With the Montana Legislature in session I have been paging through the bills proposed and a few caught my eye. Here is one.
SB 194
Require driving with headlights on at all times
A driver of a vehicle that is required to be equipped with headlamps shall drive with the headlamps or driving lamps lighted at all times that the vehicle is being operated on a public highway.
Is this really necessary? We aren't capable of making such a decision on our own? I personally all ready do this out of preference, but do the powers in Helena really need to stand over us and tell us to do this? NO. This is an unnecessary change to the law and I oppose it. Let people make their own decision whether to use their headlights during the daylight hours.
Referred to the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee.
UPDATE: Hearing set for 01/16/2007
I guess my position is, that all new cars should be made with daytime running lights. I think the better way to get folks to run with their lights on is for insurance companies to give a safe driving deduction for doing so. No real way to enforce that though.
I bet this bill gets the support of the insurance lobby though - it will reduce their costs - even if only one accident is avoided, and will cost them nothing.
So how does this apply to the headlights. Well, I guess its that it doesn't hurt you to turn on your headlights in the daytime, but it helps those folks you are meeting on the road. Like I said before, it would be better to have an incentive to do it - like reduced insurance costs for having daytime running lights. I am not really committed to this bill, I just think that it is a good idea, and I hate it when, for example, the guy at badbills.com makes fun of the suggestion. "lights on for safety"