Ray Hadley leads calls for Australians to be FINED if they don’t use their car headlights during the day: ‘Make it an offence!’
- Growing calls to mandate driving with lights on at all times on Australian roads
- Ray Hadley says conditions on the road should see police enforcing headlights
- NSW Government website encourages the use of lights at all times
- NRMA said they support Hadley’s call to use them at all times but not fine drivers
There are growing calls to mandate driving with lights on as a wider effort to reduce car accidents in Australia.
2GB Radio host Ray Hadley called out Australians don’t use their vehicle’s headlights at all times of the day – particularly as a massive rainbomb makes its way down the country’s east coast.
‘I think I’m wasting my time saying keep your headlights on. I don’t know if you can make it an offence or not, but I think we need to tell people via the coppers, put your headlights on,’ he said on Wednesday morning.
There are growing calls to mandate driving with lights on as a wider effort to reduce car accidents in Australia
NSW has seen a steady decline in fatalities as a result of car accidents over the past 10 years.
The state saw 231 deaths in 1923, the previous record, with just 68,398 registered vehicles from a population of 2.2million.
Last year saw the lowest number since that year nearly a century ago, with 270 deaths with 5.8million vehicles and 8.1million residents.
‘That’s 725 people who would be missing around the family dinner table,’ Deputy Premier Paul Toole said.
‘While we’re pleased to see the road toll at a near 100-year low, even one life lost on our roads is one too many, which is why we will keep working to drive the road toll towards zero.’
Hadley said he was driving to Lake Macquarie on Tuesday to visit his grandchildren and ‘lost count’ of how many people were not only speeding but driving without their lights.
‘At varying stages as I climbed the hill over the Hawkesbury Bridge, I could barely see 50metres in front of me,’ he said.
‘People were going past me like I was nailed to the fence. In the end I gave up, people going past me with no headlights, no tail lights, I lost count of how many.
The NSW Government encourages the use of headlights during the day, saying it improves the visibility of your vehicle
The 2GB Radio host said conditions on the roads in NSW were ‘very, very dangerous’ and asked if there was more the government could be doing to ensuring people drive with their headlights on at all times.
The NSW Government encourages the use of headlights during the day, saying it improves the visibility of your vehicle.
‘Using your vehicle’s day running lights improves the likelihood of other road users seeing you,’ the government’s website reads.
‘If your vehicle is not fitted with day running lights, you can use your headlights on low beam.’
Headlights must be used between sunset and sunrise, or when you can’t see more than 100metres in front of you.
Extreme weather conditions in Australia have prompted calls to enforce headlights being used at all times while driving
Peter Khoury from the NRMA told Daily Mail Australia they agreed with Hadley’s stance on driving with headlights at all times.
‘We support Ray Hadley’s call to drive with your lights on,’ he said.
‘Make sure you’ve got your lights on in this weather, only drive if you have to, don’t drive in floodwaters, stay home.’
Mr Khoury didn’t go as far as saying lights should be mandated, but said it’s always a safe practice.
‘In terms of having people fined, police right now have a multidude of issues they’re trying to deal with, so we don’t support that,’ he said.
‘But driving with your lights on is always a good idea.’
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