daylight time starts to get slightly longer each day as winter wanes, but Continental Tyres Ireland is advising motorists not to wait until darkness to turn on their lights.
"A lot of newer cars come with day-time running lights (DTRLs ) as standard, this means they have lights on once the engine is running even during daylight time. This is a huge boost to road safety as the old adage for pedestrian safety: 'Be safe, be seen!’ is equally true for motorists and other road-users.
"However, there is a significant amount of older vehicles on our roads and many of these cars and vans do not have daytime running lights, so for the drivers of those vehicles our advice is to drive with dipped headlights all day long. If motorists take this small step of always driving with their lights on, day and night, we believe it would be a huge boost to road safety this Christmas and into the New Year," Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres Ireland, commented.
The issue of visibility is a leading contributory cause to road accidents in Ireland. Poor lighting outside of built up areas and bad road conditions compound this problem. So as New Year approaches, Continental Tyres Ireland is urging Irish motorists to make an extra New Year resolution to always (day and night ) drive with headlights on (dipped when appropriate ).
“While we are encouraging drivers to keep their lights on, I would also make an appeal to motorists to regularly check their lights, front and back, to make sure they are working properly – I see a dangerously high number of vehicles, cars and vans, with faulty lights, and quite a number of them with one headlamp not working. It is a phenomenon that I have observed more so, in rural areas than in urban centres, but in these dark evenings and mornings it is a huge road safety issue. As soon as a driver is aware of a faulty light, they should get it repaired”.
“In addition to regularly checking their lights, motorists should also carry out regular checks of their tyres, in particular, topping up tyre pressures to correct levels and looking out for any damage, cuts or bulges. If any of the tyres are showing signs of damage, the motorist should waste no time in having them checked out by a competent tyre fitter,” Mr. Dennigan added.
