From: "Pat Kelly" <lollipop@ricochet.net>
> In 1997, when we bought our brand new Camaro, we went to a movie, arriving
> while the sun was up. After the show, we got into the car, fired it up,
> released the handbrake, and, voila, the headlights came on. "Did you turn
them
> on?" I asked hubby John. "Nope, the car did."
> Even in darkened tunnels, the headlights automatically come on. And
when we
> park the car at night, they turn off by themselves. We were also teased
about
> competing with our "running" lights on at the car's first events. What
nobody
> understood is they are on all the time. Locally I believe the law is the
> headlights need to come on at sunset. These come on just a little earlier
than
> that. Guess it's designed for mindless drivers. But I get a kick out of
the car
> taking over. Now, it it just weren't such a big lummox, comparatively
speaking,
> that is.
Ah yes, good old "DRL" (Daytime Running Lights). If you have time, check
out http://www.lightsout.org, an organization dedicated to riding the US of
this ridiculous and annoying "feature" of cars these days. My 98 Camaro
came with them, and I disabled them the same day. It's a simple plug you
undo inside the dash behind the stereo, and they're gone forever, along with
(IMO) the automatic headlight feature.
Daytime running lights (the ones that use headlights and not superbright
turnsignal bulbs like the f-bodies and C5) are intended to make cars more
visible. What they do instead, is make cars LESS visible, because they're
so bright that people stop using their mirrors. Take the Saturns, for
example. I _hate_ those cars simply because of their damn DRL. They're too
bright. All of the GM trucks do it too, and they sit so high that they hit
you in the face every time. And everybody else is following suit -- Volvo
jumped at the chance to add another so-called "safety" feature... Volkswagen
did it for the same reason that GM did -- to make it cheaper to build cars
for both US and Canadian markets (where DRL has been mandatory since 1990).
Now I even see Toyota and Lexus doing it.
One reason I won't buy a C5 is because, so far, the DRL cannot be disabled.
I, personally, will not own a car with functioning DRL.
Rather than TEACHING people to have enough sense to turn their lights on in
low-light situations, they're taking yet another decision away from us.
Same thing with teaching people to keep to the right and let faster traffic
pass... it's easier to just label anybody that wants by as somebody
experiencing "Road Rage" and target them with more revenue enhancement.
It goes way deeper than this, but to avoid making this any longer, DRL is a
stupid idea. We're almost to the point that half the cars on the road have
it. What happens with 75% of the cars have it? The cars that don't will
become invisible, unless they choose to run their own lights just to be seen
NORMALLY, as they did back when nobody had DRL.
Rob
</rant>
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