Blinded by the lights

摘要

"We get it all the time," Roy Milnes tells me. "People laugh at us and say, 'You roust have something better to do with your time.' What about you - do you think we're a bunch of cranks and weirdos?" It wasn't an easy question to answer. Milnes is UK campaign coordinator for the Association of Drivers against Daytime Running Lights (DaDRL) based in northwest Wales, a pressure group with the sole purpose of fighting the use of headlights in the daytime. At first glance, I had to admit, it did seem a little over the top. Cranks or not, there is no doubt that the anti-daytime lights lobby is gathering pace. The membership of DaDRL in the UK and the US is 3000 and rising. Their main complaint is that using lights in the daytime causes unnecessary and unacceptable dazzle to other drivers. Cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrian organisations are joining the fray, concerned about becoming vulnerable shadows in a sea of dazzling lights. And environmentalists point out that using lights in the daytime can only increase carbon emissions.