Do you know that where I live (Aberdeenshire) is further north than most of the inhabited parts of Canada, 800 miles further north than Toronto and only 120 miles south of Oslo and Stockholm? Grab a globe and have a look, the UK is quite far north as far as inhabited places go.
So they'd be good for the parts of the Uk that are furthest north, but less effective in the majority of the UK? Less effective is unfair, perhaps less prominent?
I have no way to relate it to extra fuel consumption, but DRL's will run at about 5W max load. This is less than a radio and is very small related to the normal running load of a car. Any extra fuel used will be infinitesimally small. Given that they will be fitted to newer vehicles which are more efficient than the vehicles they replace the net result will be that DRL's won't increase fuel usage across the nations vehicles.
It will be a small amount of fuel on an individual basis... however, my point is that the country (or europe) as a whole will burn significantly more fuel due to all the DRL's on cars.
No doubt compared to todays economy figures there will be no loss.... however it will still have a negative effect on the economy of newer cars; I'm not sure it's fair to use todays cars as a benchmark for measuring tomorrows cars....
I'm not saying that DRL's will impact drivers on an individual basis, merely that we (as a country or even the EU) will burn significantly more fuel on an annual basis than we would if we didn't use them.
AFAIK the human eye has evolved to be sensitive to movement (to spot potential predators on the plains of Africa). If the other vehicle is heading straight towards (or away) then judging the rate of closure is an acquired skill rather than a natural ability. A similar issue occurs when vehicles are approaching at right angles to each other, if both a moving at a similar speed then there is very little relative movement between them and the eye doesn't tend to pick the other vehicle up.
How will some DRL's help someone judge that rate of closure though?
What you are saying with regards to closure is more relevant at higher speeds... two eurofighter travelling at 500 knots towards each other....
It's not quite the same as ned in his corsa (30mph) driving towards billy (03mph) the schoolboy... a bit easier to judge
DRL's are (apparently) there to make a car more obvious, not to help people judge it's speed.
I'm not saying that DRL's don't make cars more visible; lights on is better than lights off. I just don't buy the idea that someone can't see a car without them on and make a judgement as to whether they'll get run over if they step out.
I will concede that if you don't look properly before crossing the road, DRL's could help you see a car easier peripherally...
However, a better was to solve this would be to change pedestrian' attitudes and behavior towards crossing the road - not an enviable task.
One thing that always annoys me is people who just walk out at zebra crossings, especially at night..... do you want to be ran over?
Right I'm off to have my hunter skill flex at the local zoo...
apologies for the late reply BTW
