The measure is designed to make it easier to see vehicles and improve safety.
The law will apply to trucks buses eighteen months later that is from August 2012. Cars built before 2011 will not be subject to the rules and there will be no need to retrofit daytime lights.
Daytime running lights are special front lights that switch on automatically when the engine is started. They are less bright than night-time headlights.
Below, the official regulation:
IP/08/1394
Brussels 24th September 2008
DRL for all new vehicles from 2011 to increase road safety
To increase road safety, the European Commission has decided to introduce dedicated DR) on all new types of motor vehicles from the year 2011 onwards. Dedicated DRL are special lamps which are automatically switched on when the engine is started. They substantially increase the visibility of motor vehicles to other road users, and have a low energy consumption compared to existing dipped-beam head lamps. In countries which have already made DRL obligatory the experience
in the field of road safety is very positive.
According to available research, DRL is important for road safety. All road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, can detect, recognize and identify vehicles equipped with DRL, better and earlier. The mandatory introduction of dedicated DRL was discussed in the Commission’s High Level Group CARS 21 (“Competitive Automotive Regulatory System for the 21st Century”) with high level executives from Member States, industry and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and got unanimous approval. The Directive, which has been adopted today, foresees that from 7 February 2011 onwards all new
types of passenger cars and small delivery vans will have to be equipped with DRL.
Trucks and buses will follow 18 months later, i.e. August 2012.
On vehicles equipped with DRL, this light is automatically switched on when the engine is started. When it is dark the driver has to switch on the driving lights manually. In this case the DRL goes off automatically.
From an environmental point of view, dedicated daytime running light is an effective solution to improve visibility and conspicuity of vehicles. As the technology is especially designed to be used during daytime it is much more effective and efficient than existing lighting devices. The energy consumption is approximately only 25 – 30 % of the energy consumption of the normal driving light. When using LED technology for dedicated DRL, the energy consumption is reduced to only 10%.
Daytime Running Lights mandatory in Europe from 2011
The European Commission, September 24, 2008 will make DRL mandatory for all new cars operating in the EU to run with daytime running lights from February 2011.