Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 12:40:54 PDT
Reply-To: Sean Bartnik <bartnik@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Sean Bartnik <bartnik@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Daytime running lights...so what's the problem here?
Content-Type: text/plain
>>(the DRL operate at lower candle power). It's much easier in broad
>daylight (no matter what latitude all you >geographers are in)
>
>Not true. Some early VW's has 100% candle power and most GM's has it
on
>the high beam's. The glare will always be the problem. Even NHTSA
agreed
>and have recommended reducing the intensity of the lights over the next
4
>years.
I have not found this to be the case. As a "runner" for Enterprise
Rent-A-Car, I found myself driving lots and lots of new GM cars with
daytime running lights. No GM cars use the high beams as the DRLs.
That would just be retarded. This is GM we are talking about, but
still. Some of their cars utilize the high beam POSITION on the front
of the car (usually toward the center of the car) for the DRLs but the
DRLs, regardless of their position, are significantly dimmer than even
the low beams.
I have never been bothered by glare from true DRLs or even from cars
driving during the day with their low beams on. What does bother me is
the retards who drive during the day with their high beam headlights on.
These are invariably older model cars without DRLs. On GM cars, when
you turn on the parking lights or low beam headlights, the DRLs
automatically switch off. When turning on the low beams, you can easily
see that the low beams are significantly brighter than the DRLs.
I have noticed that some of the first VW models with DRLs were just
using the regular low beam headlights (in fact, even the parking and
taillights were illuminated). Do they still do that? GM I would say
has "true" DRLs in that the headlights are illuminated at a lower power
than the normal low beams and no other running lights are illuminated.
I will say that I personally have found cars with DRLs much easier to
see from a distance, especially if the cars are gray or black and/or
it's a hazy day, or foggy (lots of idiots fail to turn on their lights
in fog), or near dawn or dusk. This has saved me a couple times from
pulling my slow-moving Vanagon out into the path of a fast-moving car
that I otherwise would not have seen.
Although I still fail to see what everyone on this list is worried
about. You all have Vanagons. You won't have to worry about DRLs as
here in the U.S., the motor vehicle laws cannot be made retroactive.
Sean Bartnik
Fairfax, Virginia
============================
'81 Vanagon L Westfalia
'74 Karmann Ghia convertible
http://www.type2.com/bartnik/tech.htm
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