sword on your left hip.

Meanwhile back on topic ... I believe that the EU are mandating daylight running lights but it is not yet in effect. From memory it has to apply to vehicles from next year or year after.

See http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/safety/daytime-running-lights.html

Neil

[scrat]

@Hero: you're right (so am I left? ). My mistake. In the Roman Empire keep-left rule dominated. So the last people to remain on that rule in Europe was the British, while right rule came from US and spreaded starting from France (http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/06/why-some-countries-drive-on-the-right-and-some-countries-drive-on-the-left/). You never know enough of your people's history. So, instinctively, many people choose left.
Still the three I mentioned are valid, although the English Empire has had a dominant role in the left-rule diffusion

[Simon]

I believe that daylight running lights are being mandated by the EU.

If that's true the UK government isn't paying any attention to it.

Actually I think it's probably just Scandinavia because the winters are long and dark.

from memory it happened 4 years ago as we were all laughing and cursing in italy when it came out and it certainly wern't no italian law (what italy think of safety ) but yea it was a 2 week wonder and then people stopped bothering, you can't manufacture common sense

[scrat]

from memory it happened 4 years ago as we were all laughing and cursing in italy when it came out and it certainly wern't no italian law (what italy think of safety ) but yea it was a 2 week wonder and then people stopped bothering, you can't manufacture common sense

I must say that now almost every car runs with lights on during the day... At least here in the North of Italy. To clarify, here are some rules about road circulation in South Italy ...http://translate.google.it/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=it&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=it&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnonciclopedia.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FCodice_meridionale_della_strada.

All joking aside, if it comes from the EU, the daytime lights rule is one of the best safety laws they introduced. Many of them are leading to a form of hypocrisy, where all you need is a certification that says you are obeying to all rules, and then you can make what you want.

[Zero999]

Does it actually cut down on the number of road accidents? If so, I agree, it's a good idea. If not, it's a waste of time and money.

Does it have to be the full headlights on or will a strip of bright white LEDs do? If it's LEDs I don't see the problem as they're bound to last for the life of the car and if one or two fail, it shouldn't matter.

[NiHaoMike]

A manual transmission is a good point but, in the US atleast, these are a dying breed.  Its actually more expensive to get a manual transmission on some makes/models.

That's because they're being replaced by DCTs and CVTs. Nobody has yet figured out a good way to manually shift a CVT and those used to a traditional manual have complained about the feel of most DCTs. But at least the inefficient and often unreliable torque converter automatic is starting to disappear.

The problem, of course, is that while electronics can coordinate shifting much better than any driver, they are very poor at knowing when to shift. And many drivers, including most hypermilers, like to have more control. The original manual Honda Insight is actually a favorite among many hypermilers for that reason.

As for headlights, they're just starting to go LED. Then it's just a matter of designing the power supply to support variable current, which is very easy.

[Simon]

look, if you can't see a flipping 20 ton lorry in broad day light you should not even be on the road.

@Scrat: please don't get me started on Italian drivers north or south, I've driven the whole length of the country and you are all as bad as each other   I've had my fair share of northern drivers swing round in their seats and make gestures along the lines of: "I'd like to beat you up because your car with a heavily loaded trailer doing 65 mph is going to slow and I'm showing off to my ditsy girlfriend never mind being heavily distracted from the road ahead "!. Italy's big weakness is that it fights between itself and wastes it's resources, North versus South ? how stupid can people get, the last civil war in England was centries ago, we've grwon up since then  

[Zero999]

A manual transmission is a good point but, in the US atleast, these are a dying breed.  Its actually more expensive to get a manual transmission on some makes/models.

That's because they're being replaced by DCTs and CVTs. Nobody has yet figured out a good way to manually shift a CVT and those used to a traditional manual have complained about the feel of most DCTs. But at least the inefficient and often unreliable torque converter automatic is starting to disappear.

This isn't the case in Europe and I doubt any of the heavy goods vehicles in the US are automatic so that's a lot of huge machines being driven left handed when the driver changes gear.

[PetrosA]

This isn't the case in Europe and I doubt any of the heavy goods vehicles in the US are automatic so that's a lot of huge machines being driven left handed when the driver changes gear.

Buses and many trucks here and in the EU have been available as automatic for some time now, and here is a link to one of the largest US truck manufacturer's page on transmissions:

http://www.freightlinertrucks.com/trucks/featured-components/transmissions.aspx

Automatic or hybrid manual transmissions make more sense if they perform well

I do wish my Transit Connect were available with a manual, since the auto that Ford put in it sucks at knowing when to shift down.

[Mechatrommer]

I do wish my Transit Connect were available with a manual, since the auto that Ford put in it sucks at knowing when to shift down.

i kinda get used to my Toyota Wish Auto. Just press the pedal quickly then it will shift down, lift the pedal up rapidly? shift up, quite nice and responsive... for me. But our national car's auto? sux!. But nothing beats manual! "The Super Auto" lies not in the car, but in my left hand and feet, and ummm... left brain i think

[Simon]

I'd prefer manual, my car is ten years 12 years old and the automatic version used significantly more fuel according to the manual. With me at the controls I can get a good 10% more economy than the average driver

[thakidd]

My Honda 2005 has the manual twisty knob setup. I do not like this method because I may leave my lights on while leaving the vehicle if I do not pay attention or hear the annoying beep when exiting the car. I am pretty good about turned the lights on, when needed, as I have never had an always-lights-on car.

I also believe that the always-on setup is a bad idea. Screw the wack-job environmentalists and auto safety people for a moment. Why would I want my bulbs running down faster in an always-on setup than would in the manual way? I would have to buy bulbs more frequently. That is just a bad idea for my wallet.

Therefore, the only system that makes sense is one that only turns them on when needed. It satisfies my pocket book and it better satisfy the wack-jobs.

That btw is how you save the environment while not pissing off normal people. Get on it HONDA!

Meanwhile, I might look at hacking my current setup!

[scrat]

Always-on lights rule is a way to save money...and lives. It's just a safety matter.
I was skeptic, when I started to see the first motorbikes coming from Austria that had their lights on during the day, but now that I've seen the difference I have to say it's far better. I accept an added cost, because I know we all are avoiding a number of accidents. From an energy/money point of view, how much does it cost to change a new car because of an accident?

About the fact that light bulbs are burning faster (in the last few days I changed two of them), I think that a more careful voltage regulation could make them last much longer. Even if I turn them on manually after motor is running, and turn off before stopping motor, they usually burn at turning on. I think that adding a soft start and protecting them from overvoltage could make a big difference, although this is only a guess.
Moreover, I see that the lamp that always goes down is the normal night light (which I must use also durign the day), even if it is connected in parallel with a little one. Law allow to use a weaker light for daytime, which I don't have, but some new cars have. The logical guess is that this weaker light would have a longer life.

[Zero999]

Using LEDs is the obvious solution, at least only for the automatic day time running lights. Halogen or HID can be used for the manual night time running lights.

Perhaps all headlights should be automatic and turn on when the ambient light level drops below a certain point?

[Frangible]

DRLs would be OK if they came with an auto-on feature.  With today's bright dashboards and non-automatic DRLs, I see plenty of people driving around with their lights off (no tail lights).  The DRLs are plenty bright for driving in traffic, so the driver never knows his lights are off.  I'd also like a manual-off feature (other than pulling the parking brake) so I can dip my headlights at an oncoming motorist - it used to be the standard signal for "you first" when meeting at a one lane bridge.