The number of personal injury road accidents in which a ‘vehicle defect’ was a contributory factor reported by the attending police officer, are given in the following table:
Data prior to 2005 are not available. Information on damage only accidents is not collected.
Contributory factor 1Number of accidents Tyres illegal, defective or under inflated 1,128 Defective lights or indicators 282 Defective brakes 934 Defective steering or suspension 338 Defective or missing mirrors 19 Overloaded or poorly loaded vehicle or trailer 369 Any vehicle defects2 2,937 1 Only includes accidents where a police officer attended the scene 2 Does not add up to the sum of the factors above as an accident may have more than one factor
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the effect of daytime running lights on motorcycle accident numbers.
However, we recently asked TRL Ltd. to review the daytime running light study carried out by the European Commission. Their review highlighted several issues including a potential reduction in the conspicuity of motorcycles.
We have raised these concerns with the European Commission and will continue to oppose mandatory daytime headlamp use.