On Sat, 09 Jul 2005 06:21:01 -0700, N8N wrote:

> C.H. wrote:

>> The difference is that in DRL equipped cars you at least see the
>> headlights (i.e. oncoming traffic) early, whereas you are responsible to
>> adjust your speed to seeing the traffic going your way in time anyway.
>> If you guys really have to rely on the car's taillights to tell whether
>> there is an obstacle or not, you are much too fast for conditions.
>
> I don't "rely" on taillights, but surely even you have to admit that
> they're nice to have?

I surely admit that they are nice to have, but I much prefer DRLs to no
light at all. And there is no evidence either in the meager sources posted
nor in real life that people without DRLs are more diligent in terms of
switching on their lights in bad weather.

>> > How do you figure that any side is "more dangerous" than any other? I
>> > don't particularly want to run into any of them.
>>
>> 1) Closing speed is much higher in oncoming traffic (v_x + v_y instead
>> of v_x - v_y).
>
> Yeah, and you're also much less likely to be in the path of oncoming
> traffic. So what?

On the contrary. Fatal accidents where one car hits another one from
behind on a two-lane highway, are rare. Fatal head-on collisions are much
more common.

>> 2) You have no influence on the speed of the oncoming car, whereas you
>> have total control on adjusting your speed to conditions in the proper
>> way (i.e. being able to stop if an unlighted obstacle is in your path),
>> be it a branch, a person or a car without taillights on.
>>
> yeah, whatever. If that were the solution to all problems there
> wouldn't be an issue driving around with no lights on at all.

Adjusting speed and distance to conditions _is_ the solution and from you
I definitely expected that you are capable of driving within your envelope.

Taillights are a safety feature, which is why I like auto headlights,
that make sure that even the bozos switch on their headlights at the
proper time, but he who relies on them is going to get hurt or worse.

And the rare situation, where auto-headlights don't switch where they
should are much outweighed by the frequent situation where they switch on
the lights where the bozo wouldn't.

Chris