THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, October 8, 1994              TAG: 9410080011
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A15  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: George Hebert
                                             LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

STILL TRYING TO THROW LIGHT ON CAR SAFETY

Getting motorists to switch on their headlights in broad daylight is becoming quite a campaign - even more of an effort, in persuasive tactics and technology, than I was aware of when I wrote, several weeks back, about my brush with the idea.

At that time, my wife and I had taken one of the AAA's refresher classes for older drivers. One of the things that most intrigued me was the information given out on how much safer it is to drive with lights on during the day, even when they are not needed for shining up things down the road.

One of the points made during the course was that a driver can see an oncoming vehicle twice as far away if the latter has its lights on - 4,700 feet as against 2,200 to 2,500 feet. We were urged by instructor E. Wallace Timmons to take up the habit.

The piece I turned out afterward was mostly about this new light on an old and troubling problem: about what we were told, about the favorable statistics on accident-reduction when lights are used this way, about how Canadian law already requires the practice, and - with a red face - about what happened when I tried to start our car after about three days of experimental daytime switch-ons (a risk we had been warned about).

Now I have in hand, thanks to that same Triple A instructor, an update which includes a hopeful joining-in by automobile makers and their engineers. Timmons has sent along a current brochure put out by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Under the heading, ``Daytime Running Lights,'' the booklet says ``daytime running lights are an effective, low-cost way to prevent some daytime car-to-car crashes.'' We learn, moreover, that among the 1995 models coming into the American market, about a half-dozen domestic and foreign makers (of a dozen or so models) are providing daytime running lights as standard equipment.

And the dramatic, central innovation in all this: The lights come on when you turn the ignition key to start the car. And, of course, they go off when you switch off. MEMO: Mr. Hebert is a former editor of The Ledger-Star.

by CNB