Swedish DRL Study: results found spurious
Extract from: Theeuwes J, Riemersma J. Daytime running lights as a vehicle collision countermeasure: the Swedish evidence reconsidered.
     In Sweden the use of daytime running lights (DRL) was made mandatory on 1 October 1977 for all motor vehicles at once, during all seasons and for all areas. According to a study conducted by Andersson and Nilsson (1981) [Andersson and Nilsson. VTI Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute, Report No. 208A; 1981] the introduction of DRL resulted in a reduction of 11% of multiple accidents during daytime. In many discussions on the effectiveness of DRL, these findings have been considered as the strongest evidence that the use of DRL is an effective vehicle collision countermeasure. The present study re-examines this evidence and shows that the reported 11% effect of DRL in the Swedish study is spurious. The effect is mainly the result of the application of a model that shows selective effects of DRL through modelling of unexplained changes in the number of single accidents. It is concluded that the Swedish data fail to show a clear effect of DRL.
                            TNO Human Factors Research Institute, Soesterberg, The Netherlands 1995 ;27(5):633-642.

We receive hundreds of complaints a year about blinding vehicle lights - a few recent ones are listed here
Therefore we have made representations to Government and Manufacturers:-
 

Manufacturer	Addressee	DaDRL letters	Responses
BMW GB Limited Ellesfield Avenue Bracknell Berks  RG12 8TA   BMW AG 80788 Munchen  Germany	Mr Tim Abbott Managing Director 01344 426565       Helmut Panke  Chairman	BMW 20 Oct 2010       BMW Oct 2003	BMW Response Nov 2003
Mercedes Benz UK Ltd Tongwell, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire MK15 8BA   DaimlerChrysler UK Ltd Tongwell, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire MK15 8BA   DaimlerChrysler AG 70546 Stuttgart Germany	Simon Oldfield Managing Director   Ray Smith General Manager Daimler Chrysler Dr Wilfried Steffen President & CEO DaimlerChrysler UK Ltd     Jurgen E. Schrempp  Chairman of the Board of Management	Mercedes-Benz 09 Nov 2010 Mercedes-Benz  01 Nov 2010     Daimler Chrysler Oct 2003	Mercedes-Benz response 08 Nov 2010     Daimler Chrysler response Nov 2003
Volvo Cars UK Globe Park Marlow Bucks  SL7 1YQ	Peter Rask Managing Director     Stuart Kerr Managing Director	Volvo 01 Nov 2010   Advice of DRL fatalities 02 Oct 2007 Request to desist Sep12 2007  Volvo letters  2003 - 2005	Volvo response 03 Nov 2010   Volvo response 21 Sep 2007   Volvo response Oct 2003
Jaguar Land Rover Banbury Road Gaydon Warwick CV35 ORG   Jaguar Cars Ltd  Browns Lane Coventry West Midlands  CV59DR	Carl-Peter Foster Managing Director     Mike Beasley Managing Director Phil Cazaly Marketing Director	Jaguar Land Rover  01 Nov 2010     Jaguar Oct 2003
VW Group United kingdom Limited Yeomans Drive Blakelands Milton Keynes  MK14 5AN	Chris Craft Managing Director   Paul Buckett Head of Press and Public Relations	VW 01 Nov 2010
Porsche Cars (GB) Limited Bath Road, Calcot, Reading RG3 7SE	Andy Goss  Managing Director	Porsche 01 Nov 2010
Ford Motor Company Central Office Eagle Way Brentwood Essex  CM13 3BW   Ford of Europe GMBH Legal Governmental and Environmental affairs Koeln-Niehl Henry-Ford Strasse 1 D-50725  Koeln  Germany	David Thursfield President & CEO Ford Europe   Also Ford USA William Clay Ford Junior Chairman James P Vondale Director of Safety and Environmental Engineering   Dr. Wolfgang G. Schneider Vice President	Ford May 2002 + Nov 2003	Ford response 2002
Saab Great Britain Ltd Fieldhouse Lane Globe Park Marlow Bucks  SL7 1LY	Jonathan Nash Managing Director	Saab 1999 + Oct 2003
Vauxhall Motor Company Osbourne House Griffin road Luton Beds LU1 3YT	Kevin Wale Managing Director     01582 427200	Vauxhall Oct 2003
Land Rover Ltd. Lode Lane Solihull West Midlands B92 8NW	Bob Dover, chairman and chief executive of Land Rover.	Land Rover Oct 2003
Toyota GB Ltd The Quadrangle Redhill Surrey  RH1 1PX	Mr. R. Graham Smith, Managing Director and CHAIRMAN Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership 01737 768585	Toyota Oct 2003
Colt Car Company Limited Watermoor Cirencester Gloucester GL7 1LF	David Miles General Manager Press and Public Affairs.	As Toyota
Fiat Auto UK Limited Fiat House 266 Bath road Slough SL1 4HJ	Mr Massimo Toso Managing Director   01753 511 431	As Toyota
Nissan Motor (GB) Limited The Rivers Office Park Denham Way Maple Cross Rickmansworth Herts  WD3 2YS	Brian Carolin Managing Director	As Toyota
Honda UK Ltd. 4 Power Road Chiswick London W4 5YT	Mr Ken Keir Chief Executive   Stephen Hollings Marketing Director	As Toyota
Hyundai Car (UK) Ltd. St. Johns Place Easton Street High Wycombe Bucks HP11 1NN	Mr David Walker Managing Director	As Toyota
Subaru (UK) Ltd Ryder St, West Bromwich West Midlands  B70 0EJ	Sam Burton Managing Director	As Toyota
Bentley Motors Limited Crewe Cheshire CW1 3PL	Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen Chief Executive 01270 255155	As Toyota
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited Stane Street Westhampnett Chichester West Sussex PO18 0PA	Graham Biggs Head of Corporate Communications	As Toyota
Caterham Cars Limited Station Avenue Caterham Surrey  CR3 6LB	Simon Nearn Managing Directo	As Toyota
Peugeot Citroen Automobiles UK PO box 227 Aldermoor House Aldermoor Lane Coventry  CV3 1LT	Mr Tod Evans Chairman     01203 884000	As Toyota
Renault UK Limited The Rivers Office Park Denham Way Maple Cross Rickmansworth Herts  WD3 2YS	Andrew Boyle Press Officer	As Toyota