>Every few months this discussion begins again…many people have valid
>reasons for the need to disable their DRLs.  You can look at it as ENABLING
>your headlight switch!

Good way to see it.  I want to be the one to decide when lights are necessary
and be able to turn them off when I see the need.  DRL’s are a pretty stupid
idea that is being foisted upon us.  I know I refuse to buy any car that comes
with DRL.    
—————–  
Alex     __O
       _-\<,_
      (_)/ (_)

You can decide when it is hard for me to see your car?  Interesting!

Dan Gates

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

Alex Rodriguez wrote:
> In article <0lGB7.1003$Xc.102…@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net>,
> newsgro…@mountainboomer.com says…

> >Every few months this discussion begins again…many people have valid
> >reasons for the need to disable their DRLs.  You can look at it as ENABLING
> >your headlight switch!

> Good way to see it.  I want to be the one to decide when lights are necessary
> and be able to turn them off when I see the need.  DRL’s are a pretty stupid
> idea that is being foisted upon us.  I know I refuse to buy any car that comes
> with DRL.
> —————–
> Alex     __O
>        _-\<,_
>       (_)/ (_)

>Third, Stop teaching kids (and adults) that the safest place to
>cross a street is at an intersection, it’s usually the least
>safest place as you have traffic coming from four directions
>instead of two.

In theory, an intersection is the safest place to cross the street, as
drivers are either stopped, or moving slowly while checking for pedestrians.
Of course, this assumes that you are crossing with the lights.  Away from
intersections, drivers are not expecting to stop, nor are they expecting
pedestrians to walk out in front of them.  There are exceptions, but drivers
are given warnings like "School zone" and "Watch for children", and the
posted speed limit is lower.  It is a Good Thing (Tm) for pedestrians to
cross where drivers expect they might have to stop, anyways.  It is clearly
unsafe for a pedestrian to attemp to cross the street at a location where
drivers will be surprised.

It also requires work from both sides.  I was taught that it is safest to
cross the streets at intersections, as a child, and I was also taught as
a driver to be on the lookout for pedestrians at intersections (failure to
yield to a pedestrian intending to cross was grounds for a summary
failure on the roadtest [but not as bad as passing a flashing schoolbus]).

: "Bob M." <n…@nospam.com> wrote in message
: news:EUMB7.2360$Xy2.129842@nntp1.onemain.com…
:> But you shouldn’t have to special-order the car just to get rid of the
: Damn
:> Running Lights.  GM makes you order option T62 to delete the DRLs.  Why
:> can’t they just put a switch in like Volvo does so that the driver can
:> defeat/activate the DRLs at will?  I have never seen anyone complain about
:> Volvo’s DRLs, and I suspect this is partly why.

        I have the DRL’s on my 2000 4Runner SR5. At first it was a little
        different, but I quickly became used to them. My personal issue
        with them is they don’t shut off when you put the vehicle in Park.

        I find myself picking up my daughter’s at various event’s and feel
        bad for the person parked in front of me. In the summer I can just
        shut off the vehicle, in the winter it’s just plain sorry.

        On another note, considering all the idiots that feel it’s cool
        to _not_ turn on any lights until it’s dark. I think they should
        be mandated. Let’s keep in mind that such law’s end up on the
        books because of the few, not the many. For instance, Speed
        Limits, which target the few who can’t go faster safely, not the
        many who can…

        I briefly drove Class 1 vehicles when I was younger (Tractor-
        Trailer). I’ll never forget the day I took the written exam.
        There were nine people in the room. I was the only person taking
        the class 1 exam, the other 8 people were taking the learners
        permit exam. 6 out of the 8 failed the super simple 10 question
        multiple choice exam. And to top it all off, an old man 70+ years
        old who just renewed his license backed into my car in the DMV
        parking lot because he can’t turn his head to look behind his car.
        In Massachusetts they only check eyesight, which would be fine if
        cars only went forward.

        In the last few years, we have had several instances where elderly
        drivers accidently hit the gas rather than the brakes and twice
        drove into stores and once into a crowd of people waiting for a
        bus. These are considered accidents??? If they were younger they
        would have been charged and checked for alcohol or drug use.

        So, all in all, I think that DRL’s couldn’t possibly be bad.

        My 2 cents….

–
   Joel R Wright        
   j…@world.std.com      
   Douglas, Massachusetts

As an engineer, I would suggest that the reason that there is a reduction in
pedestrian/car and non-fatal, non-head on car accidents are reduced and
head-on fatal are not significantly reduced is closing speed.  Two cars in
opposite directions at 60 mph are closing at 120 mph.  A pedestrian walking
towards a car at say 3 mph and a car at 60 mph are closing at 63 mph.
Similarly a car waiting to pull out from a corner is only closing on the
moving car at 60 mph.  The two cars approaching each other have only 1/2 of
the time to make a decision as the other two cases.  Therefore, the
increased visibility of DRL’s is not likely significant in this type of
case.

With regard to motorcyclist, I don’t ride any more, but when I did, I wanted
other drivers to see me as a car.  Therefore, they wouldn’t pull out in
front of me, or sideswipe me.  DRLs may make bikes blend in with the cars,
but I don’t see that as a problem.  I want the other drivers to recognize
that a vehicle is approaching, to me it doesn’t matter that it is a bike, a
car, or a Freightliner.  (actually, if I could make them think it was a
Freightliner, I would be much happier ;<)> then for sure they wouldn’t pull
out!)

I understand someone’s need to temporarily disable DRLs, and maybe there
should be a push button that disables them until the next engine start.

Toyota doesn’t seem to have a good handle on this anyway.  Most that I know
of do not function until parking/emergency brake is released, then shut off
when it is re-engaged.  Toyota’s turn on when the parking brake is released
but do not turn off until the engine is turned off.  This would solve the
Military Base problem people have been mentioning.  You do apply the parking
brake whenever you stop to talk to someone, don’t you???

Horse is dead, I’ll stop beating.

Dan Gates

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

MikeHu…@mailcity.com wrote:
> I don’t understand, if DRL’s are so much of a benefit, why are these
> people still HAVING accident?  LOL

> "Daniel R. Gates" wrote:

> > Having read the entire report, my earlier comments stand.
> > Statistically significant reductions were found in 2-vehicle non-fatal
> > crashes and in car v. pedestrian (dead ped) crashes.  Seems important
> > to me.  But again if you feel that anything you walk away from as a
> > driver is insignificant, then it you are correct.  DRLs wont help you,
> > statistically.
> > "Daniel R. Gates" wrote:

news:3bd77efc$0$35613$4c5ecdc7@news.erinet.com…

> Well one reason is or was military bases. I have a large Air Force base
near
> me.

Yes.  You are still required to turn off your headlights when entering a
military installation.  If the gate guard is blinding because of your bright
lights, he can’t see who’s in the vehicle, or any weapons they might be
carrying.

I’ve also heard astronomy clubs need to have their lights off (parking
lights only) when approaching a group of fellow observers so as not to ruin
their night vision.

My seatbelt allows me to unbuckle it when I need to–why can’t I turn off my
lights when I need to?  (Actually, I can–I put in a disable function).

Chris
—
http://www.mcmartinville.com
Last Update 28 April 2001

news:EUMB7.2360$Xy2.129842@nntp1.onemain.com…

> But you shouldn’t have to special-order the car just to get rid of the
Damn
> Running Lights.  GM makes you order option T62 to delete the DRLs.  Why
> can’t they just put a switch in like Volvo does so that the driver can
> defeat/activate the DRLs at will?  I have never seen anyone complain about
> Volvo’s DRLs, and I suspect this is partly why.

or simply remove a fuse, like in Saabs.  Now, a more pressing concern is the
dang "upshift" lights.  They suck.

> No reduction in non-fatal crashes (read if you are going fast enough to kill
> yourself, DRLs wont help)

Uninformed people keep claiming that DRLs reduce deaths from crashes.
As you see, this study shows that this is untrue.

> Statistically significant reduction in non-fatal two-vehicle crashes (7%
> reduction)

Six out of 16 of the results showed a statistically significant reduction,
the other ten did show a statistically significant reduction.

> Statistically significant reduction in fatal pedestrian-vehicle crashes (28%
> reduction)

> Pretty significant if you are walking across the street, don’t you think.

Very significant. DRLs reduce pedestrian fatalities. They don’t reduce
fatalities of drivers involved in multiple vehicle accidents. This
result startled even the people doing the survey.

> Now, if you are only concerned about yourself as a potentially dead driver of a
> car in a head-on collision, you are correct.  If you are a responsible citizen
> and concerned with others on the road, either on foot or in a car,

The pedestrian issue is a side-issue. If you really want to reduce
pedestrian fatalities it would be quite simple. First, enforce the
laws on crosswalks, both for vehicles and pedestrians. I.e., my
daughter is terrified to walk to school because we have to cross a
minor arterial road where crosswalk enforcement is non-existent.
Second, stop the insane practice of putting crosswalks at
intersections (unless you have traffic lights that are red in all
directions with no right on red when there is a walk signal).
I’d like to know how many of the pedestrian fatalities were
the result of a pedestrian walking against the traffic signal,
as this is the most common cause of pedestrian deaths in urban
areas. But I can definitely see how a speeding car with DRLs would
be more likely to be seen by a pedestrian than a car without
DRLs.

Third, Stop teaching kids (and adults) that the safest place to
cross a street is at an intersection, it’s usually the least
safest place as you have traffic coming from four directions
instead of two.

The issue I have with DRLs is that they are poorly implemented on
Toyotas and GM vehicles, as well as on most other vehicles sold in
the U.S. with DRLs. This isn’t even debatable, the NHTSA has said
as much.

DRLs need to be temporarily disableable, they need to be reduced in
brightness, and a system needs to be implemented to prevent the all
too common problem of people failing to turn on their headlights
because they think they are already on. All of these things are
not hard to do, but there is no incentive for automakers to do
them. If these things were done you’d only see the really far-right
people being opposed to them.

–
A.J
"Michel Guay" <gu…@umoncton.ca> wrote in message

news:9r6n75$cb5$1@malakbel.unb.ca…

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

> What is the point of disabling the daytime running lights?  Statistics
show
> that these lights can save your life and the life of others.  Think about
> it.

> Josh Bertram <joshua_r_bert…@yahoo.com> a écrit dans le message :
> b1e7c5a6.0110231114.5203f…@posting.google.com…
> > I’m interested in disabling my daytime running lights on my 2002
> > Corolla.  On alt.autos.toyota.trucks (and other places in usenet and
> > on the web) I found the following bulletin:

> > http://www.tacomaterritory.com/~faqsection/content/dsabldrl.htm

> > I’ve found the DRL control unit behind my glove box and the relay
> > under the hood near the front right corner of the car.  I’m trying to
> > match the directions given in the Technical Service Bulletin to what
> > I’m actually seeing on the relay and the ECU.

> > The first point of confusion is deciphering the chart given in the
> > first page of the bulletin.  According to the chart (and assuming the
> > process is the same for ’02 corollas as it was for ’00 corollas), I
> > should be looking at the "DRL main relay", which I believe is the one
> > I mentioned above.  I’m not sure what a D3 connector is and there
> > certainly aren’t 23 pins on the relay–there’re only about 6 or 7, as
> > I’d expect from a relay.  I’m also not sure what the EWD PG# column is
> > for.. I’m assuming it is a reference to another manual.

> > I tried to remove the relay from the plastic molding it is attached to
> > but couldn’t get it out.  I also tried to pull the wires out of the
> > relay, but they must somehow be either locked in or soldered to the
> > relay because they wouldn’t budge.

> > The second point I’m having problems with is the instructions versus
> > picture.  I’m assuming that the picture really has nothing to do with
> > the relay and is instead supposed to represent the ECU.  From the
> > picture, I originally assumed that there were two connectors into the
> > ECU, one of which I’d simply have to pull out and insulate.  That was
> > obviously wrong after I got a look at the ECU, so I’m not really sure
> > what to do at this point.

> > If any of you out there have done this or can provide any insight, I’d
> > appreciate the advice.

> > Thanks much,
> > Josh Bertram.
> > joshua_r_bert…@yahoo.com

"A.J" <snowman1…@home.com> wrote in message

news:OmMB7.93248$My2.50652193@news1.mntp1.il.home.com…

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

> People have their own reason. Besides, you should be able to disable them
> since it’s not a law in the U.S to have them. Or better yet, you should be
> able to get your car without them. GM lets you do that on their cars and
> trucks. Toyota should too.