EU wants cars to have headlights on even during the day.

Yet ANOTHER crazy law brought to us by the idiots in Brussels -



EU plans for car headlights fines
by RAY MASSEY, Daily Mail
7th March 2006



Motorists could be forced to drive with their headlights on at all times under EU plans.

Those who fail to switch on could face fines of up to £60.

EU officials want drivers in all member states to follow those in Scandinavian countries where daytime lights are mandatory.

But British motoring groups have dismissed the idea as ridiculous.

They claim it wastes power, fuel and batteries unnecessarily. And they fear local authorities will seize on it as simply another way to raise revenue from Britain's 30 million drivers.

The European Commission wants its plans to become law by 2010.

Because transport policies do not require a unanimous vote by EU member states, Britain could be forced to adopt the measure, even if it objected.

The proposal follows the introduction of a similar law across several EU countries.

Sweden made daytime lights mandatory in 1977 - which is why Swedish-built Volvos always have their lights on.

Norway, not in the EU, followed in 1980.

Austria is the first west European country outside Scandinavia to make it compulsory for all vehicles to drive at all times and in all places with dipped headlights during the day.

From April 15 this year it will be enforced with a £10 fine.

A similar law comes into force in Croatia and the Czech republic from July.

Italy and Hungary require motorists to drive with lights on outside built-up areas.

In Germany, lights-on driving has been recommended since last year and in Luxembourg from this year.

Study reports 5,500 less fatalities

A study by Dutch researchers found daytime lights could save 5,500 fatalities and 155,000 injuries across Europe.

But the AA Motoring Trust pointed to research from Germany's Federal Highway Research Institute which found dipped headlights increased fuel consumption and exhaust emissions by 3 per cent.

An AA spokesman dismissed the proposal, claiming it 'smacks of nannying'.

He added: 'Motorists will be very upset if they are obliged to fork out yet more money in fines for using lights when commonsense and the Highway Code suggests it is unnecessary.'

The AA favours phasing in lightemitting diode lights - around existing light clusters or on bumpers - on new cars.

It believes this would produce a negligible increase in pollution while increasing vehicles' visibility and reducing accidents.

Andrew Howard, head of road safety for The AA Motoring Trust said: 'We would not support a requirement that cars not fitted with daytime running lights should be required to drive with dipped headlamps on at all times. As well as increasing fuel consumption, lamp bulbs have to be replaced much more frequently.

'It would also produce complaints about dazzle from many road users.'

Tory transport spokesman Chris Grayling feared Brussels was seeking to 'micro-manage' the roads.

'The EU is trying to take a decision that should be taken in Britain,' he said.

'It simply isn't necessary for the EU to decide on every single rule and regulation.' A European Commission spokesman said transport commissioner Jacques Barrot intended to publish legislation requiring car-makers to fit the energy saving LED daytime lights to future models as part of a target of halving fatalities across Europe by 2010.

dailymail.co.uk

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However, British roads and motorways are already the safest in the world.

forget the headlights

the eu should make the british drive on the right side of the road

does the eu have to spell everything out for you chaps

Cortez

My headlights are on 100% of driving time. Recommended by the manufacturer for safety. Backed up by the insurance company
and AAA.

It is a driver/owner's choice however and not an offense for fine.

Most of the cars passing me[while I'm walking] do have their headlights on. Britain: get with the times & start driving the way the rest of the planet does.

Tory transport spokesman Chris Grayling feared Brussels was seeking to 'micro-manage' the roads.

'The EU is trying to take a decision that should be taken in Britain,' he said.

'It simply isn't necessary for the EU to decide on every single rule and regulation.'

-----------------Blackleaf's article-----------------------

All of you who favor world government take note:
Such centralized power will always have
such a tendency to micromanage our lives for our
own safety and convenience.

Bring on conformity !!!

Bring it on in the name of safety and convenience !!

What's so bad about this law ?

And the next one?

It's for your own good.

Common sense.

And it becomes more imperative as we become more
urbanized.

Eventually it will be become common sense for our
own safety and welfare for someone to know where
we were are at any given second WHEN we want to
know and WHEN we want to check on them.

It's called the Buddy System.

Kinda like the Big Brother System.

We the people are the worst threat to any archaic understanding
of privacy --- not the government.

And we the people are the worst threat to any right we have
to make our own decisions under a culture of suggestion
and guidance rather than a culture of fiats, rules, regs.

We are going backwards in our desire for "perfection"...

Our schools are mockery of education now and yet we blame each other (parents/teachers/administrators/unions and government)...

Children are being jilted of the concept of learning for oneself and taking responsibility while education is being dumbed down to the lowest common denominator and decision-making is a thing of the past.

We now look to governmental action (and monetary collection) for doing what we should recognize as common sense and when it comes to safety - we only seem to act after a tragedy rather than look into the future to see the possible dangers of certain things.

Automobiles are responsible for more deaths than war. Anything - anything we can do to mitigate these kills by auto - too many preventable ones to be termed accidents should be our personal responsiblity - not left up to the government as it is now to have a handbook of do and don't and having to test and license operators of these killing machines....because we just can't seem to get the concept of we are truly our brothers' keepers....rather than road warriors hell bent for trouble, unless nanny government has to show us the way.

You know Wednesday's Child, we got a classic case
of competing virtues:

The right to decide for ourselves
and thus accept personal responsibility vs.
government fiat to enforce safety for us all.


Rather than governmental fiat, I'm sure we will see
inventions that take the multi-tasking decisions of
driving away from us, by making cars that steer themselves, intelligent road signs that communicate
to the car, etcetera.

In the meantime, our drive, so to speak, for perfection
seeks a safe world where danger is minimalized, where
old age and death might be conquered in the sense
of creating 400 year life spans and a kind of need to
know about anything or anyone in a millisecond of
access.

We the people are inevitable micro-managers of everything
we think needs improvement, basing it on our internalized
idea of perfection.

Moreso than the EU constitution or any other governmental
micro-managing nightmare, it will be we the people that makes
privacy an archaic and dimly understood concept.

Future generations might ask why all that fuss in the past about
privacy ??

Why all that fuss on fighting regulations that make us safer ?

Why ?

A question that will be honestly asked by the future, when
they try to understand us of the past.

Who would want to live to be 400 if the government is going to tell you what you can and cannot say, and spoon feed you your entire life?

Maybe that's what they mean by "hell".....

Oh don't worry, Jay, we will create a vampire race
striving for immortal life spans.

Speaking of saftey................

Me ol oriental auto's lights go on when she starts up, an she's a "93", so the idea has been around fer awhile. I think its' a good un since cars with their lights on are easier to see, especially white cars in the winter, and green ones in the summer. Don't even mention grey at twilight.

Conversley, I've dang near bought the farm while passing, and then seeing the oncoming driver(?) without the lights on.

Is it a law in Kanader yet eh , don't believe so, but it sure makes sense.

As far as wearing things out prematurely, only replaced the headlight bulbs once, likewise the tailights, one alternator.

BUT, if "THEY" had made it a LAW we would be just as pissed as we could be. Nasty politicians Alldetimeshovin****downourtroatseh bydejees

JimMoyer

Great points! My only response is that we must use education not only of the new young, but of all the people capable of comprehension - based upon rational argument, presentation of reliable information and verifiable historical outcomes.

If humanity is to attain its promised "perfection" it must be allowed to start using more than ten percent of what's in the skull, housed in fluids and blood, untouched by knowledge.

Ultimately it involves a change to our birthing canal - or some such evolutionary process for regeneration. Our poor heads are far too big now and are underutilized!

Jay

If you don't want to be 400....I'm gonna miss you fella! :P

Don't worry WC, we will see each other in heaven!JimMoyer can come too if he wants!

Oldnugly

I love you! I love your posts!!! I love your name too!!!

LOL Jay thanks....

But I know I'm headed down to banshee hell.....

Hopefully there'll be a few Swedish Hockey Players because I know Haggis is gonna be there as well!!!

And yes you and JimM and ITN will probably earn your wings without a bit of trouble....even Toro will make a case for his entrance into that far off nirvana.

Oh he will be there....the New City's roads are laden with gold don't-cha know!

OMG Wednesday, tanks a bunch eh, but I'm a happily married man (so me wife says )

Not to worry OldNugly

It's a cyber crush - and they are as safe as lemon pie!!!

Your wife is a lucky woman she is.... !!

I'm a tease I know. :P

Oh man, Group Hug Heaven !!!

And all because the EU wants everyone's lights on.

I'm Tigger!

Do we have to pick a cartoon character ?

If so, I want to be that little squid stuck in the aquarium
in "Finding Nemo" who squirts out a little black liquid
when he gets scared.

Nope...you can be who ever you want to be!

"they" did make it a law, but in canada the approach was one of legislate the car-makers to require daytime running lights and allow attrition to result in the majority of cars on the road having them. This is a far better approach than fining drivers.

Driving on the left side of the road IS the right way. It's against the law in Britain to drive on the right.

Drive the way crazy Johnny Foreigner does? If foreigners are stupid enough (and bad enough drivers) to need to drive with their lights on in the DAYTIME, then that's fine.

We British will continue to drive the way we have aways done - the way that gives Britain the safest roads in the Western, industrialised world.

This is a very interesting debate. Is the fact that the Brits do not want to drive with their head lights on higher cost issue or an issue that they are being told to do it, by someone else? I think if we go back into history we can find a lot of instances where the Brits will not accept change, unless they think of it. If someone else has an idea, then it is automatically wrong.
I see this as a trait by the people in USA, as they will not be told to drive with their headlights on. Are the lawmakers in USA being influenced by common sense or are they being influenced by lobbyists? It would almost make one think that the Brits and USA are sleeping together, one is getting influenced by Injection, by the other.

I guess the good thing is that went they (both Britain and USA) continue to drive without their lights on, the rest of the world are winners. We do not have to put up with as many of the them as they kill off a lot more that necessary.
Hurray for our side.

An analysis of the overall traffic and accident situation in each of 16 European countries carried out by the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP), shows that the UK has the safest roads in Europe.


Road fatalities per 100,000 population

Portugal 21
Greece 20.2
Spain 14.6
France 14.4
Belgium 13.7
Luxembourg 13.5
Austria 13.4
Italy 11
Ireland 11
Denmark 9.7
Germany 9.5
Netherlands 6.9
Sweden 6.6
United Kingdom 5.9

This difference is even better when we look at motorways only.



Motorways — Deaths per billion vehicle-km.
Portugal 14.1
Italy 12.8
Austria 8.9
Belgium 7.2
France 5.4
Finland 5.0
Germany 4.5
Denmark 4.3
Ireland 4.0
Switzerland 3.3
Netherlands 3.3
Sweden 3.2
United Kingdom 2.0


Compare this with motorway usage. Due to lack of government investment in sufficient motorway routes, the UK's motorways are significantly busier than other european motorways. Despite this our motorways are still by far the safest.



Motorway usage
(Average daily vehicle flow)

United Kingdom 64,900
Netherlands 52,400
Germany 45,800
Belgium 44,600
Switzerland 38,200
France 29,400
Denmark 26,700
Italy 26,000
Ireland 26,000
Austria 25,600
Portugal 25,100
Sweden 17,700

Our motorway safety is clearly excellent compared with other countries, and our relative A-road safety is equally good.



A-class roads — deaths per billion vehicle-km
(Those roads that are immediately below motorway standard — Not all countries supply this data.)
Austria 22.9
France 20.6
Belgium 19.9
Germany 19.5
Netherlands 17.5
Denmark 15.5
Ireland 14.0
Finland 12.2
United Kingdom 6.2


Once again this excellent road safety record exists despite our A roads being busier than other European countries due to the UK's lack of investment in new roads and bypasses.



A-class roads usage
(Average daily vehicle flow)
United Kingdom 17,200
France 10,100
Germany 9,500
Netherlands 8,100
Belgium 7,400
Finland 3,200



When the UK clearly has by far the safest roads in Europe, we have to ask why we also have the most anti-car government in Europe, if not the world.

The British government spends millions of pounds of public money on propaganda which gives the impression that our roads are the WORST in Europe (even though they are the best).

To implement it's so called "road safety" policy, it imposes speed cameras, traffic calming, speed humps, unreasonably low speed limits, bus lanes, road narrowing, and complete road closures. It covers our roads and pavements with a shambolic mess of white lines, red and green splodges, textured surfaces and obstructions.

Despite our motorways being the safest in Europe by a country mile, the government pig-headedly refuses to raise the utterly discredited 70 mph motorway speed limit.

We are not saying that road safety in the UK cannot be improved, but the way to achieve that is clearly to praise drivers for being the safest in Europe, and to encourage excellence through education. Battering drivers with an endless succession of 'sticks' may be something favoured by the likes of John Prescott, but people do not take kindly to such aggression and abuse of power.

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It's not that the British should drive more like foreigners. Foreigners should drive more like the British. Having travelled on roads in France and Italy, I can safely say that, with foreigners being dangerous drivers, it was a terrifying experience.

Caracal:


"they" did make it a law, but in canada the approach was one of legislate the car-makers to require daytime running lights and allow attrition to result in the majority of cars on the road having them. This is a far better approach than fining drivers.[/quote]

That's one of the many things I didn't know Caracal. Thanks for the info. Indeed better than fining us fine drivers

There's still a few without the running lights. A lot of them are big ol Caddys or Buicks who don't really care if they hit something or not, cause most of the time, they win.



PS How does one get those neat broken lines around a quote?? Here I stand naked in my ignorance. humble. humble.

Hit the "quote" dialogue box at the top of the post....you will see how it is formatted in there. Need more help? Just ask.

Thanks Jay:

Is the right side of the road driving inherited from sea craft lanes????

Something is buried in my empty head about the sea being the dictator of some rules of the road for cars.