Daytime Running Lights Don't Save Lives

Lane Courtesy

In a transparent attempt to sell another bad idea to American drivers General Motors is campaigning for mandatory daytime running lights, DRLs.

GM created this fiasco by trying to save a few dollars by installing the same lighting system in US cars that they are required to install in Canadian cars. Of course this was billed as a "safety measure."

Despite complaints about daytime headlight glare, caused by GM products, and subsequent regulatory action aimed at reducing DRL glare, GM stayed the course and kept churning out products with glare inducing DRLs. These devices irritated other drivers, masked directional lights, and resulted in GM vehicles traveling at night without proper headlights being turned on. Thanks to government inaction we now have tens of millions of DRL equipped vehicles antagonizing other motorists, and creating new traffic hazards.

No one at GM will admit it, but their hidebound determination to force DRLs on the motoring public is probably costing them sales. People who don't want to antagonize and confuse fellow drivers will buy cars that don't have DRLs. The one way for GM to overcome this drag on sales is to force all auto manufacturers to include DRLs on their cars and trucks.

Mandating DRLs on all new cars and trucks is moving 180 degrees in the wrong direction. Daytime running lights waste fuel, irritate and confuse other motorists, and may cause more accidents than they are ever given credit for. The federal government should not be mandating DRLs, it should be banning them.

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The NMA's Position

The NMA opposes the installation of "hard-wired" daytime running lights (DRLs). The operator of any vehicle should be able to activate or de-activate all exterior lights on that vehicle, including motorcycle headlights. The NMA also advocates education programs that encourage headlight use only when visibility is poor.