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DAY TIME RUNNING LIGHTS
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure the continued safety of users of motorcycles and scooters by fighting EU proposals to introduce daytime running lights on motorcars. More details
Submitted by Richard Olliffe – Deadline to sign up by: 07 February 2007 – Signatures: 292
Plans by the European Union to make the use of car headlights in daytime mandatory are being welcomed by road safety lobby groups and by some road safety officers. However, these do gooders and practitioners seem to have forgotten the disbenefit that the introduction of so called Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) will have on the safety of motorcycle and scooter users.
At present the headlights of motorcycles and scooters, used in daylight, increase the chance of them being seen. However, against a background of glaring light streams this visibility advantage will be lost, as motorcycles and scooters disappear in a sea of other vehicles lights, and thus the risk to riders from careless motorists will increase.
Far from being a road safety improvement this proposed legislation will only result in an increase in death and serious injury to the ever increasing number of motorcyclists and scooter riders we see on our roads.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
You recently signed a petition asking the Prime Minister to "ensure the continued safety of users of motorcycles and scooters by fighting EU proposals to introduce daytime running lights on motorcars."
The Prime Minister's Office has responded to that petition and you can view it here:
http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page10946.asp
Prime Minister's Office
The UK Government is opposed both to mandatory daytime dipped headlamp use and to mandatory dedicated daytime running light (DRL) use (except where required by poor visibility, eg fog) for a number of reasons.
These include questions over the safety of vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, pedal cyclists and pedestrians. Other concerns are the accuracy of overall cost: benefit analysis figures, increased motoring expenses and increased carbon dioxide emissions.
The European Commission (EC) has been discussing daytime headlamp use and DRLs with Member States for quite some time. Research has been carried out into daytime headlamp use, as an aid to vehicle conspicuity: there are arguments both for and against.
There are also arguments for and against the use of dedicated, low wattage DRLs (rather than dipped-beam head-lamps) which could be provided or mandated for new vehicles.
Mandatory daytime headlamp use or dedicated DRLs could have an adverse impact on the relative daytime conspicuity of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, who are not illuminated.
In addition, motorcyclists currently make themselves more conspicuous in daytime (on a voluntary basis) by using dipped beam headlamps.
If all vehicles were illuminated, this advantage might reduce or disappear altogether.
The costs of additional fuel expenses and pollution effects also need to be taken into account.
The EC estimates, for instance, that the compulsory use of DRLs across the Union would lead to a 1.5% rise in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
The UK's response to the recent EC consultation on this subject highlighted these concerns. The UK's reply was informed by a study of the EC analysis, commissioned by the Department for Transport.
The results support the view that the benefits have been over estimated while the additional costs to motorists have been underestimated.
Further to its consultation, recent discussions with the EC now lead us to conclude that it may not press for early adoption of mandatory daytime running lights. It is expected to reconsider the proposals during the coming year.
In the meantime, the Department for Transport will continue to hold further talks with the EC to reiterate our main concerns.
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