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It's actually mandatory in most (if not all?) of the EU. You must have your headlights on at all times.
by cube2222 8y ago
It's actually mandatory in most (if not all?) of the EU. You must have your headlights on at all times.
- ygra 8y agoMotorcycles maybe, cars have (by now) mandatory daytime running lights, but at least in Germany for older cars it's not mandatory to have lights on during daytime.
- _pmf_ 8y agoI remember that one country reverted its decision for mandatory daytime light for cars because it decreased visibility of motorbikes (for which daytime lights were mandatory).
- lloeki 8y agoThat would be France. The idea is indeed to increase visibility of the most vulnerable vehicles. Motorbike riders behave differently than car drivers, hence it is critically important to be able to distinguish them easily in traffic (we downright suck at evaluating movements of light sources compared to solid objects). This is also a factor as to why always-on daylights are mandatorily placed lower than headlights.
- Piskvorrr 8y agoWorse, some of the daytime running "lights" are only visible from about 5 m directly in front of the car - plus on most cars, the "daytime lights" setting only switches front lights, leaving the back entirely off. That's a cure worse than the disease.
- IneffablePigeon 8y agoI think it's mandatory that new cars have always-on lights, rather than being mandatory to turn on your lights all the time (if you've got an older vehicle). That's how it is in the UK, anyway.
- tolien 8y agoMandatory for cars type-approved after the 7th of February 2011 [1], not all new cars. Some manufacturers were selling models that were type-approved before that date for years later (the Peugeot 3008 is one example), and therefore weren’t required to have DRLs. 1: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-08-1394_en.htm http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-08-1394_en.htm
- usrusr 8y agoDefinitely not all of them, Austria even rolled back because it removed the visibility advantage of motorcycles and because daytime running lights are an arms race that some legal road users cannot keep up with. It makes those with no light (or with significantly weaker lights) practically invisible because drivers will inevitably reduce attention to the common case.
- pc86 8y agoIf your car cannot be operated legally, it should not be operated. You don't need automatic DRLs, you can always just turn your lights on.
- taejo 8y agoI think usrusr is referring to non-car road users. Bicycles and motorbikes need to stand out from cars, but can't keep up with them in a lighting arms race due to power and weight.
- usrusr 8y agoAnd ox-carts. And walkers. And all kinds of other long tail surprises. The distinction between limited access roads and the regular kind exists for a reason.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- dsego 8y agoIn Croatia it's only during winter time for cars.