How do drivers handle their headlights? The team from carlightblog.com wondered about this question and decided to set up at twilight on two heavily travelled roads in Munich. For two hours, we counted cars travelling with and without their lights on, including cars using the daytime running lights, even though the time of day required full headlights. We further noted the number of cars with broken bulbs in one headlamp.
The Carlightblog-Team in front of Mittlerer Ring - a big street through Munich
At shortly before 7:00 p.m., 19 percent of drivers thought they could manage without any lights, a result that agrees with previous studies and therefore was none too surprising. Three percent had their lights on, but with one defective headlamp. As many as 78 of 100 cars had functioning lights, including however eight percent which fulfilled this requirement by using the daytime running lights. But according to light experts, it is already too dark at that time of day for these lights. What’s more, the rear lights do not operate when the daytime running lights are on.
Another survey later in the evening confirmed that about three percent of cars have one defective low beam lamp. The proportion of drivers with their lights on had increased to 90 percent, but more than five percent of them still were driving with the no-longer-adequate daytime running lights. A good seven percent still believed they could drive without any lights at all. This is especially astonishing because the survey point in this case was between two tunnels along the Munich ring road Mittlerer Ring, and headlights – as we all know – are mandatory in tunnels even during the day.
We made other more interesting observations as well, which we will tell you about in upcoming reports!
