Lachenmayr B
Augenklinik der Universität München.
Ophthalmologe. 1995 Feb;92(1):93-9.
In various Scandinavian countries the use of headlights during daytime (daytime running light DRL) is obligatory since many years. In Canada all new cars have to be equipped with a daytime running light since 1990. Whether or not in Germany or in the southern neighbouring countries a daytime running light should be used is matter of controversial discussion during the least years. Daytime running light increases the visibility of oncoming cars tremendously. Not only the drivers, but also pedestrians and cyclists profit from this gain of visibility. Especially drivers with poor vision, who will become more and more frequent during the coming years due to the increase of percentage of older drivers, have a specific profit from daytime running light. Potentially negative side-effects of daytime running light are: reduction of visibility of the brake-lights, glare, loss of visibility for pedestrians and cyclists, damage to the retina, increase of fuel consumption. All these arguments are either not crucial or cannot be documented by statistical data. On the other hand the data which are available up to now concerning frequency of accidents in those countries and areas in which daytime running light was used or is used, show a trend, sometimes even a statistical significant reduction of daytime accidents. This reduction is especially pronounced for accidents with pedestrians and cyclists. Overall, there are more and better arguments for using daytime running light, also in Germany. A technical alternative would be an automatic switching of the headlights if horizontal illuminance drops below a specific limit, e.g. 2000-3000 lx. Such an automatic procedure would increase the percentage of cars using headlights in critical situations during daytime.
在斯堪的纳维亚的各个国家，多年来白天使用车头灯（日间行车灯，DRL）是强制性的。自1990年以来，加拿大所有新车都必须配备日间行车灯。在德国或其南部邻国是否应该使用日间行车灯，在过去几年一直是有争议的讨论话题。日间行车灯极大地提高了对向来车的可见度。不仅是司机，行人和骑自行车的人也从这种可见度的提高中受益。特别是视力不好的司机，由于老年司机比例的增加，这类司机在未来几年会越来越多，他们从日间行车灯中获得了特别的益处。日间行车灯潜在的负面影响包括：刹车灯可见度降低、眩光、行人和骑自行车者的可见度丧失、视网膜损伤、油耗增加。所有这些论点要么不关键，要么没有统计数据证明。另一方面，目前关于使用或正在使用日间行车灯的国家和地区事故发生率的数据显示出一种趋势，有时甚至是日间事故在统计上显著减少。这种减少在涉及行人和骑自行车者的事故中尤为明显。总体而言，在德国使用日间行车灯也有更多更好的理由。一种技术替代方案是，如果水平照度降至特定限值以下，例如2000 - 3000勒克斯，车头灯会自动切换。这样的自动程序将增加白天在关键情况下使用车头灯的汽车比例。
