I've read that Greyhound bus started requiring the drivers to run with headlights on, back in the 1930's !
The Safety data has been know for a really long time.
Seasonally, the problem gets worse at higher latitudes. Mostly, I side with the "Less Govt" camp these days, but am fully behind what some nordic countries have done - mandate Daytime Running Lights - I'm glad they are required in Canada, but I've actually been driving with full daytime lighting since before that came in.
Driver Awareness/Courtesy has generally gotten worse, and continues to slide with the I'm the centre of the universe/gotta check my smartphone every 0.8 seconds kind of driver of today.
In a high mileage commuting area, you'll often see vehicles with all the brake bulb elements burned out, and most of the running lights gone too - try proving that if you rear-end them in a blizzard. Knock wood, haven't had it happen, but it's something I watch for in terms of vehicles to NOT follow.
I think they've stepped up the penalties here for faulty vehicle lighting, but that doesn't change things much if they aren't enforcing existing penalties. (I'm speaking of private vehicles, commercial ones are much more of a target).
I like our DRL regulation here, but we still get morons with late-model vehicles that disable the DRL module. I wish that got ticketed more often, as well as the other lighting infractions.
I like the rear fog lights on Euro vehicles, but that is a whole other rant......
Rgds, D.
