Daytime Running Lights in Government Spotlite

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2004; Reuters reported that U.S. auto regulators withdrew a proposal on Friday to reduce glare from daytime running lamps and will instead consider the issue in their review of an industry petition to require them on new vehicles.

Running lamps, which are mounted on the front of a car and illuminate when the vehicle is started, have become more popular over the past decade and have been installed on millions of vehicles as standard equipment.

General Motors Corp. found in a study last October the daytime lights have prevented tens of thousands of collisions -- especially accidents involving pedestrians -- since the company started putting them on their vehicles in 1995.

The Transportation Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a regulatory filing it would pull its proposal to dramatically cut glare from running lamps that was introduced in 1998 with some fanfare and was based on standards in Europe and Canada.

The proposal was never made final and was followed in 2001 by a GM petition to make running lamps mandatory on new vehicles.

The agency, after receiving 700 comments on the proposed rule, has decided to consider both issues at once and there is no timetable for a decision.

Proponents of running lamps say the technology is low-cost and useful in a variety of daytime driving conditions, including rain, dusk and bright sunlight. But others say the benefit is minimal and critics complain they emit unnecessary glare that can be distracting.

The federal auto safety agency said its own studies suggest that running lamps may have the potential to reduce crashes.

"We believe that further research and analysis may provide a better understanding of potential safety benefits of (running lamps) and optimum performance requirements," the agency said in its filing.

The NHTSA plans to step up its consultations with Canadian regulators to ensure that any changes are uniform in North America.