Phantom Vehicles Questions & Curiosities

Today’s topic is “Phantom Vehicles”.
So, what does that mean?
Some of you may already know what a Phantom Vehicle is, but for others it needs an explanation.
A Phantom Vehicle is a car, or an SUV, or a truck, or any vehicle that has no visible taillights, while driving at night, or in darkened conditions.
Vehicles that drive in the dark with no visible taillights pose a huge safety risk since they are difficult to be seen by following vehicles in low-light or darkened conditions.
When I’m out very early morning or late at night walking the dog, I see several vehicles that have no taillights and when they pass me, they seem to just disappear, just like the Phantom of the Opera.
So, how is it that these drivers aren’t aware that they’re driving with no illuminated taillights?
Well, in Canada, the problem started in 1989 when Canada became the first country to mandate daytime running lights on all vehicles, on all roads, all year round because there was a perception that vehicles would be more visible to on-coming traffic.  
Since then, studies have shown that daytime running lights have reduced two-vehicle crashes by between 5 & 15 percent, according to three Canadian studies from the 1990’s, which two of them were done by Transport Canada.
But the studies didn’t address the new problem that the mandated daytime running lights have created, which is, rear-end collisions, in darkened conditions, with no visible taillights.
In fact, there has NOT been any committed effort, across Canada, to record the number of incidents or accidents caused by having no visible taillights.
Transport Canada says they continuously receive many letters from the driving public raising concerns about the increasing number of phantom vehicles on the roads, warning about the dangers of vehicles that travel in the dark without their taillights illuminated, making them hard to spot.
So, getting back to the question, “How is it that these drivers aren’t aware that they are driving with no illuminated taillights?”
The answer is fairly simple.
The auto manufacturers complied with Canada’s laws making daytime running lights mandatory when the car’s ignition is turn on.
However, since then, many auto manufacturers have added dashboard lights that are always on where the ignition is turned on.
Not sure of the manufacturers reason for this.
So, the combination of always-on daytime running headlights, which are at a dimmer level than full headlights, and illuminated dashboard lights, has introduced a new danger:  in that vehicles are now invisible, in the rear, in darkened conditions, because the drivers forgot to manually switch on their lights to full headlight and taillight visibility.
To summarize the problem:
A driver hops in their vehicle early morning, or at night, when it is dark outside.
The driver turns on the ignition to start the vehicle.
The vehicle’s daytime running lights turn on, as well as, the dashboard becomes illuminated.
The driver can now easily see his dashboard and some illumination from the headlights.
So off they go, driving to work or wherever.
What they forget is that they have not fully turned on the headlights, which will also turn on the taillights, which creates more front-end visibility and rear-end visibility for other motorists.
Having the dashboards light up in all lighting conditions gives the driver a false sense of the true operating conditions of the front and rear lights.
All the driver sees is that they have some headlight and dashboard illumination, so off they go.
In 2016 Transport Canada issued proposed regulations that would require manufacturers to install systems to ensure rear lights are also on if automatic dashboard lights are on, or automatic activation of all lights when it gets dark.
There seemed to be some push-back from the