For me, the biggest benefit of having the CHMSLs on all the cars is that it allows you to “drive ahead of yourself” by 2, 3, 4 or more cars in front of you, by allowing you to see when people start braking way ahead. I can see the CHMSL of the car 4 cars ahead of me, through the windshields of the intermediate 3 cars, and I can start slowing immediately (gradually) instead of having to panic-brake when something unexpected slows the traffic down. Especially at high speeds.
Of course this assumes you don’t have a pack of SUVs in front of you, where I can’t see through their windshields because of their height differences to a normal car. Maybe this is why the CHMSLs are now less affective than they used to be?
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testera, yes, I also use them to drive ahead. But I also look for taillights when I can see them around the other cars. Neither of which always works.
I don’t really think the growth of SUV usage precluding viewing CHMSLs through intervening vehicles provides that much of an impact on the saftey statistics. Realize that when something is new, it has a larger effect of grabbing attention than when people are conditioned for it. Like daytime running lights. A car company (Saturn?) had a commercial about their installing daytime running lights back before it was commonplace. It showed someone driving around, and everyone kept flashing their headlights at him, as if to say, “Hey, your headlights are on.” This was somehow supposed to prove that drivers were paying more attention to him because his lights were on. I imagine the statistics surrounding daytime running lights have a similar pattern. When a relatively few number of vehicles (like semi trucks) are the only ones using it, safety evaluations show a dramatic improvement. Then more and more cars start using them, it becomes commonplace, so the numbers dip. That doesn’t mean daytime running lights don’t have benefits, just the early benefit was in part because people didn’t tune them out.
Note that I don’t consciously drive differently when I can see a string of CHMSLs than when I cannot. I just use the extra information I can glean when I can get it.
i can name one serious downside to daytime running lights on cars. Motorcycles have their headlights on all the time; this used to make them far more visible in traffic. Not any more…