It may also be from rule statements that say "display all external lights", which would include position lights, technically wing lights and so on. Lights during the day can actually distort distance judgement, which is why I'm not a fan of driving lights on cars. Makes it harder to judge gaps in broad daylight, some drivers will take it cautious and stop for longer, others will take the risk and just go anyway, who cares who's right, its and accident anyway. The light is also on the fuselage, not the wingtip, so dazzeling you up to 50 meters from where the collision point is side on might be counter intuitive. Places like Sydney there are lights everywhere, so adding to the confused mess does not help, and if you can't see the broadside of a white and red 737 within 100 mt of it how the hell did you pass a medical.
Position lights for night operations are also supposed to aid the observer in telling direction of travel, adding odd unnecessary lights could confuse this ability, hence why anti collision lights flash/strobe as well.
Last edited by 43Inches; 21st Oct 2022 at 23:57.