driving without headlamps at night

[stargazer30]

Okay its getting dark early as it winter and every year you see the odd few mongs driving with no lights on. This year however IQs seem to have dropped sharply up here in the North East. Every time I go out once its dull/dark I see at least one of em driving without any lights on and at least three with just side lamps on when its pretty much night!

Seriously how hard can it be?

PS that's not counting the hard core twits doing the side light and fog lamp 'cause its cool init.

[thinfourth2]

In the olden days car had a clever feature that when you switched the headlights on the dash lighting came on

Now in the modern cool cars the dashboard is backlit during the day and when you switch the headlights on it becomes dimmer.


Add in the extra bright street lights and its perfectly possible to drive around without any headlights on and have absolutely no idea

[Arun_D]

True, though in some cars the dial illumination dims as the outside ambient light fades, as a reminder. Did on my mum's old A4 cab, anyway.

Plenty of twits out there forgetting, however. It's very true

[M5 Russ]

I am seeing this more and more often. Just don't understand how you can forget to to turn your lights on when it's pitch black and raining yeti still see idiots doing just that.
Maybe an automatic 1 month ban would help those remember

[Fox-]

I once drove from a mall in Tampa to the hotel in awful rain. It was pretty dark as well. I commented to the GF about all the muppets who hadn't bothered to switch lights on in such terrible conditions.

I then arrived back into the hotel carpark and realised I didnt have my lights on either - yet the entire dash was lit up like I had...

[cragswinter]

Seriously, my 350z had those illuminated dials & guaranteed at least once a week I would be caught driving through a lit pedestrian area with no lights on.

So fking annoying & really a rediculous bit of design. They simply should not be on a car that doesn't have auto lights.

[B3njamin]

thinfourth2 said:

In the olden days car had a clever feature that when you switched the headlights on the dash lighting came on

Now in the modern cool cars the dashboard is backlit during the day and when you switch the headlights on it becomes dimmer.


Add in the extra bright street lights and its perfectly possible to drive around without any headlights on and have absolutely no idea

This. I once had a rather embarrassing conversation with a pair of police officers whilst driving the new shape Civic. The officers seemed concerned that I was driving in the evening without lights and suspected chemical impairment. As said, with the dash lights auto-illuminated even though the lights were turned off and street lights almost everywhere, I'd driven for five minutes none the wiser that my lights were off; although even with them turned on, from the driver seat, the difference was negligible.

[greendiff]

per the highway code...

113 You MUST

ensure all sidelights and rear registration plate lights are lit between sunset and sunrise
use headlights at night, except on a road which has lit street lighting. These roads are generally restricted to a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) unless otherwise specified
use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226)

Night (the hours of darkness) is defined as the period between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise). [Laws RVLR regs 3, 24, & 25, (In Scotland - RTRA 1984 sect 82 (as amended by NRSWA, para 59 of sched 8))]

[Funk]

Make auto lights mandatory on new cars and eventually the problem will be solved. If people aren't clever enough to turn on their own lights (for the safety of others as much as anything) then automatic lights would solve the issue.

[spoodler]

Funk said:

Make auto lights mandatory on new cars and eventually the problem will be solved. If people aren't clever enough to turn on their own lights (for the safety of others as much as anything) then automatic lights would solve the issue.

No. No. No.

If people are too stupid to turn on their lights when it gets dark taking their licence away would solve the issue. You'll be wanting the car to park itself for them next, or tell them the route or brake for obstacles...oh...
No wonder they don't bother looking for pedestrians or motorcyclists, or signalling, or thinking!

[Zwolf]

thinfourth2 said:

Now in the modern cool cars the dashboard is backlit during the day and when you switch the headlights on it becomes dimmer.

Must be some st car if it does that. Plus, most cars I've drive going back to about 20 years old have an adjuster for the brightness of the instrument lighting. Adjusting is independent of what happens to the headlights and vice-versa.

[Funk]

spoodler said:

Funk said:

Make auto lights mandatory on new cars and eventually the problem will be solved. If people aren't clever enough to turn on their own lights (for the safety of others as much as anything) then automatic lights would solve the issue.

No. No. No.

If people are too stupid to turn on their lights when it gets dark taking their licence away would solve the issue. You'll be wanting the car to park itself for them next, or tell them the route or brake for obstacles...oh...
No wonder they don't bother looking for pedestrians or motorcyclists, or signalling, or thinking!

Since they're not going to be taken off the roads, we may as well use the tech at our disposal to protect the rest of us from them as much as we can.

[XDA]

Lets not also forget those with DRL's who fail to switch head/sidelights on!

Twice last week I drove past the same Citreon DS3 that was driving around with only it's DRL's on. This was on an unlit country road early in the morning. Cant work out whether it's deliberate or the drivers just retarded.

Also drove past an Audi just driving with it's DRL's on.

Surely people aren't using DRL's as a substitute for "normal" lights?

[Eighteeteewhy]

Has anyone heard the story about some RAF guys driving using night vision goggles......

[McSam]

Zwolf said:

thinfourth2 said:

Now in the modern cool cars the dashboard is backlit during the day and when you switch the headlights on it becomes dimmer.

Must be some st car if it does that. Plus, most cars I've drive going back to about 20 years old have an adjuster for the brightness of the instrument lighting. Adjusting is independent of what happens to the headlights and vice-versa.

Oh, cheers mate! My main instrument lights don't dim when I turn the side/headlights on, but the controls for climate, foglights, and all the other buttons around the dash do. The idea being that while they're bright enough to be seen in daylight, they then do not blind you by lighting up the whole cabin in the dark. Obvious, no? The thing is that in my car, the instrument pod is behind the cowling so, logically enough, doesn't need lighting up in the day. This also means that I can't see it at night unless I turn my lights on.

Modern cars, with constantly lit dashboards, cause a lot of people to forget..