arnieosp

iTrader: (1)

I am a State Trooper, I investigate crashes for living. With many hundreds of crashes I investigated over the years, I have yet to come across one, where someone could say "If only that guy had his 50% high beam lights on in a broad daylight, I would have noticed him and would not go into the oncoming lane!"

Head-on crashes happen because people are drunk, or asleep, or go too fast around curves, or get distracted by their kids in the back, or are yakking on their cell phones, or skid on slippery roads, or are making unsafe passes, and NOT by lack of DRL.

The day I hear about a crash that could have been prevented by active DRL, I will swap the relays and re-activate my DRLs. As far as all the extra careful people that expressed their concerns, please, also make your contributions to road safety in other areas, like giving up cell phone usage while driving..

Motorcycles are entirely different story.

kitlz

For the pro-DRLers:

http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/drl.html

For the anti-DRLers:

http://www.lightsout.org/

Just trying to keep the peace

xis

State Trooper - you probably don't hear from the ones that are dead. I am also not specifically speaking high-noon... what about dusk? What about high overcast? Just wondering...

Oh, and why would it be different for motorcycles? Pls. splain, Lucy....

Kansas

I suspect the usefulness of DRL has decreased over time as many two lane roads have been upgraded to four or more lanes.

In addition to light conditions (overcast, shaded), I suspect that vehicle size and vehicle color have something to do with DRL effectiveness.

As a teenager back in the 1960's I owned a relatively small silver Mercedes 190SL 2-seater. I lived in a fairly rural area with only 2-lane highways and I had what seemed like a lot of incidents where people pulled into my lane to pass oncoming cars as I approached from the other direction. I took to the shoulder more than once to avoid a crash.

I didn't put two and two together until I loaned my sister the SL one warm summer day and met her driving towards me on the highway. My little silver Mercedes seemed almost invisible. From that day forward, I drove the SL and all other cars with headlights on during the day or with DRL when DRL became available.

Sometime in the late 60's or early 70's, there was an article in the Mercedes owner magazine, In Aller Welt, about the relative safety of various car colors. Even though they had that information, Mercedes didn't stop selling cars in colors that they thought were less safe than others. They gave people a choice.

As much as I liked silver cars, I never bought another one. Since then it has been mainly light colored cars -- usually white with a few eggshell blue and yellow cars thrown in. I'm on my second white Lexus and my wife is driving a white Toyota.

I really don't know if headlights on, DRL and driving cars of particular colors has made a difference but (knock on wood!) I've now driven 43 years without anyone hitting my cars -- except for two extraordinarily drunk people and a depressing string of people rear ending my cars while talking on their cell phones when I've been stopped in traffic.

I'd rather you leave your DRL functioning but turn them off if you want. It's your right and I've even occasionally told people how to turn their DRL off. We'll leave ours on.

kiwi

let me know when you throw fog into the equation there trooper

arnieosp

iTrader: (1)

Very seldom I come across a crash where both drivers are dead. Plus there is a science called accident reconstruction, which usually determines the cause of the crash quite accurately.

Dusk, overcast, fog, other limiting visibility conditions, that's where common sense and a headlight switch become important.

Motorcycles are much smaller then cars and less visible, so anything that makes a motorcycle visible helps.

tjain

Anyone who does not turn on the lights at dusk & dawn risk of being hit.
That said Give OP a break, here in Oregon this is what the Oregon DMV manual says
"Use headlights when driving at dusk." it does not say DRL. Same goes with fog (Low Beam headlight) & low visibility conditions during rain which is very common here in Oregon. Using headlights not DRL's is plain commonsense when there is fog & rain.

If DRL's are a law where you live then do not disable it.Not all vehicles come with DRL and it is the OP's choice to disable it since it is not unlawful in Oregon.
The most dangerous drivers are who speed & change lanes without checking blindspots , eat fastfood while driving,speak on the cell phone & text/surf on their phones while driving.

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

arnie...does this work on the gs too?

968racer

You drive in fog without your headlights on? How do people see you coming up on you from behind?

kiwi

thats my point, DRL only became mandatory in 1992/1993, and some peoples cars dont have functioning DRL, yet in heavy heavy fog (which we get in nova scotia regularly), people still dont put there headlights on. so the mandatory DRL is a great thing. as they say common sense isnt so common

arnieosp

iTrader: (1)

It should. It works on pickups, Rav4s and Highlanders. However, I did not know about this until few weeks ago, so I had delaer turn them off via LPS when I had my car there for an oil change. I could not believe the bastards charged me $60 for it, despite the fact that I bought 2 brand new Lexuses from them in 12 months.

I just went to my GS and tried to locate the light relay with no luck. So, it either looks diferent, or I don't know where it is.

LEXEHAM

I think that the more visible you are the better, so I will not disable my DRL. I have driven in some states where the law is when the wipers are on the headlights are on. I think New York and New Jersey have that law in place. You can have a million studies, if one life is saved by someone having their lights on, that is enough for me to keep mine on.

arnieosp

iTrader: (1)

You can save about 45 000 lives every year in this country alone by simply giving up driving. Plus, acording to Al Gore, the polar bears would love it too. Or, if you are not willing to go that far, how about imposing a federal speed limit of 20 MPH. That will result in saving many thousands of lives.

SALTY2

Does anyone know if this works on the 2010 models too? I have a US model that I have to switch to Canadian standard (kind of reverse of what we have here)

arnieosp

iTrader: (1)

Didn't your 2010 come standard with DRLs?