When did using headlights become optional?

[tonyvid]

This year seems to have flushed out a whole rash of muppets who appear(or not!) to be trying to reduce their CO2 footprint by driving around in the gloom with no lights or just sidelights if you are lucky - what is going on!!!

Last night, I left work at 6.30pm and just about saw 6 cars on my commute up the A1 that either had no lights or sidelights(2 had just one sidelight!). One Merc was all over the lane, probably because they couldn't see.

The other night I was just about to change lane and that sixth sense kicked in that you had missed someone next to you - yep...no-light man bombing along in the outside lane - is this some sort of new deathwish game?

Add to this the increasing number of cars that have no brakelights and it's no wonder everyday has an accident somewhere on my journey A reduction in traffic cops means these people just blunder on and an accident is probably someone else's fault.

[Rawwr]

It happens at this time every year and I think people are just so used to leaving work without needing lights that they don't bother and then fail to realise how quickly it gets dark.

[colonel c]

It all balances out by others feeling the need to utilise front fog lights, especially in the rain.

[ShadownINja]

Rawwr said:

It happens at this time every year and I think people are just so used to leaving work without needing lights that they don't bother and then fail to realise how quickly it gets dark.

Probably, although if they were clever enough you'd think they would notice they're having problems seeing things clearly. Bizarre.

[Rawwr]

ShadownINja said:

if they were clever enough

Crux.

[Twincam16]

I think it's at least in part because a lot of cars have dashboard illumination that's independent of the headlights, so if there's enough ambient light outside and the instruments are lit up, some muppets assume their headlights are on. Also, the 'automatic everything' brigade assume they don't need to think and that their car should do everything for them. When it doesn't, they become a liability.

[_bondy_]

ahhh, I had to give a (W)PC a flash on the way home from work yesterday for failing to illuminate her police van in the pitch black

[ludicrous speed]

Gotta be better than the s who blind you with their cheap ebay xenons in broad daylight.

[Kateg28]

Twincam16 said:

I think it's at least in part because a lot of cars have dashboard illumination that's independent of the headlights, so if there's enough ambient light outside and the instruments are lit up, some muppets assume their headlights are on. Also, the 'automatic everything' brigade assume they don't need to think and that their car should do everything for them. When it doesn't, they become a liability.

I did exactly that last weekend at about 9p.m. although in a very well lit town. It is a 2005 Vectra that I borrowed from OH to do him a favour. My daily drive is a Mondeo and I am used to it but the Vectra dash was illuminated (and the street lights lit the road) so I had no idea why everyone kept flashing me. And the car is black so I was on serious stealth mode. Eventually it dawned on me about 9 minutes into a 10 minute journey.
Am still mortified.

[tonyvid]

Rawwr said:

ShadownINja said:

if they were clever enough

Crux.

You would have thought the fact that the dash and speedo are invisible would have prompted them.... TC16 and Kate have probably hit the nail on the head.

Edited by tonyvid on Tuesday 26th October 11:51

[Ben Hughes]

_bondy_ said:

I had to give a (W)PC a flash on the way home from work yesterday

Be careful, you can get arrested for that.

[BoRED S2upid]

I dont like to worry about simple tasks like putting my headlights on I let the car decide when its dark, it also decides when to clean the windscreen im really just sitting there listening to the stereo.

[_bondy_]

Ben Hughes said:

_bondy_ said:

I had to give a (W)PC a flash on the way home from work yesterday

Be careful, you can get arrested for that.

I half expected that after I re-read it!

[XitUp]

I was driving on the M1 and M18 on saturday in the pissing rain and I was amazed at the amount of people with no lights or just side lights on. Oh, and one guy in heavy traffic who switched his rear fogs on.

[Cost Captain]

The thing i find funny is that people are obsessed with using lights too often when they are at home (i.e. back lit tvs, endless table lamps, etc etc) but as soon as they sit in a car and their safety is more heavily dependent on how good their field of vision is they become conservative with their use of light.

[calibrax]

ShadownINja said:

Rawwr said:

It happens at this time every year and I think people are just so used to leaving work without needing lights that they don't bother and then fail to realise how quickly it gets dark.

Probably, although if they were clever enough you'd think they would notice they're having problems seeing things clearly. Bizarre.

They are seeing clearly... mainly because everyone else has their lights on! they don't realise that light are about BEING seen, not just about being able to see!

[pits]

Why should I use my lights to see where I am going when I can use everyone else's and the street lamps provided for me duh!

[idge]

BoRED S2upid said:

I dont like to worry about simple tasks like putting my headlights on I let the car decide when its dark, it also decides when to clean the windscreen im really just sitting there listening to the stereo.

If only that steering wheel would turn itself i could really relax

[TriumphVitesse]

Its the sidelights + front foglight brigade that do my head in. Why?? Just turn the dipped beam on & switch the fking front fogs off! Cheesebrains!

[XitUp]

TriumphVitesse said:

Its the sidelights + front foglight brigade that do my head in. Why?? Just turn the dipped beam on & switch the fking front fogs off! Cheesebrains!

When my mate went to look at a Fiesta ST the guy at the Ford garage said it looked ace like this. And he supported Chelsea.