Driving with parking lights

Beebaa

I've reached that age in life... grumpy ole man... and want your opinions on a pet peeve of mine.

I cannot understand the mentality of people who drive at night with only parking lights on. travelling with the illumination strength of T-lights on a vehicle doesn't make sense. I wonder are these people wannabe Star Trek Romulans who want to drive cloaked, or are they just misers!

What do ya'all think?

Tallon

It's better than not having any on, the only danger is, they forget come dusk and thats when the anger kicks in :mad:

hiscan

I have started to notice this a lot lately but what I find worse than that is when they do the very same thing in heavy fog,at least when they do it in the dark you can see them from a distance but in the fog they are up on top of you before you can see them:eek:

johnos1984

I love it when they have the combined illumination of the parking lights and front fog lights :rolleyes:

I think they are afraid to wear the bulbs out and a full load of electricity now costs a fortune after the budget.

Come on guys economy motoring at all.

BTW these people usually have a brake light or rear light not working also

Alanstrainor

It's quite simple, i would say a lot of these people don't know what they're doing. They see lights on their dash and off they go. Pretty much zero thought goes into it...i'm not a grumpy ole man, just a grumpy young fella!

johnos1984

Alanstrainor wrote: »

It's quite simple, i would say a lot of these people don't know what they're doing. They see lights on their dash and off they go. Pretty much zero thought goes into it...i'm not a grumpy ole man, just a grumpy young fella!

Its a pity cars don't come with a 'check retard behind the steering wheel' warning light.

Garages would make a mint out of resetting it

Nonoperational

I turn on my front fogs sometimes. I know I shouldn't but I do.

-Corkie-

I see this all the time even with trucks and buses...:(

I never use the front fogs tbh. I dont think I ever even turned them on. I have my switch on Auto so when dusk comes the lights come on.

BTW I nearly forgot I met a car last nite and met a car coming with the fulls on. OK I gave him a chance then I gave him a small flash. Still wouldnt dim so I flashed again.

He dims and low and behold he had no dims whatsoever only parking lights. He put on the fulls again before he passed me. He knows how strong Xenons are now..:mad:

Alanstrainor

gpf101 wrote: »

I turn on my front fogs sometimes. I know I shouldn't but I do.

Let's not let this thread turn into a foglight thread.

Nonoperational

Sorry.

Joey the lips

I am guessing slowly there main bulbs have gone and they have not noticed and now they are only left with parking lights.

Alanstrainor

Joey the lips wrote: »

I am guessing slowly there main bulbs have gone and they have not noticed and now they are only left with parking lights.

I would doubt this is the case; maybe the odd one has both main bulbs gone, but i've given a quick flash of the fulls to these people and a lot, not all, will flick on there lights after this.

corktina

it should be impossible to drive on parking lights.Cant be that difficult to rig them so they go out when the engine starts.

Tallon

It is possible, and installed on most new cars...

T-Maxx

Driving with parking lights on is IMO a sure sign that the driver is even thicker than if he/she had no lights on at all. Sometimes it's easy to forget to turn the lights on, but these people actually remember to do so, but then instead only turn the parking lights on...:rolleyes:

Absurdum

-Corkie- wrote: »

BTW I nearly forgot I met a car last nite and met a car coming with the fulls on. OK I gave him a chance then I gave him a small flash. Still wouldnt dim so I flashed again.

He dims and low and behold he had no dims whatsoever only parking lights. He put on the fulls again before he passed me. He knows how strong Xenons are now..:mad:

I saw a van doing the same on the M1 one night last week, he had his full beams on, turned them off just before he sped past me to reveal one parking light, and at the back he had one foglight working :rolleyes:

Tallon

I actually did it a few times because when I went to turn in an estate, I would turn them on so I wasn't blinding neighbours, then forget to put the heads back on

dr.fuzzenstein

Don't forget the classic "One front light out and one front fog light out", so they turn on lights+fogs to make up full compliment of lights. Looks crooked of course, but just consider the cost of bulbs these days!

corktina

Tallon wrote: »

It is possible, and installed on most new cars...

it should be BY LAW I mean

Tallon

Wouldn't work on most old cars

**Timbuk2**

Sorry to sound stupid, but what are sidelights even for? I don't think I've ever used them.

Obviously not driving. But surely parking with sidelights on will result in your battery being worn out, and thus not being able to start the car again! Is it just for if a car pulls over to the side of the road for a few minutes? My car doesn't have that feature where you can leave the 'indicator' on which results in one light only being illuminated when you park.

Beebaa

Hi All,
Thanks for your comments.
I was hoping someone who actually does drive only with sidelights on would come and explain their reasons, but no-one has, yet!

When I started driving, in pre-alternator days, there was a risk of battery drain if head-lights were left on for long periods. But nowadays this is not a factor, or excuse. As for wearing out bulbs... is being invisible to other road users worth the few euro for replacements every couple of years?

dr.fuzzenstein

Beebaa wrote: »

When I started driving, in pre-alternator days...

Jaysus, that's a while ago, we're talking crash-boxes, choke knobs, needing to turn a valve on the air intake from "summer" to "winter", grease nipples, batteries that could be opened and the lead plates and acid replaced, drum brakes all round, ah, them where the days!;)

antodeco

^^ My mini is like that :-D I still turn on my lights though. Disconnect the battery when I stop, so ill always have power :pac:

Ush1

gpf101 wrote: »

I turn on my front fogs sometimes. I know I shouldn't but I do.

My girlfriend thought hers were "sports" lights. The salesman told her so.:rolleyes:

mikemac

johnos1984 wrote: »

I love it when they have the combined illumination of the parking lights and front fog lights :rolleyes:

Stereotypes are not always good for debates but from what I see, there a hell of a lot of Nissan Micra drivers out there with this combination

JustAddWater

and having to lead your own petrol :P

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Jaysus, that's a while ago, we're talking crash-boxes, choke knobs, needing to turn a valve on the air intake from "summer" to "winter", grease nipples, batteries that could be opened and the lead plates and acid replaced, drum brakes all round, ah, them where the days!;)

Turbulent Bill

Alanstrainor wrote: »

It's quite simple, i would say a lot of these people don't know what they're doing. They see lights on their dash and off they go. Pretty much zero thought goes into it...i'm not a grumpy ole man, just a grumpy young fella!

For a degree of idiot-proofing, the manufacturers should have the instrument panel lights really dim when the parking lights are on, and only go back to 'normal' illumination when the dips are used. If you can't see the instruments properly, then other driver's can't see you either...

Idleater

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

For a degree of idiot-proofing, the manufacturers should have the instrument panel lights really dim when the parking lights are on, and only go back to 'normal' illumination when the dips are used. If you can't see the instruments properly, then other driver's can't see you either...

Again, retrofitting/imposing this solution is the difficulty.

My new car has that, and my old 2000 one did too, so it's not a guaranteed solution.

Atomic Pineapple

I'm 95% certain that its actually illegal to drive with just your parking lights on, yet another rule that the gardai fail to police.

Alanstrainor

draffodx wrote: »

I'm 95% certain that its actually illegal to drive with just your parking lights on, yet another rule that the gardai fail to police.

Yeah that would be my understanding too. I remember hearing someone on here, being done for it driving through the port tunnel! That's the only ever case i've heard of that though.