Running Lights

For those of you that don't know; the EU has imposed a new regulation that from 2012 all new vehicles will have to use daytime running lights. You may remember that a few years back they suggested that all bikes had thier headlights on permanently to make it easier for people to see us. So is this new regulation designed to make us more difficult to see again? Will riders just be lost in a sea of lights?
The idea is that having daytime running lights will make vehicles easier to spot - for whom I wonder? As a pedestrian or cyclist if you can't spot a truck, bus or car coming down the street then getting out of the house is likley to be far more of a challenge than crossing the road.
Other drivers and riders who can't make out a vehicle will have issues finding their own and therefore wont be on the road anyway...
So really why are these daytime running lights being imposed? Surely the money would be better spent making drivers and riders have regular eye exams and reaction time tests? Feel free to write to your MP or even the Under secretary of state for road safety and ask him... I have. I'll let you know what, if anything, he says...