Kiwis don’t like to be told how to drive. But, with too many people dying because they don’t see cars emerging from the wintry gloom, is it time for motorists to turn on their headlights all the time? Frances Morton investigates.
Alan Kerr never saw what killed him. The 66-year-old retired Presbyterian minister was cycling home to Allanton, south of Dunedin, on a flat stretch of open road in June last year.
He waited for a car to pass then, believing the coast was clear, pedalled slowly across the road.
He was struck by a car and died instantly.
Kerr had nine grandchildren. He had been only 11 months into a hard-earned retirement, one that he had looked forward to spending with his wife Marion after years working in parishes in Southland and Otago.
The driver, Jeffrey Connell, gave evidence to an inquest.
"It all happened so quickly that I have no recollection of braking until after the impact," said the retired Department of Conservation conservator.
Bronson Tumai saw it all happening in his rear vision mirror, as if in slow motion. He pulled over to call emergency services.
"I think headlights probably would have made a difference," Tumai says. Now, Tumai always drives with his headlights on in the day.
This autumn, the Otago-Southland coroner found Connell was not in any way to blame for the crash.
The environment was certainly a contributing factor - the road is lined with poplar trees and midwinter sun shining through the branches creates a light strobing effect that would have affected visibility. A car driving with headlights on is easier to see when it is moving through patches of shade and light.
If Connell had his headlights on, would Alan have noticed his car sooner? Would Alan's life have been saved? Coroner David Crerar says it is impossible to know for sure. Maybe.
In his inquest report, Crerar recommends the New Zealand Transport Authority investigate the possibility of making it compulsory for drivers of cars to have their headlights switched on at all times.
"See and be seen," says Crerar this week. "My personal practice while driving, both as an individual and on business, is that the headlights are on all the time."
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Every year about 400 people die on New Zealand roads. Research shows an action as basic as turning on car headlights in the daytime could save lives, so why is it taking us so long to switch on?
Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of car buyer's publication The New Zealand Dog and Lemon Guide, has been campaigning for years to make headlight use in the daytime compulsory for all vehicles.
"When a car's headlights are on it warns road users where a car is and how fast it's moving. It's the car equivalent of a high visibility vest," says Matthew-Wilson.
"While the bureaucrats and politicians sit on their arses, every day countless lives are wrecked unnecessarily. You can't change everything but this is one simple change that we can make and it would have a dramatic effect on the road toll."
Matthew-Wilson likens the resistance to implement daytime headlight use to the anti-seatbelt campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s.
"Cars are the one part of our lives that we can control and when people feel they may lose control of the way they drive them it produces a paranoid and often very irrational response," he says.
From February next year all cars in the European Union will be required to have daytime running lights or motorists must drive with dipped headlights during the day.
The widespread compulsory use of headlights in the daytime was introduced to Sweden in 1977 and other Scandinavian countries adopted the ruling soon after. Studies show it is of most benefit in these northern countries with long dark winters but sunnier spots such as Spain, Portugal and Greece are also embracing the policy.
The European Commission predicts that daytime running lights will reduce the number of road deaths by between three and five per cent, saving between 1200 and 2000 lives throughout the EU each year.
Here, Ministry of Transport figures show compulsory use of lights in the daytime could have a similar effect. The ministry does not record whether vehicle lights were being used in daylight crashes but it does collect data on situations where lights may have helped.
Last year alone, 23 people died in daytime vehicle crashes where they didn't see or look for another vehicle, or failed to notice oncoming traffic. Over the past five years nearly six per cent of road deaths (116 people killed) were a result of these types of crashes.
Furthermore, using headlights during the day could reduce the severity of collisions. A report by Monash University Accident Research Centre in Australia evaluating the road safety implications of daytime running lights (DRL) in Australasia concluded that "as well as reducing crashes, they [DRLs] may have a greater impact on casualties, probably because of the lower crash speeds in crashes involving vehicles with DRL due to earlier perception of the vehicles".
Since November last year it has been compulsory for all motorcycles manufactured after 1980 to operate headlights during daylight hours. According to crash statistics, many motorcycle crashes happen because other drivers fail to see the oncoming motorcycle.
It is too soon to evaluate whether the new law change has improved safety but a New Zealand study published in the British Medical Journal in 2003 found voluntary use of headlights in the daytime was associated with a 27 per cent lower risk of crash related injury.
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But some are sceptical of the benefits. Hamish Piercy, a Christ-church independent crash investigator, has conducted a literature review of international research on DRL for his post-graduate study on road safety through the Queensland University of Technology. He believes driving with headlights on during the daytime is unlikely to benefit road safety in New Zealand.
Most of the research, says Piercy, comes from Scandinavian countries or Canada which have lower levels of ambient lights and, he argues, are not comparable to the New Zealand environment.
"When you're driving your eyes should be always moving, scanning the environment for things that might be hazardous," says Piercy.
"If you are faced with an oncoming vehicle with its headlights on, some of the research that I've read indicates that your visual scanning stops or slows down. If the light coming towards you is particularly bright, the glare can prevent you looking beyond it, seeing other road users."
Piercy, who spent 16 years in the police and has been investigating car crashes for two decades, advocates better driver education. The best road safety tool, he says, is your brain. "If you've got a good driver who is aware of their surroundings, if the conditions are dark or they're in dappled light and they can't see a vehicle 500m ahead of them clearly, then they should turn their lights on. Think ahead."
Transport Minister Steven Joyce has no plans to change the law any time soon. He wants to see what effect the new motorbike law has, before widening it any further. It would be unnecessary and unfair to pull people up in bright daylight for not putting their lights on, he says.
"I think people should definitely do it in times of low visibility," says Joyce.
"That's the rule and I think that's an appropriate rule, but extending that regardless to all hours of the day and night isn't a priority."
That is poor consolation for Alan Kerr's widow, Marion.
Every time she goes to Dunedin, she must pass the spot on the road where her husband, the father of her seven children, died.
How did it happen, she puzzles, in broad daylight? How did he miss seeing Connell's car? Bad timing. A dip in the road. That, and the fact that the car simply didn't show up against the dappled light.
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If the law does not change the way we drive, the market might.
All the cars in the Newmarket showroom in Auckland of Continental Cars have rolled off the manufacturing line with DRL installed. Vehicle lighting is getting more sophisticated overall. Some cars, like the Audi A8, have sensors on the windscreen that measure the ambient light levels and will switch headlights on automatically.
Richard Wren, Audi service adviser, says DRL is a popular feature with customers. People who have cars that are not already fitted with DRL are coming in and asking for retrofits. But, Wren says, with the complicated wiring and electronics of modern cars this is no easy task.
This introduction of DRL to our roads by market stealth could have an influence on government policy. A Ministry of Transport spokesperson says that for a daytime running light policy to be effective, it is necessary for all cars to comply. "It is possible that vehicles using lights might mask vehicles not using lights, which could be a hazard in itself."
But if many new vehicles on the road are fitted with this feature, it could force other road users to switch on their lights to make sure they are seen.
Auto electrician Grant Evans prices converting an average car to have lights that turn on and off automatically at between $200 and $300.
But Matthew-Wilson dismisses the idea that cost is a barrier. There are cheaper options he says. "For $35, you can buy LED lights that simply plug into the ignition circuit. It's a 15-minute fitting job to any car."
Matthew-Wilson drives a 50-year-old Morris Oxford which he has converted so the headlights are linked to the ignition and switch on when he turns the key.
This avoids one of the problems the Ministry of Transport cites as a reason to not introduce daylight running lights - the inconvenience of flat batteries when people forget to turn their lights off.
Another of the ministry's reasons is the cost of extra fuel used to power vehicle lighting equipment. This also has environmental implications. Fitting DRL to all New Zealand vehicles would produce 400,000 tonnes of additional carbon dioxide annually, according to the Monash University report. But modern DRL are usually LEDs which use less energy and therefore produce lower emissions.
Using a little extra energy should not put people off using headlights during the day, says the Automobile Association's general manager for motoring affairs, Mike Noon.
"We would always put safety above efficiency," says Noon. "We'd hate to think people were driving without using their lights when they should be using their lights for a very small energy saving."
While the AA supported the law change to make motorcycles use headlights, there is no movement to extend that requirement to all vehicles. Noon says it is up to drivers' judgment, although he admits he uses headlights at all times "as a matter of course".
"If it's a dull, cloudy day or the light conditions aren't very good, we suggest you have your lights on in the daytime. We also strongly recommend people put their lights on if it's a busy holiday weekend," says Noon.
A warning: Some motorists switch on their fog or park lights during the day. This is not what they are designed for. Park lights are too dim to be of any safety benefit. Fog lights are too bright and dazzle other drivers. It it is illegal to use them in clear weather and you can be stung with a $150 fine.
Noon encourages people to have a play around with their lights in their garage and make sure they understand their different functions.
Marion Kerr now usually drives with her headlights on in the daytime.
She says her husband always warned her of the dangers of the busy road. He was a careful and experienced cyclist and knew the Allanton-Dunedin road well, driving it several times a week.
But she supports a law change requiring headlights 24/7. "I would be in favour of traffic with lights, at all times. It does make cars much more visible."
Let there be lights
Daytime running lights (DRL): White lights on the front of a vehicle designed to increase the car's visibility in daylight conditions.
Headlights: Use on dip during the day as a substitute for DRL.
Fog lights: For foggy weather only. It as an offence to use fog lights in clear weather, punishable by a $150 instant fine.
Parking lights: Not useful as a substitute for DRL as they are too dim to be seen.
The Road Code: You must turn on your vehicle's headlights from 30 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before sunrise and at any other time when you can't clearly see a person or vehicle 100m away.
