http://news.windingroad.com/auto-news/are-daytime-running-lamps-bad-for-the-environment/
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_roads/documents/page/dft_roads_613618.pdf
The linked UK report shows on page 20 (pdf page 27) analytical comparisons of fuel consumption and CO, HC, and NOx emissions comparisons of 160 watt headlight DRL systems versus 42 watt turn signal bulb DRL systems, just like the AMBER 42 watt turn signal bulbs powered by the AllQuality Turn Signal DRL product [21 watts per bulb times 2]. The EC is considering dedicated white turn signal bulb DRL lighting legislation, hence the reason for the study and comparisons. A letter we have received from the engineering director of one of Italy's premier sports car manufacturers documents that the EC is currently planning introduction of mandatory use of DRL systems on all EU vehicles by June of 2009. AMBER turn signal DRLs have been proven to outperform all white light DRL options in one or more of following categories: conspicuity, energy efficiency, potential turn signal masking, and comparative pollution reductions.
An unnamed US government source has told our company that maybe white light DRLs are 'good enough'. Granted, theoretically any DRL is better than no DRL. Yet the leading Australian DRL expert has found, while studying all US school bus signal lighting types, that full power low beam headlights project a maximum luminance of no more than 437 candela (candela is a scientific measure of light output) in the direction of other roadway users (3 degrees off axis) such as pedestrians, cyclists, and other motorists. By comparison, AMBER DRLs in the US and Canada are targeted to have an output of around 700 candela, AMBER photometrically appears brighter to the human eye that an equivalent output of white light, turn signals are aimed at other motorists instead of being aimed at the ground [like headlights], and turn signals are often designed for better side corner visibility.
Additionally, turn signal AMBER DRLs never masks a vehicle's turn signals, and are proven by NHTSA via a 1998 US Federal Register document to actually eliminate DRL glare with respect to other motorists when compared to white light DRLs. A link to the Federal Register information is listed below:
http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/pdf29/41090_web.pdf
Bottom Line: AllQuality's superior AMBER Turn DRL technology offers a comparative safety benefit at the highest level, above and beyond virually all white light DRLs, while simultaneously offering an energy/pollution disadvantage at the lowest level for all vehicles with conventional or non-LED DRL lighting.
So, what is holding the US back in this area? Another unnamed US government source has referred to the fact that it is all about bottom line costs to the vehicle manufacturers themselves. As long as it is cheaper to implement headlight DRLs than AMBER turn signal DRLs for US and Canadian automakers, and as long as DRLs are not mandatory in the US, the existing status quo is relatively resistant to change.
Consider it from a simple economics viewpoint: If you are a public US company that makes 1 million cars a year, and you can save just $1 or $2 per car with your headlight DRL implementation versus superior AMBER turn signal DRL implementation, then you have just saved your shareholders somewhere between $1 million to $2 million dollars annually.
Since DRLs are voluntary in the US, no DRLs at all offers similar or even greater overall company savings. Also, because DRLs are proven to reduce not only the overall total number of accidents but are also proven to reduce accident severity, this subsquently means that no DRL offerings on your vehicles just about guarantees that you will sell more proprietary frontal collision repair parts such as bumpers, headlights, hoods, fenders and airbags. This may be capatalism at work, but it could also potentially telegraph to the public that your company cares more about making an extra $5 per vehicle than it cares about the overall safety of the occupants of your vehicles, and that your company is just in it for its own maximum economic benefit.
It should be noted here that there are already about 25 million vehicles or more currently on US and Canada roadways that now have AMBER DRLs, currently offered on select models as either standard or optional equipment by manufacturers such as Chevrolet, Kenworth, Cadillac, Lexus, Pontiac, Toyota, GMC, Peterbilt, Buick, Freightliner, Saturn, Volvo Trucks North America, Hummer, Saab, and Thomas Built Buses; as well as on some formerly produced Oldsmobile products and select DaimlerChrysler minivans offered in Canada only from the early to mid 1990's. Below is a link to photos of nearly all of these vehicles:
http://www.daytime-running-lights.com/blank?pageid=14&catstart=0&prodstart=0
Maximum daytime collision avoidance safety with an environmentally green product that is photometrically superior to other known competitive DRL products - that's what the patented and patent pending AllQuality DRL technology and product line potentially brings to your existing car, truck, bus, or motorcycle.
What about your current vehicle: Got AMBER?
