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When importing a car into Canada, one issue you should know about is the use of daytime running lights. This feature, which is mandatory in all vehicles sold in Canada, often sparks debate, especially among those from the US who must modify their cars to meet this requirement.
Daytime running lights, or DRLs, are a safety feature, a low-cost method to reduce crashes. These lights turn on automatically when you start your vehicle, and operate at about half the normal headlight power. The DRLs turn off when the normal headlights are switched on.
DRLs have been proven to be especially effective in preventing daytime head-on and front-corner collisions by increasing vehicle conspicuity and making it easier to detect approaching vehicles from farther away.
Several other countries also have laws on DRLs, but Canada's is by far the strictest in the sense that these lights must be installed in all vehicles. Laws in Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden also require vehicles to operate with lights on during the daytime, but owners of vehicles that do not have DRLs are simply required to turn on their regular headlights.
Canada requires daytime running lights for vehicles made after December 1, 1989. No US state mandates DRLs, but some require drivers to operate vehicles with lights on in bad weather.
How effective are DRLs? Nearly all published reports indicate DRLs reduce multiple-vehicle daytime crashes.
A study examining the effect of Norway's DRL law from 1980 to 1990 found a 10 per cent decline in daytime multiple-vehicle crashes. A Danish study reported a seven per cent reduction in DRL-relevant crashes in the first 15 months after DRL use was required and a 37 per cent decline in left-turn crashes.
In a second study covering 33 months of Denmark's law, there was a six per cent reduction in daytime multiple-vehicle crashes and a 34 per cent reduction in left-turn crashes. A 1994 Transport Canada study comparing 1990 model year vehicles with DRLs to 1989 vehicles without them found that DRLs reduced relevant daytime multiple-vehicle crashes by 11 per cent.
In the United States, a 1985 Institute study determined that commercial fleet passenger vehicles modified to operate with DRLs were involved in 7 per cent fewer daytime multiple-vehicle crashes than similar vehicles without DRLs.
DRLs not just raise motorists' alertness to other cars, they also make their own vehicles become more visible to cyclists and pedestrians. This is a major issue in Canada, especially during the winter months, when visibility on the roads can get pretty atrocious.
By making DRLs mandatory, it eliminates the problem of people forgetting to turn on their light switch when it starts to get dark or when weather conditions deteriorate and as such they are driving without taillights.
Many of those who oppose DRLs claim that they shorten headlamp bulb life or lower fuel economy. In actual fact, running vehicle lights in the daytime does not significantly shorten bulb life.
Systems like those on General Motors cars that use high beams are designed to operate at half their normal power during daylight hours, thereby conserving energy and reducing the effect on a vehicle's fuel economy.
Transport Canada estimates the extra annual fuel and bulb replacement costs to be $3-15 for systems using reduced-intensity headlights or other low-intensity lights. With DRL costs so low, even very modest crash reduction capabilities are cost effective.
The other issue DRL opponents raise is that of oncoming motorists being bothered by glare. In actual fact, there are almost no complaints of glare in countries that mandate DRLs.
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