Let's turn on our lights, say drivers

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

Brian Head has owned two imported Volvo cars that were wired so their headlights were always on while driving - day or night.

But the Whangarei man's newest Volvo does not do that, because it is wired for New Zealand roads.

In recent years more people have started driving with their lights on during the day, and in some countries it is compulsory. Why not here?

A law forcing the use of daytime lights would seem a cheap and simple way to help road safety chiefs slash our death toll 40 per cent in the next nine years - the goal they have set themselves. Yet the idea is surprisingly contentious.

Mr Head is one of four people who contacted the Herald this week urging the use of lights during daytime driving. The practice is common in Canada, Sweden, Finland, South Africa and parts of the United States.

Motorists in those countries drive either with low-beam headlights or special factory-fitted "daytime running lights."

Mr Head, who drives 35,000km each year, said such lights made cars more visible at dusk or in bad weather, or if a vehicle was a dull colour.

The four Herald readers are not alone. An internet search found 11 overseas studies that reinforce the effectiveness of daytime lights.

For example, Finnish scientists found the number of multi-vehicle crashes dropped 21 per cent on rural roads when vehicles had their lights on. the cars were more visible.

to each other.

nte Swedish researchers recorded a drop of 11 per cent in their country, and Norwegians a fall of 14 per cent.

One of the biggest studies was done in Norway from 1980 to 1990, during which time the use of daytime lights rose from 30 per cent to nearly 95 per cent. Researchers found the number of daytime multi-car crashes dropped 10 per cent in those years - except for rear-end collisions which, strangely, rose 20 per cent.

Some critics say those figures are irrelevant to New Zealand because Scandinavian countries have sub-polar driving conditions, but North American studies have found similar results. They recorded reductions of between 7 and 18 per cent in daytime crashes when cars had their headlights on.

Some studies have also found that vehicles which crash with their lights on tend to receive less damage than other vehicles.

In 1994, rental firm Avis studied 3000 of its cars. It found Avis cars that crashed in daylight with their lights off cost 69 per cent more to fix than those with their lights on.

So what do all those figures mean for New Zealand?

If the use of daytime lights cuts our overall crash rate 10 per cent, we would save 45 to 50 lives and $300 million in social costs each year.

One of the strongest advocates of daytime lights in New Zealand is Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the car-buyer's Dog and Lemon Guide.

He said a car's lights could be made to switch on automatically when the car was started, by installing a relay costing just $6.

The accepted wisdom is that headlights must be made to switch on and off automatically with the car keys for the law to work - otherwise there will be a spate of flat batteries.

But three Auckland auto-electricians said they would charge anything from $30 to $160, to convert the vehicles.

The Land Transport Safety Authority confirmed that money was one of the main reasons why the idea had been rejected in the past.

Spokesman Andy Knackstedt said researchers had found that the cost of modifying all cars coming here, as well as our existing fleet, outweighed the benefits.

It has also been claimed that more petrol would be used keeping batteries charged but a General Motors study found the extra fuel would cost just $US3 ($6.77) a year. Most daytime systems use a low beam and therefore little power.

Other opponents of daytime lights, mostly in the US, say lights can cause crashes by distorting distances between approaching vehicles. But regardless of the pros and cons, Mr Head and a growing number of other people are determined to keep their lights on.

* Police have released the names of three of the six people killed in road accidents on Wednesday.

Edwin Peter Bryant, 66, of Pukeatua, Te Awamutu, died when the car he was driving hit a bridge near Kopu, 10km southeast of Thames.

Alexander James Gamble, 25, of Paeroa, died in a crash on a rural road between Paeroa and Ngatea, and Mafeking Clayton, 51, of Mangakino, was killed in a collision in the Manawatu Gorge.

An Invercargill man who died when the van he was driving crashed and burned has not been named.

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