Lights

First Up

Its that time of year again.

One hour trip across a wet Dublin at 6 pm yesterday. 103 cars with defective lights (I might have missed some) and about 30 bikes with no lights at all - including a tulip with a child on the back on Sean Moore Rd.

Noccy_Mondy

Oh yay another one of these threads!!

Funnily enough somehow this year I find there to be less cars with delflective lights.

First Up

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

Oh yay another one of these threads!!

Funnily enough somehow this year I find there to be less cars with delflective lights.

Don't know what you consider to be "delflective" but 103 cars with broken lights in an hour's driving is hardly a good situation.

And if it is "another" of these threads - well how about the RSA or the Gardai taking it seriously for a change?

Henry Ford III

I sometimes run a count on oncoming traffic to see how many pass me with "perfect lights".

Incredible as this may seem my record is 14.

Inappropriate lights (including the unmentionables), blown bulbs, no lights, all reset the count.

First Up

Henry Ford III wrote: »

I sometimes run a count on oncoming traffic to see how many pass me with "perfect lights".

Incredible as this may seem my record is 14.

Inappropriate lights (including the unmentionables), blown bulbs, no lights, all reset the count.

Doubt I ever got as high as fourteen. More like five.

JC01

First Up wrote: »

Don't know what you consider to be "delflective" but 103 cars with broken lights in an hour's driving is hardly a good situation.

And if it is "another" of these threads - well how about the RSA or the Gardai taking it seriously for a change?

Nah speed kills, poor visibility is perfectly safe...

Noccy_Mondy

First Up wrote: »

Don't know what you consider to be "delflective" but 103 cars with broken lights in an hour's driving is hardly a good situation.

And if it is "another" of these threads - well how about the RSA or the Gardai taking it seriously for a change?

I said that I havent found the situation to be as bad as before.

I know theres plenty of gob****es out there going around with missing bulbs, and things need to be done about it, but thread after thread of bitching about it here isn't going to get things too far....

First Up

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

I said that I havent found the situation to be as bad as before.

I know theres plenty of gob****es out there going around with missing bulbs, and things need to be done about it, but thread after thread of bitching about it here isn't going to get things too far....

That applies to about 101% of threads on Boards.

There are other avenues that can be pursued - and are.

Atlantic Dawn

Some people only notice lights gone when the 2nd one goes or when they take an overdue visit to "the money racket" NCT. I can only imagine how bad it would be if there was no NCT.

Pinch Flat

Drove back from waterford to Dublin sat night with a blown head light so hands up. Didn't notice it until I got home - maybe it just blew when I was in the streetlights.

Huge number of Defective headlights out there and people using beams on the motorway, blinding everyone going against them

But hats off to the fella I nearly ran into past Carlow - towing what looked like a trailer with office desks on it. No rear lights whatsoever at around 10pm - the flashing bike light at the rear was a nice touch though for traffic approaching at 120 kmh

filbert the fox

Car manufacturers have to take some of the blame.

Owner's manual (If ever read) advises you to contact your blah blah dealer if you need to change a bulb. That's just ridiculous.

SWMBO indoors had a bulb gone on her Clio and last Sunday i had the pleasure of changing it ......
Bumper off
Lens unit off
Change bulb
refitting in reverse order of removal.

2 hours ffs

Atlantic Dawn

filbert the fox wrote: »

er Clio and last Sunday i had the pleasure of changing it ......
Bumper off
Lens unit off
Change bulb
refitting in reverse order of removal.

2 hours ffs

And this is a French car, the same country that it's the law to carry around a replacement set of bulbs for every light in the car :rolleyes:

ironclaw

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

And this is a French car, the same country that it's the law to carry around a replacement set of bulbs for every light in the car :rolleyes:

New body Toyota Yaris is the same. The RHD version has its headlight bulbs in an awful position to remove and change. I wouldn't even want to consider it on the side of the road in poor light.

First Up

ironclaw wrote: »

New body Toyota Yaris is the same. The RHD version has its headlight bulbs in an awful position to remove and change. I wouldn't even want to consider it on the side of the road in poor light.

I don't think that's what many people expect (not me anyway) but I don't think many owners of cars going around on broken lights do so because they have tried and failed to fix them at the side of the road or anywhere else.. Take the bloody thing to a garage.

johndaman66

In fairness if a bulb blows you'd be surprised how easy it is to go undetected from the drivers seat. Having said that most if not all new cars at this stage I'm guessing tell you on the dash if you have a headlight or tail light bulb blown so no excuses really. If not the random headlight flashes you'd tend to get from other drivers should alert you.

Probably a story for another thread but of late the inappropriate use of rear foglights is really testing my patience or more to the point my eyes. Please people if I am right behind you and have being for some time please have a bit of courtesy and consideration and turn your rear fog lamp back off, even if its foggy...believe me I see you, there is no need to burn the eyes out of my head....you aren't ticking any health and safety box.

kay 9

I see alot of vags with defective lights. We'll soon need diagnosis kits to change a bulb. The best one I seen lately was a nice lady broke down outside the house with a cut tyre on a 4WD softroader, I went out to help and change the wheel but to my surprise all that was available was a can of s*it that might repair a pinhole. To me, on a vehicle that might see some harsh conditions in other countries such as desert roads, snow & freezing temperatures etc and one needing something reliable I found this Rediculous. Sorry for the long winded post

Voodoomelon

Henry Ford III wrote: »

I sometimes run a count on oncoming traffic to see how many pass me with "perfect lights".

Incredible as this may seem my record is 14.

Inappropriate lights (including the unmentionables), blown bulbs, no lights, all reset the count.

My count resets include (night time only) arseholes with retrofitted HIDs, glaringly misaligned lights, blown bulbs, fog lights, high beams on unknowingly, no lights at all and DRLs/angel eyes/lightbar strips/parking lights only.

If you were to include fully laden vehicles with low beams blasting in your face because drivers "don't know what that little wheel on the dash does", you wouldn't get to 5.

Daaryl

johndaman66 wrote: »

In fairness if a bulb blows you'd be surprised how easy it is to go undetected from the drivers seat.

Maybe if the driver was paying attention they'd notice their bulb was gone if they're driving in the dark, By noticing one light is only when they're behind a car.. Or going past windows etc etc!

First Up

Daaryl wrote: »

Maybe if the driver was paying attention they'd notice their bulb was gone if they're driving in the dark, By noticing one light is only when they're behind a car.. Or going past windows etc etc!

You would think so wouldn't you? Mind you, we have people on Boards who are mystified about getting notices in the post about failing to pay M 50 tolls, because they didn't notice any of the enormous signs before, at and after the toll barrier. So relying on the powers of observation of some Irish drivers may not be that reliable.

Doing them a favour and telling them they have a dud light is a bit risky too. Last time I did that, I got a torrent of abuse. (Had the same from an unlit cyclist wearing black who crossed in front of me on a red light in pitch dark and rain.) Some nice people out there; and we wonder why our insurance is expensive.

Anyway, happy Christmas to the RSA who will tell us about speed and drink and the Garda Traffic Corps who no doubt will be cracking down on people doing 70 on the Stillorgan Rd in broad daylight. Great job lads.

Tigger

johndaman66 wrote: »

In fairness if a bulb blows you'd be surprised how easy it is to go undetected from the drivers seat. Having said that most if not all new cars at this stage I'm guessing tell you on the dash if you have a headlight or tail light bulb blown so no excuses really. If not the random headlight flashes you'd tend to get from other drivers should alert you.

Probably a story for another thread but of late the inappropriate use of rear foglights is really testing my patience or more to the point my eyes. Please people if I am right behind you and have being for some time please have a bit of courtesy and consideration and turn your rear fog lamp back off, even if its foggy...believe me I see you, there is no need to burn the eyes out of my head....you aren't ticking any health and safety box.

Unfortunately you are preaching to the converted here
There should be a 30 spot at the end of every news report on the tv or radio and each day it should explain stuff like this

First Up

Tigger wrote: »

Unfortunately you are preaching to the converted here
There should be a 30 spot at the end of every news report on the tv or radio and each day it should explain stuff like this

A bit of enforcement would do the trick.

Oafley Jones

Seeing a good few new cars lately with muppets not understanding what DRLS stand for.

Turtle-TM

I've met more than a few people in nice new shiny 132 ("arrrrgh begorrah we can't have 13 in our number plate because the banshees might get us") or 142 hyundais or audis driving along with no rear lights on but when you get passed them they have their drl's on

Instead of all new cars being legally required to have drl's they should also need to have auto headlights as standard to avoid this. or we could just have a proper organisation involved in driver education and testing.

johndaman66

Daaryl wrote: »

Maybe if the driver was paying attention they'd notice their bulb was gone if they're driving in the dark, By noticing one light is only when they're behind a car.. Or going past windows etc etc!

Well Daaryl the main point I was making is that yeah if you have a headlight bulb blown you should notice pretty soon one way or another. Of course you wont be driving in the dark if you still have one headlamp and it is easier than you might imagine not to cop it at first.

I say this because not long after I started driving I was working in a filling station full time during my Summer break from College. It was in the countryside and used to drive home to my house also in the sticks late at night so wouldn't necessarily meet any traffic ahead of me much. Of course one night there was a car in front of me and I spotted straight away I was down a bulb from the reflection on their tailgate. From the drivers seat its not always very apparent at first without on board computers or the luxury of seen your reflection...believe me! This is coming from someone whos eyesight is probably pretty sharp compared to most others...wish I could say the same re the rest of my faculties!

Daaryl

johndaman66 wrote: »

Well Daaryl the main point I was making is that yeah if you have a headlight bulb blown you should notice pretty soon one way or another. Of course you wont be driving in the dark if you still have one headlamp and it is easier than you might imagine not to cop it at first.

I say this because not long after I started driving I was working in a filling station full time during my Summer break from College. It was in the countryside and used to drive home to my house also in the sticks late at night so wouldn't necessarily meet any traffic ahead of me much. Of course one night there was a car in front of me and I spotted straight away I was down a bulb from the reflection on their tailgate. From the drivers seat its not always very apparent at first without on board computers or the luxury of seen your reflection...believe me! This is coming from someone whos eyesight is probably pretty sharp compared to most others...wish I could say the same re the rest of my faculties!

Yes i totally understand that, But it doesn't hurt to have a look at the front and back of your car to see if all your lights are working!

ofcork

I actually do that once a week turn all lights on and see if anything is blown and I have drls but always turn lights on when needed.On a related note passed a girl yesterday no lights on at 5.30 of course on the phone too!

johndaman66

Tigger wrote: »

There should be a 30 spot at the end of every news report on the tv or radio and each day it should explain stuff like this

I hear there Tigger. I assume you meant 30 seconds? It should be called the idiots guide to motoring. If they listened its apparent that a lot of fully licensed drivers would learn quite a bit from it;)

johndaman66

Daaryl wrote: »

Yes i totally understand that, But it doesn't hurt to have a look at the front and back of your car to see if all your lights are working!

Agreed. Surely from time to time and not just because the NCT is next Monday...

Hachiko

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

And this is a French car, the same country that it's the law to carry around a replacement set of bulbs for every light in the car :rolleyes:

hardly surprising they want you to carry a spare bulb, french cars are pretty guaranteed to blow bulbs. If you ever spot a car with defective bulbs good chance its french.

slimjimmc

Hachiko wrote: »

hardly surprising they want you to carry a spare bulb, french cars are pretty guaranteed to blow bulbs. If you ever spot a car with defective bulbs good chance its french.

Rubbish, I see cars of all brands with defective lights and no particular bias against a manufacturer's country of origin.
Incidentally I have a French car and usually change a dip-bulb once a year (takes max 10 mins to do), but that's because I buy cheap bulbs and have them on all the time while driving. The main-beams and tail-lights haven't needed changing over in 5 years. Any French car I had over the years didn't exhibit any excessive tendency to blow bulbs either over any of the non-French cars I had.

johndaman66

slimjimmc wrote: »

Rubbish, I see cars of all brands with defective lights and no particular bias against a manufacturer's country of origin

I'd agree with that bu what I do tend to see in quite a few French cars is dodgy tail lamps....when the driver brakes the brake lights and the indicators all come on faintly...presumably caused by short circuits. Pre facelift Mk 2 Lagunas and Citroen Xsara's would seem to be major culpurits. Of course most French cars function perfectly fine but more often than not if you see a car with this issue it would often then to be from a French manufacturer...

Daaryl

Hachiko wrote: »

hardly surprising they want you to carry a spare bulb, french cars are pretty guaranteed to blow bulbs. If you ever spot a car with defective bulbs good chance its french.

Or with dodgy back lights, The 05 meganes and 206's are cnuts for it

jca

johndaman66 wrote: »

I'd agree with that bu what I do tend to see in quite a few French cars is dodgy tail lamps....when the driver brakes the brake lights and the indicators all come on faintly...presumably caused by short circuits. Pre facelift Mk 2 Lagunas and Citroen Xsara's would seem to be major culpurits. Of course most French cars function perfectly fine but more often than not if you see a car with this issue it would often then to be from a French manufacturer...

It's caused by a faulty earth connection in the cluster. My father had that problem in a 1979 Renault 18, 35 years later and Renaults are still suffering the same problem..... Progress my arse:mad:

Bpmull

Every new car should just come with auto lights and a blown bulb warning system. My car has both and they work well. The auto lights are right about 95% of the time when to come on and go off I override them if they don't come on in bad conditions or whatever but that's rare enough that they don't come on.

Biggest problem is even if you did the above you'd still have people with blown bulb who would ignore the warning lights. And then people who would have the lights in the off position rather than the auto because they would think it was saving diesel or some other mad notion. You just can't win with people.

Cork boy 55

johndaman66 wrote: »

...

Probably a story for another thread but of late the inappropriate use of rear foglights is really testing my patience or more to the point my eyes. Please people if I am right behind you and have being for some time please have a bit of courtesy and consideration and turn your rear fog lamp back off, even if its foggy...believe me I see you, there is no need to burn the eyes out of my head....you aren't ticking any health and safety box.

The main issue with fogs by an order of magnitude is people not switching them on when required.


Your traveling too close to cars in bad visibility if this an issue for you.

mickdw

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

Your traveling too close to cars in bad visibility if this an issue for you.

bull crap. In light fog, the rear fog light will burn your eyes out from prefectly safe distances

Nekarsulm

What is it with people not dipping when meeting another car? I mean they can see you coming, and see you dipping, so why not dip at the same time ? Waiting another 5 or6 seconds is just ignorant. Lately I find myself wishing I had a pair of spotlight set especially high and on a separate switch, just for these people.

Daaryl

Nekarsulm wrote: »

What is it with people not dipping when meeting another car? I mean they can see you coming, and see you dipping, so why not dip at the same time ? Waiting another 5 or6 seconds is just ignorant. Lately I find myself wishing I had a pair of spotlight set especially high and on a separate switch, just for these people.

Agreed, It's very annoying on motorways too, Utter ignorance is all it is!

johndaman66

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

The main issue with fogs by an order of magnitude is people not switching them on when required.

Agreed, certainly if you want to look at the issues with fog lamps in order of magnitude. But fair to say its not the only issue with them. Having your fog lights on, be it front or rear when not necessary is another quite large issue

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

Your traveling too close to cars in bad visibility if this an issue for you.

Incorrect. I'm not. I've drove behind enough of them at a good safe distance in bad visibility (and often in not so bad visibility too for that matter) to know that I would see them perfectly adequately without their rear fog lights on...even if I was further back too if you want to put it like that...

greasepalm

if people have good sight could they not see a reflection of working lights on rear of car in front when stopped at traffic light,love the garda to give 3 points for 2 or more bulbs gone,more roadside checks needed.
drivers need to know basic operations of cars,checking things correctly.

Oafley Jones

jca wrote: »

It's caused by a faulty earth connection in the cluster. My father had that problem in a 1979 Renault 18, 35 years later and Renaults are still suffering the same problem..... Progress my arse:mad:

Renaults electric gremlins pretty much disappeared when they started using Nissan electrics in 2008.

jca

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Renaults electric gremlins pretty much disappeared when they started using Nissan electrics in 2008.

Great... That only took 29 years.... I hope no problems crop up with the Nissan electrics or it'll be 2037 before Renault sort it.

First Up

A whole bunch of new penalty point offences introduced today. No mention of lights.....

greasepalm

pity lights would be on a winner+bonus points

johndaman66

First Up wrote: »

A whole bunch of new penalty point offences introduced today. No mention of lights.....

I'm not so sure what your own proposal would be but I think attaching penalty points to anything to do with lights could be quite difficult to police. If you mean peanilising those with a blown bulb what about the poor unfortunate whose bulb blew in the last few minutes and then comes to a check point. If it were to happen to me I'd find it very harsh. How do you distinguish between that guy and the guy that has being driving around for the last month with a blown bulb? Maybe best case scenario here would be to present your car at a Garda station within 10 days and all bulbs working...if not then you get the points. Wouldn't even be sure of that though...think its most likely far from ideal also.

On the other hand those driving about well into dusk with no sign of lights on, they could be targeted alright. Down to the disgression of the Garda much like dangerous driving. Maybe its just me but I think Toyota drivers seem to be notorious for it.

greasepalm

i agree driving with side lights on only cannot be seen if your windscreen or side windows are dirty,use dip beams and be seen or face the unexpected.

First Up

johndaman66 wrote: »

I'm not so sure what your own proposal would be but I think attaching penalty points to anything to do with lights could be quite difficult to police. If you mean peanilising those with a blown bulb what about the poor unfortunate whose bulb blew in the last few minutes and then comes to a check point. If it were to happen to me I'd find it very harsh. How do you distinguish between that guy and the guy that has being driving around for the last month with a blown bulb? Maybe best case scenario here would be to present your car at a Garda station within 10 days and all bulbs working...if not then you get the points. Wouldn't even be sure of that though...think its most likely far from ideal also.

On the other hand those driving about well into dusk with no sign of lights on, they could be targeted alright. Down to the disgression of the Garda much like dangerous driving. Maybe its just me but I think Toyota drivers seem to be notorious for it.

The way to do it would be along the lines you describe - get them fixed and prove it. It would involve some administration but it would be a simple enough process to computerise.

jca

johndaman66 wrote: »

I'm not so sure what your own proposal would be but I think attaching penalty points to anything to do with lights could be quite difficult to police. If you mean peanilising those with a blown bulb what about the poor unfortunate whose bulb blew in the last few minutes and then comes to a check point. If it were to happen to me I'd find it very harsh. How do you distinguish between that guy and the guy that has being driving around for the last month with a blown bulb? Maybe best case scenario here would be to present your car at a Garda station within 10 days and all bulbs working...if not then you get the points. Wouldn't even be sure of that though...think its most likely far from ideal also.

On the other hand those driving about well into dusk with no sign of lights on, they could be targeted alright. Down to the disgression of the Garda much like dangerous driving. Maybe its just me but I think Toyota drivers seem to be notorious for it.

In defence of the Toyota driver, the dash is brightly lit in them continuously leading the driver to think that the lights are on.

greasepalm

thats why we have icons in dash to tell you whats on ,if only they read the handbook again.

jca

greasepalm wrote: »

thats why we have icons in dash to tell you whats on ,if only they read the handbook again.

Ah here, it's a Toyota driver we're talking about here:)

greasepalm

ok send him here and i will dim his dash lol