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Probably not such a hot idea to just have the headlights on. That was allowed by the original DRL specs in Canada. Too many people would forget to turn their lighting system fully on at dusk and would drive around at night totally oblivious to not having any side or tail lights. Score +1 for daylight safety, -1 for night safety. Some manufacturers (and many aftermarket systems) also ran the headlamps at a reduced intensity to lighten the electrical load. This only made matters worse at night. I don't think Volvo ever adopted this method, but went straight to the current DRL standard which has all lights on.
If you've got a headlamp relay then it should be possible to re-wire a system to some form of DRL without having to have the magical DRL light switch. Basically you just run power to the switch through the ignition rather than direct from the battery.
Steve, I congratulate you on being a DRL believer. It does make a difference and I'm sure has saved me and others from having an encounter of the metal-to-metal kind on more than one occasion. From my perspective, about the only real downside to DRL is you can't easily tell where a funeral procession ends. Well, that and those times I drive older cars without DRL as I tend to leave with the lights still on.
Why should we be paying premiums to help cover insurance on those ghost cars with drab paint, tinted windows and no chrome that can't be seen without DRL? It even seems fair to me to hold such people at least partially to blame for any accidents they get into for not being prudent enough to take reasonable, proven, precautionary measures.
People who don't believe in DRL are like people who don't believe in wearing seat belts or bike helmets, mostly they just don't like being told what to do. It's not like it requires any additional effort on their part. Natural selection will eventually eliminate such thinking.
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