"T.Alan Kraus" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress wrote:
"Roger Shoaf" wrote in message
...

"SteveB" meagain@rockvilleUSA wrote in message
...

What I can't figure out is why are all these people using their fog

lights?

Crystal clear fifty mile visibility, and they are using obnoxious fog

lights

that give off as much light as high beams. I don't get it.


If someone has fog lamps that are obnoxious then they are not adjusted
properly. Fog lamps should be aimed lower than low beams. The best ones
are
yellow which is less obnoxious than the white light.

I think the lights you take issue with are marketed as "driving" lights
for
"off road use only". The reason some folks drive around with those is
because they are assholes.


Right. There is some confusion over this, and you point out one of the
big problems in discussing it -- daytime running lights (DRLs) are not
the same thing as flamethrower "driving lights."

As for Steve's initial question, the evidence is pretty clear: DRLs
reduce accidents. This has been known for a long time. Without getting
into the details, here's a brief summary of the studies that have driven
this issue for almost three decades:

================================================== ==
Nearly all published reports indicate DRLs reduce multiple-vehicle
daytime crashes. Evidence about DRL effects on crashes comes from studies
conducted in Scandinavia, Canada, and the United States. A study
examining the effect of Norway's DRL law from 1980 to 1990 found a 10
percent decline in daytime multiple-vehicle crashes.1 A Danish study
reported a 7 percent reduction in DRL-relevant crashes in the first 15
months after DRL use was required and a 37 percent decline in left-turn
crashes.2 In a second study covering 2 years and 9 months of Denmark's
law, there was a 6 percent reduction in daytime multiple-vehicle crashes
and a 34 percent reduction in left-turn crashes.3 A 1994 Transport Canada
study comparing 1990 model year vehicles with DRLs to 1989 vehicles
without them found that DRLs reduced relevant daytime multiple-vehicle
crashes by 11 percent.4

In the United States, a 1985 Institute study determined that commercial
fleet passenger vehicles modified to operate with DRLs were involved in 7
percent fewer daytime multiple-vehicle crashes than similar vehicles
without DRLs.5 A small-scale fleet study conducted in the 1960s found an
18 percent lower daytime multiple-vehicle crash rate for DRL-equipped
vehicles.6 Multiple-vehicle daytime crashes account for about half of all
police-reported crashes in the United States. A 2002 Institute study
reported a 3 percent decline in daytime multiple-vehicle crash risk in
nine US states concurrent with the introduction of DRLs.7 Federal
researchers, using data collected nationwide, concluded that there was a
5 percent decline in daytime, two-vehicle, opposite-direction crashes and
a 12 percent decline in fatal crashes with pedestrians and bicyclists.8

================================================== ===

--
Ed Huntress
When talking about driving, a majority envisions driving on freeways and
forgets the enormous amount of divided secondary and rural roads. Where I
live, these roads are in the majority and also curvy and variably shaded
by trees. There is a constant light play and driving with lights on
affords a few milliseconds of recognition advantage to the other car
driver. It is amazing how many driving silver or green painted cars blend
so well into the pavement or sourroundings. To old eyes like mine, if
their headlights are on, they become immediately very visible.

cheers
T.Alan

'Same here.

--
Ed Huntress