Are Daytime Running Lights Dangerous?

Evolution is a part of our lives and nowhere more evident than in the growth and change to the humble horseless carriage. From an open cabin with a tiny horsepower or two, to nimble sports cars and big four wheel drives, there have been plenty of changes along he way.

As far as safety developments, we’ve seen the introduction of disc brakes, improvements in chassis design, changes to the structure of the glass in the windows, as well as an array of sensors and other technology that has transformed the modern-day automobile.

This extends to lighting technology, which once upon a time may have seemed a foreign concept. But we’ve seen evolution from lantern candles used with a horseless carriage, to halogen gas filled lamps. They have, in turn, given way to the now commonplace ‘LED’ or Light Emitting Diode, which is a form of technology that gives us a brighter, whiter, purer light, and can be seen in any colour of the spectrum.

Fast forward to 2023 and it is a regular occurrence to see DRL, or Daytime Running Lights, included among the features of your next car. But oddly enough, this new feature raises safety issues of its own.

In every car you’ll find the switch to your headlights, whether it is mounted on a stalk coming from the steering column, or a dial near the driver’s knee. This switch activates the headlights fitted to the vehicle. But not all vehicles are equal. In some vehicles you will find the switch has an “Auto” setting.

Why is this crucial? Simple. Auto means the headlights will light by themselves once a sensor determines light levels have fallen far enough to make seeing forward clearly difficult. Those that do not have Auto require drivers to make a judgement call as to activating their headlights.

But it’s also here that LED technology, along with the DRL situation, raises some risks. Let’s take the example of a vehicle with a strip of LED DRLs above each headlight and also has globe lit driving lights in the bottom left and right corner of the front bumper.

Invariably these cars either do not have an Auto headlight function, or they have a driver that is unaware of a key issue. The D in DRL means “daytime”, so they’re not intended to be used as a substitue for your actual headlights. This is because their penetration and forward spread is nowhere near that of the headlights designed and fitted.

In some cases, cars may not even light their tail lights when ‘Auto’ is selected. So while the driver might have some visibility of the road ahead, drivers behind may not clearly see the vehicle in front of them.

In both cases, however, there are safety issues, and it’s time we start addressing the issue with better driver education.

The Sound Of Silence

A vehicle with an internal combustion engine produces noise – to be precise, the engine produces noise.  This is because when it’s working, the engine is continually producing controlled explosions that are used to power the vehicle. We’re all familiar with the different roars, growls and rumbles coming from different engines, with some enthusiasts being able to tell vehicles apart simply by their sounds – and some mechanics making their initial diagnoses on what the engine sounds like when it’s running. Quite a few of us have something of a fondness for different engine notes, especially those that produce low grumbling noises.

However, it’s a different story when it comes to EVs (here, we’re talking about battery electric vehicles or BEVs and hybrids when they’re running on their electric motor). Electricity makes no sound, so when an electric motor is running, there is very little noise produced. This could be though of as one of the advantages of an EV – and if you’ve tried to get some sleep when the local boy racers seem to be having a drag race on your street at 2:00 a.m., you’d probably agree. However, it can also be a disadvantage.

Pedestrians and cyclists rely on their sense of hearing a lot more than you think. Sound is often the first cue you get that a vehicle is approaching, and the sound also tells you whether it’s speeding up or slowing down, which way the vehicle is travelling and even how big it is. The art of using our ears to help us know when something’s coming is drummed into us ever since our first road safety lessons and the motto of Stop, Look and Listen.

Unfortunately, all this goes out of the window with EVs. When they’re going slowly (i.e., at below 18 km/h), they don’t make much sound at all and they’re practically silent, especially in, say, a busy supermarket carpark. At higher speeds, they aren’t so silent, as the sound of the tyres on the road (road noise) and the hiss and rush of air moving across the outside becomes a factor. Unfortunately, it’s in these low-speed environments that EVs and people are likely to come into conflict. And it can be quite dangerous.

I know this by experience. I remember a few years back, I was coming out of a supermarket and was preparing to cross the bit where the cars move (you can’t really call it a road, but you know the bit I mean). I’d looked right and seen the road was clear, then looked left and seen that there were a few cars coming along. I looked right again and saw nothing coming on that side but saw a couple of cars as they went past and away from me.  I didn’t hear anything coming from that side, so my brain told me that all the cars I had been waiting for had gone past, so I prepared to push my trolley forward.  Peripheral vision kicked in just in time to stop me walking in front of an older model EV approaching silently.

I know it had to be an older model EV, as it wasn’t until 2010 that legislative bodies in Japan, Europe and the US listened to the concerns of the visually impaired and blind community and insisted that all new EVs had to have some sort of audible warning when travelling at low speeds (including in reverse).

I think most of us who lived through the era of audible reverse warnings are grateful that the manufacturers of EVs didn’t rely on beeps or something as annoying as a neighbour I once had in his car. His played a very tinny computer-blip version of Für Elise when reversing, and this irritating tune was practically my alarm clock when my neighbour reversed out of his driveway as he headed off early to work. Elon Musk typically suggested that Tesla models should be able to produce amusing sounds as a warning, such as bleating goats, fart noises or coconut shell clippety-clop sounds. The Powers That Be in Europe, however, cracked down on that suggestion and stipulated that these low-speed warning sounds had to sound something like an actual engine. This sounds like the Powers That Be lack a sense of humour, but there is some sense to what they’re saying. For one thing, we’ve all learned the sound of an approaching car engine, so it makes sense to have the warning sound telling us that it’s a car that’s coming and not, say, a goat. If every single EV had a different sound, we’d have to somehow learn to recognize and subconsciously identify those sounds as “car coming to my left; potential threat”. It’s also been suggested by an article in The New Yorker that the growl of an engine is reminiscent of the growl of a predator, possibly triggering something primal inside us. I’m also pretty sure that farting Teslas would be funny for about five minutes, but the joke would wear off pretty quickly and just become annoying.

The designers of EVs then discovered a whole new world: the art of making an engine-like warning sound that would do its job of letting cyclists and pedestrians know a car is coming without being annoying and, well, sounding right. We respond emotionally to sounds, so designers want to come up with something that is right for their brand and image. They’ve often teamed up with composers to do this, the most notable being BMW teaming up with movie composer Hans Zimmer (composer of the music for Gladiator, some of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and Man of Steel). It’s quite a process and is as much of an art as a science. Should the sound replicate the noise of an internal combustion engine perfectly, or should it sound high-tech like something out of a sci-fi movie? What frequencies and harmonics can be heard by everybody? What’s not going to send the driver nuts? How can they avoid making cities noisier than they have to be?

Here are three of the ideas that designers have come up with. Which one do you like the best?

Porsche Taycan Turbo S

Audi E-tron

Jaguar I-Pace

Travelling with a dog these holidays? How to safely restrain your dog

 According to RSPCA, 19 percent of dog owners take their pets with them on holiday. Considering a study found that almost half of Aussies now own at least one dog, that’s a lot of dogs in cars.

However, cars are built for the safety of humans, not pets.

So if the car breaks and your dog isn’t restrained properly, it could become a 20kg projectile. In fact, 5,000 dogs each year are either injured or killed as a result of jumping from a moving car. 

In most states it’s illegal to drive with an animal on your lap, as they can distract you from driving. It’s also against the law in Australia to carry a load that’s not fastened, such as dogs on the back of a ute. So, what are the options for safely travelling with Bluey?

Safely restraining dogs in cars

Safely restraining your dog in the car depends on the size of your dog and the make of your car. 

Dog seat belt or safety harness

You may already have a harness for your dog. Dog safety harnesses work by slipping over the dog’s head, under the front legs and attaching to the back piece on the sides of its body. The anchor attaches the harness to the seat belt attachment.

The dog should be able to sit and lie down comfortably while wearing the safety harness in the car.

NRMA revealed that only two harnesses on the market passed their test, adequately restraining their crash test dummy dog. Purina Roadie harness and the Sleepypod Clickit harness passed out of the 25 tested. That’s because their webbing and buckles were stronger than the others. 

Dog transport crates

Dog crates can be made of hard plastic, metal or fabric with supports. Make sure the crate is large enough for your dog to lie down, stand, turn around and stretch. Your dog may feel anxious in the crate, so adding its favourite toy may help. The crate needs to be fixed to the car using the seat belt. If you have a ute, bolting the crate to the tray may be the safest way to go.

Cargo barriers

Station wagons and 4WD vehicles can get custom-made steel mesh bolted to the rear seat floor and up to the car’s ceiling, sectioning off the space behind the seats. This provides a separate section in the vehicle for your luggage or pet. But, if the space is too large, securing your dog with a harness could also help avoid an injury.

If you’re looking for a new car big enough for your best friend, get in touch with Private Fleet. We can discuss your needs and find the right car for you.

What The Person With The Caravan Wishes You Knew

Summer is the time of year when you’ll see a lot of people out on the road going to their favourite holiday destinations – or making the journey the holiday. Some of them have caravans behind them. Others have similar large trailer-type things behind them, such as horse trailers or even furniture trailers (which don’t have to contain furniture – they can carry all the camping equipment, the bikes, the kayaks and so forth). We won’t consider trucks in this article, as they’re a different story altogether.

It’s easy to get frustrated when you barrel along the road without anything attached to your towbar and see a caravan on the road ahead of you, getting gradually closer and closer (as you travel at the legal speed limit, of course). You may grit your teeth and start scanning the road ahead, looking for an opportunity to overtake. Why do they do it? Why do caravans go so slowly? Are they that heavy? And why don’t they just pull over and let people pass as soon as a line starts forming?

Well, I’m going to answer your questions. As you may have guessed, I have sometimes been that person with the caravan, and I can tell you exactly what’s going through the mind of a driver with a caravan. Believe me, we’re not going slow on purpose and holding everyone up just for the sadistic pleasure of annoying people.

Why Caravans Are Slow

There are several reasons why the person towing a caravan goes more slowly than you do. In other countries, the speed at which you can tow anything, including a caravan, is different from the maximum speed limit (usually lower, of course). However, that’s not the case in any of the states of Australia, where a caravan can be towed at the full legal limit, as long as the driver can do so safely.

And there’s the point of it: as long as they can do it safely. Because they’ve got that extra thing on the back, their car handles differently when it comes to corners and things like that. Strong winds can also affect how a caravan sits on the road, meaning that a driver towing a caravan may have to slow down when you don’t have to. What’s more, even a modern caravan has quite a bit of drag, which puts a lot of extra demand on the engine – even the most powerful engine. Nobody really wants to wring the guts out of the engine all the time, as this makes even the most frugal car into a thirsty beast. This means that the caravan has to go slower than you do, especially when going into a headwind and/or uphill.

In the case of horse trailers, the driver has to make sure that he/she drives smoothly without anything sudden. Horses are sensitive creatures, and travelling in a trailer is something that they hate. Anything surprising or startling will freak them out, and there’s a risk that they could hurt themselves in that confined metal box. This is why the drivers of horse trailers often go a little bit slower. They definitely don’t want you to honk your horn. Seriously – don’t do it.

Why Don’t They Pull Over?

While you’re looking at the back of the caravan and wondering why the heck the driver won’t just darn well pull over and let you pass, said driver is probably scanning the side of the road. You see, a caravan driver can’t pull over just anywhere. They have to look for a place that allows enough space for their vehicle and their caravan without taking out any of the “road furniture” (signs, markers, barriers, etc.) or any vegetation. They also don’t want to drive onto anything that they can’t get out of again, such as ditches or boggy patches. What a vehicle (and the associated caravan) can get into and out of will depend on said vehicle and whether or not it’s got 4×4 capacity.

A good place to pull over has to be a good place not just for the caravan driver but also for you. It’s no good if the caravan driver pulls over just short of a blind corner where you can’t see what’s on the road ahead (we’re not talking about lay-bys, passing bays and slow vehicle lanes here; they’re another story).

In short, it can take a while for the driver of the caravan to find the right place to pull over that’s good for both of you. It won’t happen the instant that you appear. The driver won’t start looking for a good place until you appear in his/her rear vision mirror.

If you are the caravan driver, make sure that you do look out for a good spot to pull over and let others pass to avoid a long snake of traffic building up behind you.

When You Overtake A Caravan

OK, so the driver of the caravan has found a place to pull over and now you can overtake. This driver may or may not have come to a complete standstill. Sometimes, the driver of the caravan will stop completely, especially if the road is winding and a lot of traffic has gone past. However, sometimes, the caravan driver will crawl along half on and half off the road, especially in the case of a long straight. Now is your chance to pass. You can also get a chance to pass if the road has a passing lane.

When your chance comes, here are some things that the driver of the caravan would like you to know:

• If the road ahead is clear for, say, 500 metres, then please go ahead and pass as soon as you can. Don’t leave it until the last 100 metres to make your manoeuvre. This doesn’t happen, you say? Well, it happened more times than I cared to count last time we were out with the caravan behind. I or whoever was driving edged over when the long empty straight came, but did that car that had been tailgating overtake straight away? Nope – he/she waited until the last possible moment to do it safely and then overtook. Nuts!
• Use your indicators, from when you start your manoeuvre until you’re back on the proper side of the road and ready to roar away.
• Make sure you actually do overtake, especially if you have been behind the caravan for ages.
• Use all the usual safety precautions when overtaking, like checking you have a clear view of the road.
• Don’t make rude hand gestures or angry honks at the caravan driver. He/she can’t help being slower thanks to the factors mentioned above.
• Feel free to wave and/or give a “thank you” honk!