SAFETY: A driving tip

[Longwell]

(Retyped from the Reader’s Digest)
I used this a lot when I taught the Emergency Vehicle Operator's Course for the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy.
I hope you already do this or will begin to now.

A Driving Tip That Can Save Your Life

You’re driving along a sunlit highway at 55 miles per hour, fully alert, when an oncoming car drifts slightly across the center line and rams into you, crushing metal and flesh.
Or maybe you’re going just 10 MPH when an oncoming pickup truck turns left in front of you and you strike it broadside.
Chances are, someday you will be involved in an automobile accident. Over a driving lifetime, the average person has seven fender benders and at least one slight injury. The odds are one in 20 you’ll be hurt seriously enough to be hospitalized and one in 100 you’ll be killed.
You can cut those odds considerably – starting right now – by realizing one simple fact: Countless accidents happen because one driver didn’t see another in time. “Competition for a driver’s attention is at overload levels,” says Gerald Donaldson, assistant director of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. “Between CD players, radios, traffic signs and signals, telephones, kids yelling, roadside advertising and pavement markings, the brain is too busy dealing with other demands for attention.
In short, avoiding an accident sometimes depends on whether your vehicle is conspicuous enough to get the other driver’s attention. “There’s a complex process going on here,” says Michael Perel, research engineer in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Crash Avoidance Research. “Before a driver can respond to an oncoming car, he’s got to notice it, identify it, and then judge the car’s chances of hitting him.” So it pays to give the other driver a head start.
A simple step that may help save your life: turn on your low-beam headlights in the daytime – not high beams, not parking lights, not fog lamps, but low beams. In three Nordic countries and Canada, day-time running lights (DRLs) appear to have become a potent lifesaver.
Since the 1970s, Finland and Sweden have required that daytime running lights be on when a car is moving. Sweden began serious research in the 60s. One important test used cars with special buttons that took pictures of the road scene as soon as the driver detected an oncoming vehicle; it also recorded the driver’s observations. Cars with DRLs were much more visible.
“We see a reduction of ten to fifteen percent in daytime multiple-vehicle accidents. That’s remarkable for such a simple step,” says Kare Rumar, director of research for the Swedish Road and Traffic Research Institute.
And what about the accident rates in Norway – where the law has been in effect since 1985 – and Finland? These countries report reductions of approximately 14 percent and 30 percent, respectively, in multiple daytime accidents.
Canada has mandated automatic DRLs on all new cars since 1990. “We’re estimating a ten- to 20-percent reduction in daytime multiple-vehicle accidents,” notes James G. White, head of crash-avoidance regulation at the Canadian Transport Department. Canada is also vigorously promoting a voluntary “Turn on Your Low Beans” campaign for cars without automatic lights.
In the United States, tests sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers Lighting Committee and by General Motors confirm the European studies. Whether the sun is bright and directly overhead or the day is overcast, whether it’s sunrise or sunset, rainy or foggy, many experts believe DRLs can help the other driver distinguish your car from the background clutter in time to respond appropriately.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has been pushing for DRLs since the late ‘70s. “The research community has known for a long time that DRLs can reduce two-vehicle collisions in daytime,” says Institute President Brian O’Neill. “The evidence is now overwhelming.”
Of course you have a perfect legal right to drive with your low beams on now. And the costs are minimal: an almost unnoticeable decrease in gas mileage and, of course, more frequent headlamp replacement. But the United States is still far from requiring DRLs. General Motors has petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the government agency in charge, to write a regulation outlining the safe installation of automatic DRLs. This regulation is an important first step because it will allow car companies to market such vehicles without having to satisfy a hodgepodge of individual state and local regulations that currently prohibit certain DRL designs. But there’s no guarantee that approval will be forthcoming soon.

Until all cars have automatic DRLs you can make your car attention-grabbing. “Turning on your low-beam headlights – even in broad daylight – is one of the best things you can do to protect your life on the highways,” says Donaldson.

Using daytime running lights requires some preparation. Be certain your headlights are properly aligned, since a beam aimed too high can present a glare problem for other drivers. Check to see that your turn signals are bright enough to stand out from the headlights in daytime. And in case you forget to turn the lights off, keep a pair of jumper cables in the trunk!
Finally, make sure you and your family don’t use “lights on” as an excuse for speeding or driving without seat belts. It is an effective safety measure, but only when combined with other safe-driving practices.

Larry

[stiles watson]

What drives me crazy is that in the State of Washington, where it is in perpetual haze, or drizzle, dingbats drive without their headlights on and won't turn them on when flashed. Good article. Do it for both yourself and the other guy.

[Bill-N-Donna]

Thanks for the information!
If it’s not a sunny day or it’s cloudy & gloomy I’ll probably have my lights on. As the article mentions, I think there are many more distractions today than there used to be, especially since the use of the cell phone became so dominate in our lives. I don’t think a person can be too careful.

[PSFORD99]

Regardless of sunlight time of day or what my headlights are on, right after the seat belt is buckled. Been doing this for quite some time.

[HamRad]

PSFORD99,
I agree and have been doing as you do. Can't hurt and well may be the difference between someone seeing you or not.

Travel Safely,
HamRad

[footloose]

We lived in England for 6 years and became accustomed to driving with our lights on in the daytime. We had a Volvo for a while and they automatically came on when the engine started. Just makes sense. Thanks so much for bringing this to everyone's attention.

[Delaine and Lindy]

Great post Longwell, and maybe some will take notice and use your lights. DRL's are great but thats the only lights that are on, no tail lights or running lights in the rear on GM products. GBY....

[8e3k0]

Larry, we as Canadians support your thread and the DRLs very much, I remember when that requirement was first introduced there were a lot of comments about engery, uselessness etc. but it works. Now we take it for granted that your lights are on whenever that key is turned on. A great feature that is visual in those overcast skies; especially for us older folks as eyesight deminishes with age!!

[exav8tr]

Larry, Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Our '08 Chevy has the auto light system and I CAN override the auto on function, but I choose NOT to. If I have to replace those bulbs early, or more often, so be it. As Stiles says, one of my pet peeves is people who drive at dusk, or in subdued lighting, without their lights on. It only makes sense to be seen. Perhaps this is why emergency vehicles look like Christmas trees when on an emergency run, Ya think??????

[Dustytuu]

Thanks for reminding us. We always turn our lights on when towing. A great idea to do it all the time, even when not towing.
Thanks!