Do people know they have full beam?
Discussion
Three hour night drive the other evening, mostly on fairly quiet unlit fast A roads alternating between single lane and dual carriageway.
And virtually nobody using full beam, either coming toward me or those I caught up (apart from trucks).
Add in frequent sat navs glued to the middle of the screen on full brightness beaming into their eyes and I wonder how some can see where they're going at 60mph.
Too lazy or just don't know it is there?
Must be a revelation when I switch to full beam as I pass them with my xenon's and suddenly we can see clearly four times further down the road.
Just me or have other people noticed this?
And virtually nobody using full beam, either coming toward me or those I caught up (apart from trucks).
Add in frequent sat navs glued to the middle of the screen on full brightness beaming into their eyes and I wonder how some can see where they're going at 60mph.
Too lazy or just don't know it is there?
Must be a revelation when I switch to full beam as I pass them with my xenon's and suddenly we can see clearly four times further down the road.
Just me or have other people noticed this?
Dr Jekyll said:
A large proportion of drivers don't seem to look any further ahead than the bit of road immediately in front so it probably makes no difference to them.
Same reason a lot of people seem able to drive on dual carriageways etc with only sidelights and fogs on. Because they don't look ahead much further than their own bonnet.Theres an equal amount of people though who don't know how to knock main beam off.
Ari said:
Just me or have other people noticed this?
I see this all the time.I once queried a friend who never used their main beam about it and the response was along the lines of "you need to keep flicking them on and off when a car comes the other way so it's not worth the hassle"
It annoys me further if the driver won't use main beam but will insist on using fogs.
Dr Jekyll said:
A large proportion of drivers don't seem to look any further ahead than the bit of road immediately in front so it probably makes no difference to them.
Indeed. We do a few 'get to know your vehicle' things at work for customers, it's usually an eye opener in ignorance. Fig 1:
"Had you noticed that you've been driving around with your fog lights on? That's what that extra light on the dashboard means".
"Oh, I didn't realise, I just put them on for more light, is that not safe?".
Fig 2:
"Your headlights are very badly balanced, had you not noticed other drivers flashing you a lot? You've been dazzling them."
"I don't take any notice"
Fig 3:
"Both the headlight bulbs on the nearside of your car have failed and you've been driving round with the offside high beam on to compensate, dazzling other drivers"
"So, I've got as much light with that as I had with both my other bulbs. More light, even - it's safer!".
Sadly, these examples are all real conversations I've had with customers. Many of them have had their licences a long, long time but the necessity to think has been bred out of British drivers, who think as long as they don't speed, they're fantastic drivers. Who sit to close to the car in front, don't read road signs, are constantly distracted, never drive to the conditions, take no care to look after their vehicle or maintain it's roadworthiness and respond with passive aggressive to pretty much every other road user around them.
Most of them have very little idea of how their car works. The "more light is better" thinking suits their feckless 'safety first, common sense last' attitude. Similarly, I pass plenty of drivers on unlit roads at night who are tootling along with nothing coming the other way using their dipped beam when high beam is much more appropriate.
Patrick Bateman said:
I often find this as well. As I overtake them and flick my full beam on to reveal another few hundred yards of road I do wonder if anything ever clicks with them.
My main annoyance with slower drivers not using full beams on unlit roads at night is overtaking them in the first place - how can you when they haven't given the courtesy for you to see more than 100m or so in front?McFist said:
My main annoyance with slower drivers not using full beams on unlit roads at night is overtaking them in the first place - how can you when they haven't given the courtesy for you to see more than 100m or so in front?
So you shouldn't overtake cars at night unless they have their full beam on?
p. Thing i see a lot of around here is people driving around with just daylight running lights or side lights.Baryonyx said:
Dr Jekyll said:
A large proportion of drivers don't seem to look any further ahead than the bit of road immediately in front so it probably makes no difference to them.
Indeed. We do a few 'get to know your vehicle' things at work for customers, it's usually an eye opener in ignorance. Fig 1:
"Had you noticed that you've been driving around with your fog lights on? That's what that extra light on the dashboard means".
"Oh, I didn't realise, I just put them on for more light, is that not safe?".
Fig 2:
"Your headlights are very badly balanced, had you not noticed other drivers flashing you a lot? You've been dazzling them."
"I don't take any notice"
Fig 3:
"Both the headlight bulbs on the nearside of your car have failed and you've been driving round with the offside high beam on to compensate, dazzling other drivers"
"So, I've got as much light with that as I had with both my other bulbs. More light, even - it's safer!".
Sadly, these examples are all real conversations I've had with customers. Many of them have had their licences a long, long time but the necessity to think has been bred out of British drivers, who think as long as they don't speed, they're fantastic drivers. Who sit to close to the car in front, don't read road signs, are constantly distracted, never drive to the conditions, take no care to look after their vehicle or maintain it's roadworthiness and respond with passive aggressive to pretty much every other road user around them.
Most of them have very little idea of how their car works. The "more light is better" thinking suits their feckless 'safety first, common sense last' attitude. Similarly, I pass plenty of drivers on unlit roads at night who are tootling along with nothing coming the other way using their dipped beam when high beam is much more appropriate.
Baryonyx said:
the necessity to think has been bred out of British drivers, who think as long as they don't speed, they're fantastic drivers. Who sit to close to the car in front, don't read road signs, are constantly distracted, never drive to the conditions, take no care to look after their vehicle or maintain it's roadworthiness and respond with passive aggressive to pretty much every other road user around them.
I couldn't agree more.Everything that's wrong with driving standards, instruction, gov't messages and policing summed up in one paragraph.
A couple of nights back I was stuck behind a Fiesta doing 47 in a 60 and not using their high beams. This gets two of my night goats, so I overtook it and coming alongside switched my mains on, vast improvement which deep down I hoped would make then realise they couldn't see anything.
I don't understand when the car in front dips their lights for an oncoming car, but then doesn't switch them back on again...? For those few seconds, they completely forget about seeing. Some peoples short term memory scares me...
I don't understand when the car in front dips their lights for an oncoming car, but then doesn't switch them back on again...? For those few seconds, they completely forget about seeing. Some peoples short term memory scares me...
MissChief said:
I think that since lights have become brighter people notice the difference less and less. The lights on my Leon are pretty good so I don't use full beam that often.
You might want to get your lights adjusted.No matter how bright your dipped beam, it should be dipped and, therefore, not pointing into the distance.
The forward visibility for a driver that is provided by main beam is the whole point.
If you never drive on unlit roads, you may not benefit much from full beam, but there should be a distinct difference between the two.
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