Lights on while it's sunny

BlackWizard

So should cars be encouraged to drive with lights on when the sun is splitting the skies?

I see a lot of people with sun glasses on and I don't think they can see other drivers that well.

A few occasions today I've seen cars swerve to avoid oncoming cars. It's a very weird thing to see because there is no sign of them playing with their phone or the radio which causes them to drive on the white line or over it. I'd be behind them on my bike so I ususally notice everything they are doing. It's scary to look at someone confidently driving towards another car.

Is DRL mandatory now?

The_Nipper_One

It's not mandatory, but is encouraged in the RoR.

I personally think it's a good idea, and always do it myself in any weather. It's just a habit at this point for me.

coylemj

BlackWizard wrote: »

A few occasions today I've seen cars swerve to avoid oncoming cars.

If they drove as close to the left side of the road as possible which they are required to do by law, they wouldn't need to 'swerve' to avoid oncoming traffic.

In urban environments virtually every car on the road these days hogs the centre line and only pulls over at the last minute, even when there's no cars parked on their side of the road and they can clearly see that the guy coming towards them will have to pull out to avoid parked cars. SUVs are the worst for this behaviour.

Rant over.

johndaman66

As and aside from whether or not one should drive with their lights on or not while its sunny a driver really shouldn't be on the road if they are as sloppy as you describe with a bit of sunshine. Put on a pair of sunglasses, pull down the sun-blind....If you are depending on oncoming traffics headlights to save you then thats not good enough get of the road. Remember animals or pedestrians don't have headlights...

naughtysmurf

What puts me off having the lights on all the time is how f***ing difficult it is to change the bulbs which I presume will be more often if they are on all the time

Supergurrier

Any visability is good visability.

Had 1 or 2 near misses at blind spots in junctions because of cars with no dims/drls, with them on you will 100% be seen.

No brainer for me anyway i put them on by default same as my seatbelt even if going half a mile.

Marcin_diy

naughtysmurf wrote: »

What puts me off having the lights on all the time is how f***ing difficult it is to change the bulbs which I presume will be more often if they are on all the time

If changing a bulb is so difficult for you, maybe you shouldn't drive then......


@op. You can't ask people to drive with their lights on when it issunny if half of drivers dont use lights when it is dark or raining..

When it's sunny and your driving on a road that has heavy trees overhead, having the lights on is a really good idea. Some cars become invisible in that situation.

I like to have the side lights on most of the time unless I'm driving in a well lit clear area. Sometimes people flash me though to tell me I've got them on...

jimgoose

I have my driver's seat mounted backwards. I use a little periscope with a fiendishly clever lens arrangement to observe the shenanigans in the correct direction. The really tricky bit is steering to the correct side each time with your arms pointing the wrong way. But ai haz da skillaz. :cool:

Bandara

Marcin_diy wrote: »

If changing a bulb is so difficult for you, maybe you shouldn't drive then......


@op. You can't ask people to drive with their lights on when it issunny if half of drivers dont use lights when it is dark or raining..

You obviously have no clue about what's required in some newer cars to change a bulb.

Supergurrier

Hammertime wrote: »

You obviously have no clue about what's required in some newer cars to change a bulb.

Just don't buy a renault megane and it's easy

Odelay

Marcin_diy wrote: »

If changing a bulb is so difficult for you, maybe you shouldn't drive then.......

On some models they can be a cause of immense frustration, should be mandatory that no special tools are needed and the change can be completed in under five mins on a driveway on a winter evening.

There are some that you would nearly need to remove the back seats to change a front bulb:rolleyes:

.jacksparrow.

What amazes me ,well not anymore, is the amount of people on the m50 in lashings of rain
With no lights on, when visibility is so poor, such incompetent drivers out there.

Autosport

It is a good idea alright but in this country it wouldn't work.

CiniO

naughtysmurf wrote: »

What puts me off having the lights on all the time is how f***ing difficult it is to change the bulbs which I presume will be more often if they are on all the time

Install aftermarket DRL's then.

Nissan doctor

Odelay wrote: »

On some models they can be a cause of immense frustration, should be mandatory that no special tools are needed and the change can be completed in under five mins on a driveway on a winter evening.

There are some that you would nearly need to remove the back seats to change a front bulb:rolleyes:

It is mandatory that any bulbs(HID and longlife bulbs aside) can be changed with the tools supplied in the cars tool kit from the factory.

On some cars though, this still dosn't mean its easy.


And people keep mentioning Megans as being difficult(probably mostly due to certain online video's), Your turn the wheel, open a little hatch and then change the bulb as you would any other.

ba_barabus

Nissan doctor wrote: »

And people keep mentioning Megans as being difficult(probably mostly due to certain online video's), Your turn the wheel, open a little hatch and then change the bulb as you would any other.

My Rover 75 had the same method and it was pleasantly easy, unlike my Passat.

Matt Simis

Sacramento wrote: »

When it's sunny and your driving on a road that has heavy trees overhead, having the lights on is a really good idea. Some cars become invisible in that situation.

Yes this, really strong sunlight = really dark shadows.

naughtysmurf

Nissan doctor wrote: »

And people keep mentioning Megans as being difficult,You turn the wheel, open a little hatch and then change the bulb as you would any other.

Sometimes I get lucky and have it done in a few minutes, there have been other times when I've been fannying around with it a lot longer, depending on the conditions, not being able to see what you are doing has it's disadvantages

Resting the side of your face on the engine while trying to properly clip the bulb in place helps to see what you are doing although not to be recommended when the engine is hot, tingles a little afterwards :D

ProudDUB

DRL's are great. I had them in my old car in the US & I really miss not having them here. They came on when I turned the key in the ignition, and they went off when I turned it off, or I turned my regular lights on. Easy peasy !

They were great for driving in day light situations, where it wasn't really dark enough to warrant having your lights on at full blast, but having a wee bit of extra light was good, such as being in a multi story car park, or during rain. In nearly 20 years of driving, I never once left the lights in my car on by accident. In one year of driving in Ireland, it has happened 3 times, where I had to put my lights on, usually during rain. Then I forgot that I had them on, or when I got to my destination it was so bright again, I couldn't see that they were on, so I came back hours later to a drained battery. :mad:

The power of my DRL's was less than half of my normal lights were. They are the norm in the US, and I never had a problem with cars coming towards me that had them on. If someone did, I'd tell them to get their eyes checked, as they are the problem and not the DRL's in other cars.

blastman

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

What amazes me ,well not anymore, is the amount of people on the m50 in lashings of rain
With no lights on, when visibility is so poor, such incompetent drivers out there.

This

I've seen more cars with lights on in the last couple of days than I do on dark, wet mornings in December :rolleyes:

_Kaiser_

In the Passat I always drove with the dipped lights on regardless of the weather or time of day. Started doing it years ago and immediately noticed a difference in that other drivers - and especially pedestrians - weren't as quick to do silly thing as they might have previously.

In the A6 it has Auto lights which seem to work well - and you'll all be glad to know I don't use the front fo*s as improvised DRLs

I have to agree though that the Passat was a pain to change the bulbs on, and from reading online the A6 isn't much better/worse? .. oh well!

Pique

I personally use dipped beams almost all the time.
On the bike they come on automatically and can't be turned off.

If I had my way I'd ban sidelights or at least only make it possible to have them on when the car is off. So many people seem to see a lit dash and assume their lights are on and people can see them. Yeah bud, a 5w bulb in a tiny housing with pathetic reflection is easily seen at 6pm in January!!
LED or CFL DRLs are much better.

Viper_JB

BlackWizard wrote: »

So should cars be encouraged to drive with lights on when the sun is splitting the skies?

I see a lot of people with sun glasses on and I don't think they can see other drivers that well.

A few occasions today I've seen cars swerve to avoid oncoming cars. It's a very weird thing to see because there is no sign of them playing with their phone or the radio which causes them to drive on the white line or over it. I'd be behind them on my bike so I ususally notice everything they are doing. It's scary to look at someone confidently driving towards another car.

Is DRL mandatory now?

DRLs are a great idea and I think they're mandatory for any cars produced after a certain date. But the whole driving on the white line issue is a problem entirely onto itself, which actually seems to be getting worse and worse, have met a number of cars taking short corners on blind bends and nearly meeting me head on on the other side of the corner, nearly always SUV's or big AWD's.

Victor Meldrew

Marcin_diy wrote: »

If changing a bulb is so difficult for you, maybe you shouldn't drive then......

@op. You can't ask people to drive with their lights on when it is sunny if half of drivers dont use lights when it is dark or raining..

Try changing a bulb in a Megane, Vectra, (two utter pigs from past experience) in fact, many cars, where access is really difficult. Yes, you may be required to carry bulbs in some EU countries, but good luck actually changing them in many cases.

Marlow

ProudDUB wrote: »

DRL's are great. I had them in my old car in the US & I really miss not having them here. They came on when I turned the key in the ignition, and they went off when I turned it off, or I turned my regular lights on. Easy peasy !

In the US, if not specific DRLs are fitted, it's your high beam at 30% light that comes on.

In Scandinavia, your low beam and rear lights have to come on with ignition (both Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland). It's a over 100 EUR fine, if you get caught without lights on, even at day.

Most cars have the feature. It's just a matter of get it re-coded. For example, most BMWs after '98/'99 can be recoded by standard without any change of parts. VW after '04 also should have the feature by default, but disabled. Volvo's obviously have it since god knows when and it could be turned on with as little hassle as using a screwdriver.

Anyhow, visibility is at least trippled, when people turn their low beams on at daylight.

As for what people call sidelights .. Those are not side lights. They are parking lights ... and that's all they are for. People can see you from behind easier, but from the front, they can't see you at all at daytime.

Turn on the low beam. Parking lights are useless in daylight.

/M

BohsCeltic

I drive all the time with dipped beams on, just a habit i picked up from when i used to have a mopped years ago

Marcin_diy

Victor Meldrew wrote: »

Try changing a bulb in a Megane, Vectra, (two utter pigs from past experience) in fact, many cars, where access is really difficult. Yes, you may be required to carry bulbs in some EU countries, but good luck actually changing them in many cases.

Is it worth to buy and drive a car where you can't even change a bulb?
If it is so difficult how problematic must be any other fault....

_Kaiser_

Marcin_diy wrote: »

Is it worth to buy and drive a car where you can't even change a bulb?
If it is so difficult how problematic must be any other fault....

A lot of newer standard cars have this problem. It's either impossible without stripping down half the front-end, or is so awkward you'd need the hands of a child to get at the bulbs in many cases.

If you were to dismiss these cars because of this I'd wager there wouldn't be much left to choose from.

Me I just persevered with the Passat and despite it being awkward, I managed. Haven't tried the A6 yet but it looks like bits need to be taken out first

yop

Have the day lights on the car so not an issue. I can only imagine what its going to be like to change the bulb

Marcin_diy

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

A lot of newer standard cars have this problem. It's either impossible without stripping down half the front-end, or is so awkward you'd need the hands of a child to get at the bulbs in many cases.

If you were to dismiss these cars because of this I'd wager there wouldn't be much left to choose from.

Me I just persevered with the Passat and despite it being awkward, I managed. Haven't tried the A6 yet but it looks like bits need to be taken out first

If you dismiss these cars manufacturers will change their sick minds quickly. If it stays like it is they will think that people love to remove front of the car to change a bulb and love to spend money in garage only to have bulb replaced.

joujoujou

Marcin_diy wrote: »

If you dismiss these cars manufacturers will change their sick minds quickly. [...]

As long as a car's price is the factor, that will not happen, I'm afraid.

Top Dog

naughtysmurf wrote: »

What puts me off having the lights on all the time is how f***ing difficult it is to change the bulbs which I presume will be more often if they are on all the time

You might be surprised. I've the low beam on 95% of the time I'm driving. Over the last 40k miles. Not had to replace a headlight bulb yet

keithclancy

Nissan doctor wrote: »

It is mandatory that any bulbs(HID and longlife bulbs aside) can be changed with the tools supplied in the cars tool kit from the factory.

On some cars though, this still dosn't mean its easy.


And people keep mentioning Megans as being difficult(probably mostly due to certain online video's), Your turn the wheel, open a little hatch and then change the bulb as you would any other.

Aww yeah ... Polo is dead easy:

billbond4

I always drive with my Dipped headlights on and install HIDs on my cars as they are better than halogen bulbs, but fecking Passat headlights are krud.

Anyway I remember reading an article that one year all new Eircom vehicles with wired to have DRLs and that year the number of accident involving Eircom vehicles reduced.
So what do you think Eircom did the year after.......
Removed the requirement for DRL in new Eircom vehicles, great thinking !!

Wetbench4

keithclancy wrote: »

Aww yeah ... Polo is dead easy:

:eek: Wow, is that a pisstake? Threads like this make me glad i drive a volvo (which has front back and side drl's) which you don't even need any tools to change the bulbs.Its just a latch you slide out with your hand, and the whole front light pops out. Whoever designed a car, which needs to go to a mechanic to get the front light bulb changed, should be shot.

secondrowgal

I think that DRLs are a great idea except for one thing - they are only on the front of the car! Then in the evening/night time, the amount of drivers I have come across from behind (ooer missus!) with no lights on is quite frightening!! Just because the DRLs are on doesn't mean that you have lights!

I always drive with my dipped headlights also. In 6 years I've not yet had to change a headlight bulb (fingers crossed for tempting fate...).

And don't get me STARTED on "spots" - they're fog lights! Turn them off FFS

RobAMerc

I think the fact there hasn't been a law passed here in Ireland or at least a campaign to have drivers use dipped headlights all the time during daylight savings etc just shows the lack of any actual understanding or care from our authorities outside of a lazy and simplistic "Slow Down" horse sh1t campaign.
(Although I firmly believe its use is to justify a "speed tax" revenue generation campaign).

Anyway - I saw a cop bike happily sail past a car driving with no lights the other night at 10.20 - a full 30 mins after sunset ! There mustn't be a revenue stream in it to make it worth Garda enforcement.

Marlow

RobAMerc wrote: »

I think the fact there hasn't been a law passed here in Ireland or at least a campaign to have drivers use dipped headlights all the time during daylight savings etc just shows the lack of any actual understanding or care from our authorities outside of a lazy and simplistic "Slow Down" horse sh1t campaign.

There has been a campaign either last year or earlier this year. Mainly radio ad's. I remember hearing the ads and thinking: good stuff.

http://www.rsa.ie/RSA/Road-Safety/Campaigns/Current-road-safety-campaigns/Daytime-running-lights/

Problem is, it's not sinking in with people.

/M

Victor Meldrew

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

A lot of newer standard cars have this problem. It's either impossible without stripping down half the front-end, or is so awkward you'd need the hands of a child to get at the bulbs in many cases.

If you were to dismiss these cars because of this I'd wager there wouldn't be much left to choose from.

Me I just persevered with the Passat and despite it being awkward, I managed. Haven't tried the A6 yet but it looks like bits need to be taken out first

or go to halfords and pay €7 to have the guy there do it....

Sobanek

Wetbench4 wrote: »

:eek: Wow, is that a pisstake? Threads like this make me glad i drive a volvo (which has front back and side drl's) which you don't even need any tools to change the bulbs.Its just a latch you slide out with your hand, and the whole front light pops out. Whoever designed a car, which needs to go to a mechanic to get the front light bulb changed, should be shot.

I wouldn't say it's that easy, since getting the headlight out is quite tricky. I'm always having problems with getting the left one out and back in...

jimgoose

All this hyper-impossibility regarding changing headlamp bulbs truly amazes me. On a Jag, the headlamp/indicator bulbs are on little carriers that twist-and-unclip from the back of the lamp unit. Ten second job, no tools. Fogs are a beeyotch, though - front bumper skin has to come off.

ScumLord

I follow the queues of people on the road and switch on if I see others with the lights on, I don't seem to have the same difficulties as others seeing cars in low visibility situations so it doesn't occur to me to turn on the lights as I can see perfectly well.

Nemeses

I always drive with low beams on... regardless if it is day or night, I prefer maximum visibility for me and other road users.

Accidentally drove with Full beams on during the day though.. My bad..

Larbre34

I always use sidelights, got into the habit about 10 years ago and I really noticed it yesterday driving through forests in Wicklow, the contrast between sun breaking through and shadows made it difficult enough to see things with sunglasses on, the DRLs other drivers had on made it easier

While I'm at it, if the gobsheen in the 12-D RX400h who drove behind me on the busy M11 yesterday at 8pm (still sunny) with his full beams and front fogs on despite me attempting to signal him with my hazards and rear fogs is reading this, youre a spanner. If you dont know how the switches on your chelsea tractor work you shouldnt be on the road.

heroics

I always drive with the dipped beams on. Just habit, same as putting on my seatbelt I do it without even thinking about it

Ormus

I find it distracting to see cars with their lights on during the day.

I have 20/20 vision, I can see cars easily, don't need to be shined at.

Just a personal preference.

Driving through a forest is the main exception I can think of.

scamalert

Are most people here have vision of 2/20 that you need lights on a sunny days to see incoming cars,from some posts it seems some need medical check.
And yes on most cars its huge pain in the hole to change light bulbs as some cars require to unscrew whole headlight just to get fingers in,other problem is once its done most likely you'll need to bring it over to the garage to get the lights realigned again :mad:.
Recently had to change one of the dim bulb on my mazda 01,all knuckles were bleeding afterwards as theres 0 space between sharp metals holding bumper /front,not to mention to twist it back in :cool:

Marlow

Ormus wrote: »

I find it distracting to see cars with their lights on during the day.

I have 20/20 vision, I can see cars easily, don't need to be shined at.

Just a personal preference.

Driving through a forest is the main exception I can think of.

scamalert wrote: »

Are most people here have vision of 2/20 that you need lights on a sunny days to see incoming cars,from some posts it seems some need medical check.

You two should really try and compare, how far you can see an oncoming car with and without lights.

Especially a grey or silver car over grey tarmac or when partially blinded by the sun.

There is a perfect valid reason, why having your lights turned on has been mandatory in Scandinavia for many years now.

/M

Ormus

Marlow wrote: »

You two should really try and compare, how far you can see an oncoming car with and without lights.

Especially a grey or silver car over grey tarmac or when partially blinded by the sun.

There is a perfect valid reason, why having your lights turned on has been mandatory in Scandinavia for many years now.

/M

I think I can see a car from a very long distance away, so far that, if it had lights on, if I saw the lights first, it would so far away that I wouldn't even know it was a car.

Cee-Jay-Cee

The lights on my car go on/off with the ignition so I leave them on all the time regardless of the weather. It does no harm.