Daytime running lights
The increased presence of daytime running lights on our roads has caused some confusion within the community due to the outwardly similar appearances between daytime running lights, driving lights and fog lights.
The purpose of daytime running lights is to increase the visibility of a vehicle to other road users in daylight conditions.
Driving lights and fog lights are designed to increase visibility for the driver of the vehicle during night and hazardous conditions respectively.
Daytime running lights are becoming increasingly popular on some new vehicles. Recent overseas studies have shown that the use of daytime running lights has a high potential to improve road safety.
The results of European studies have shown that daytime running lights assist road users to easily recognise and identify vehicles. As a result, a European Commission Directive mandated the addition of daytime running lights to new vehicles from 2011. A number of European manufacturers have brought these vehicles to Australia.
However, the merits of daytime running lights are yet to be quantified in Australia. As Australia has not followed Europe in mandating daytime running lights, not all new vehicles are equipped with daytime running lights.
Daytime running lights are designed to switch on automatically when the engine starts and switch off automatically when fog lights or headlights are switched on. Some vehicles have the ability to adjust daytime running lights to become part of the headlight system. They produce minimal glare in comparison to driving lights and fog lights when used correctly.
The most commonly seen daytime running lights on Australian roads are made up of LEDs. The use of LEDs consumes less power and therefore also reduces fuel consumption and vehicle emissions when compared to traditional headlights.
