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ormat
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No
vembe
r2010

Day
timeRunn
ingL
igh
ts
Statemen t
Thisdo cumen
tprov
idesgene
ralguidanceandadv
iceonthe
leg
is
lat
iverequ
iremen
tsin G
rea
t
Br
itainrela
t
ingtoDay
timeRunningLights
.

Everyef
for
thasbeen madetoensurethati
tisfac
tua
l
lycor
rec
tbutrec
ipien
tsshou
ldcheckw
iththe
produce
rsofth
isdocumentifthe
yha vereasontobe
l
ieveanypa
rtisno
tco r
rec
torisnowou
tof
date
.

Dedica tedDaytimeRunn ingL ights

Day
timeRunn ingLightsarePu rpose-made,low-
wat
tagel
ightstha
tcanbef
it
tedtoavehicleand
useddu r
ingthedayto improvethev i
sib
i
li
tyofavehic
letootherdr
ive
rsaswel
laspedest
rians,
cyc
listsando the
rroaduse rs.The ydonotneedtobeope ra
ted manua
ll
yastheyau
tomatica
lly
act
i vatewhentheeng ineisstartedandturnoffwhentheengines
topsorwhenhead
ligh
tsa re
swi
tchedona tnight
.

DRLa renecessar
i
lybrighttoensurethe yarev
is
ibleintheday
t
imebu tnotsob righ
tthatthe ywi
ll
dazz
leo the
rs. Howevertheyaretoob righ
tfornigh
ttimeuseanda renotintendedto
il
lum inatethe
roadintheda r
k.Ifuseda tnigh
tthe ywil
lcausedazzleanddiscomfo
rttoothersandsod r
i ve
rs
shouldalwaysswi
tchtotheirposi
tionlampso rhead
lampsa tn
ight.

Evidence
Researchhasshowntha
tDRLsare l
ikel
ytoreduce mu
lt
iplevehi
cleda y
t
imea cc
identsand
fata
li
tiesbyupto6%oncea l
lvehic
lesareequipped
.DRLa re
like
lytoresul
tinasmallinc
rease
in
fuelconsumpt
ionandCO 2emiss
ionsofaround0.5%bu
tthisisexpectedtobelowerwhenLED s
areusedinplaceo
ff
ilamentl
ightsour
ces.

Gene ra
lrequirements
Legisla
tionandrequ iremen ts:
Vehic
le manufac
turer
s mus tf
it DRLtonewtype so fpassenge
rcarandl igh
tgoodsveh ic
le(car
1
deri
vedvans)typeapp rovedto Europeanveh
i c
lerequi
rementsf
romFeb ruary2011.Inp ra
ct
ice
this meansthatanynew mode llaunchedaf
terthi
sdate,and manylaunchedbefo
re,w i
l
lbefit
ted
w
ith DRL. Howeve
r,e x
isting modelsonsalebefo
rethisdatewi
thou
t DRLfi
ttedcancontinuetobe
soldandusedindefin
itely.

S
imi
larrequi
remen ts w
il
lapplytolargeveh
ic
les(suchas HGVs)andbuse sfrom7 Augus
t2012 .
Mo
torcy
clesdono tcur
rentl
yrequireDRLtobefi
tted
,but mos
t manufac
turer
svolun
tar
i
lyoptforan
AHO(Au tomat
ic Headl
ight On)systemtobeinstal
led a
san al
terna
tive
. Changesto European
leg
is
lat
ionwil
l,infutu
repe rm
it manufa
ctu
rer
stof
itDRLontheir mo
tor
cy c
les
.

DRLa c
tiva
teautomatical
ly whentheengineisstartedandremainonun lesstheheadlampsa re
swi
tched on
. The y ma yhowe verremain o
ffinsomelowspeed ands ta
tiona
rysi
tuations
. In
genera
lallothe
rlightsshou ldremain o
ff whenthe DRL are on bu
tforal imi
ted pe
riodsome
veh
icle
s ma ybeavai
lablewhi chautoma
tica
l
lya c
ti
vatetherea
rpo s
it
ionlampsa tthesamet imeas
theDRL .

DRL ma
ybecombinedwithothe
rlamps.Fo
rexamplesome manu
fac
ture
rsusethesamelampfo
r
bo
ththeDRLandpo s
i
tionlamp.Inthe
secasestheDRLautomat
ica
l
lydimstofunc
tiona
salowe
r
intensitypo s
it
ionlampwhenthehead lampsa retu rnedon. DRLp lacedclosetodirect
ion
indicators mayalsoautoma t
ical
l ydim whenthed irect
ionindicatorisact
ive. Th
isistoensu retha t
thed i
re ct
ionindica
torisnot ma skedbythe l
igh tfromtheDRL .
Retrofitt
ingDRL
Thereisnorequ i
rementtore t
rofitDRLonveh i c
le snotfi
ttedwiththema sstandard.Ifyoude c
ide
toretrofitDRLyoushou ldensu retheyha vebeenapp rovedtotheco rrec
tEu ropeanlegisla
tion.
Th
i scanbecon fi
rmedbyche ckingthattheapp roval markembo ssedonthe lampcon tainsthe
let
ters"RL ",seefigure1be low.Ideallyre
trofittedDRLshou ldbe ins
tal
ledsuchtha tthe yacti
vate
automa ti
cal
l ywhentheeng inesta r
tsandsw itcho ffwhenhead lampsa returnedon.I fthisi
sno t
theca sethenyou mus tensuretha tyou manua llyturnDRLo f
fa tnightasthe ywi
llcauseda zz
le
andd iscom fo
rttoothersi
fusedinlowamb ientlightingcondit
ions .

F
igu
re1
.Examp
leo
fDRLapp
rova
l ma
rk

Useo fotherlampsdu ringtheday t

ime
Dr
iversofvehic
lesthatarenotfi
ttedwithDRLa reno
trequ
iredtoturnonthei
rheadlampsor
po s
it
ionlampsdu ringtheda yunlessvi
sib
il
i
tyisver
ypoor
. Howe versomeEu ropean membe
r
statesdorequi
resomefo rmofl
ight
ingdu r
ingthedaysoi
fyoutravelabroadanddono thaveDRL
f
ittedyou maybeob ligedtodri
vewithyourheadlampson
.

Furtherinforma t
ion
Ifyourequireanyfur
the
rinfo
rmat
ionrega
rdingthecon
ten
tofth
isin
forma
t
ionshee
t,p
lea
secon
tac
t
theD fTattheadd re
ssbelow:

Internat
ionalVehic
leStanda
rds
DepartmentforTranspor
t
Zone1 /34,Grea
tM ins
terHouse
33Ho rse
ferryRoad,London,SW1P4DR
Te
lephone :02079442091
Fax:02079442196
Email:ivs.enqu
ir
ies@d ft
.gs
i
.gov
.uk

NOTE : The
informat
ioninthisdocumentisasumma ryoftheDepa rtmen
t’sunde r
standingofwha
t
thelawrequires
. Howe ve
r,ul
timate
lythein
terpre
tat
iono fthelawisa mat
terforthecou r
tsbased
onindiv
idua
lfactsofanypart
icula
rca se
. Youarethereforeadvisedtoconsu
lttherelevant
leg
isla
tionand,ifnecessa
ry,seekindependentadvi
ce.
1
Eu
ropeanDi
rec
tive76/656
/EEC,asamendedby2008/89/EC,conce
rningthe
ins
tal
lat
iono
f
l
igh
tingandl
igh
t-
signa
l
lingdev
iceson mo
torveh
ic
lesandthe
irtra
i
lers
.