We have discussed the effects on motorcycle safety and provide some data reports to show the importance of DRL. Now we’ll follow the topic and find out how we could do to choose an effective motorcycle daytime running light.
Main Types of Daytime Running Lights: The Positive Effect For Letting Drivers See
Studies conducted by a variety of traffic safety groups across the U.S. and Europe show that the use of headlights during the day can help prevent between 7 and 25 percent of all deadly daytime crashes. Most research indicates that the use of daytime running lights reduces accident rates by between 5 and 10 percent across the board.
LED motorcycle Daytime running light as an option in order to improve frontal motorcycle conspicuity in daylight seems to be the most practical and is the prime interest. There’re some main types of DRLs are currently in use:
- Low beam headlights when start vehicle
- Dimmed high beam headlights
- Dedicated lights with a defined beam pattern and light intensity. (as below ref.)
- Increased intensity yellow turn signals.
Ref.: Dedicated lights that are optimized for use as daytime running lights can be far more effective and energy-efficient than other options.
They are purpose-made, low-wattage. They do not need to be operated manually as they automatically activate when the engine is started and turn off when the engine stops.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/daytime-running-lights/daytime-running-lights
Dedicated Daytime Running Lights: The Positive Effect For Letting Drivers See
Thompson released a US study report in 2003, regarded with the effectiveness of several types of DRL. It compared the collision rate of models built before and after DRLs became standard:
Effectiveness of DRLs (from Thompson 2003)
| DRL Type | Change in Collision rate |
| Dedicated DRL | -8.76% |
| Low beam headlight | -3.23% |
| Reduced-intensity low beam | -2.31% |
| Reduced-intensity high beam | -4.86% |
| Yellow turn signal | -12.4% |
According to the above study data, we can find out that dedicated DRLs are nearly three times as effective as low beam headlights and bright turn signals are nearly four times as effective.
How To Choose An Effective LED Motorcycle Daytime Running Lights?
It is therefore important to refer that above information to take into account when considering DRLs for motorcycles.
Color
Motorcycle LED daytime running lights usually are bright white or yellow. Besides making others see, yellow daytime running light can be more effective in the poor condition of traffic, such as dusk, rain, etc. According to the Thompson 2003 study as above table, a dedicated DRL with yellow light seems a highly cost-effective DRL. Thus it is effective for preventing motorcycle accidents.
p.s. Australia still doesn’t permit yellow DRLs currently yet.
Size & Number:
Based on reports through many field testing and studies, motorcycles with DRLs are more conspicuous than motorcycles that do not have them.
In order to evaluate the relative conspicuity of several headlamps for motorcyclists, Donne conducted a field experiment depending on the frequency of which the motorcycle was detected and recognized.
The experiment was based on the notion of drivers fail to see motorcycles occasionally. Of course, the motorcycles were not equipped with any conspicuity aid.
From the analysis, it shows that motorcycles conspicuity was enhanced from 53.6% to 64.4% as a result. Specifications for DRLs were assessed, and it was confirmed that two lamps and lamps more than 180 mm diameter had more impact compared to single or smaller size lamps.
Ref.: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4771245/#B32
We can learn from the above info, the Dedicated DRL and yellow turn signals have the best effectiveness for reducing the collision rate!
Who Originally Make Quality Lights With Both DRL & Turn Signal For Motorcycles?
As a result, BRIGHTSTARTW releases the new DB6, which is a dedicated multi-function Aux. light. Furthermore, it is with TUV E-mark certificate:
Function A (currently exist): white driving light + amber turn signal
Function B (currently exist): white driving light + amber daytime running light
DARKBUSTER 6: https://brightstartw.com/product/motorcycle-led-indicator-e-mark-db-6/
We can also customize other function plans due to your special idea.
Conclusion:
The dedicated daytime running light has been found to have the greatest benefits for motorcyclists besides the fact that they can help make everyone safer, as they are the group that is difficult for other drivers to see.
So it would be best& necessary to have a pair of dedicated daytime running lights that make you to be seen by others.
