Why are motorists so afraid of headlights?

Ronan|Raven

Hi, just noticed more and more as I have been driving in the winter, all these dark grey days , feck all visibility bad conditions etc that so many people still dont bother to turn their lights on? Is it that people are afraid it will drain their battery or some other mad reason? Or is it just plain ignorance?

Personally I find it damn annoying and dangerous.

ambro25

Not tired of headlights-themed threads yet?

Must admit, though - third car I've seen in last two days, taking off from petrol station or house or wherever at night, with no lights on at all...

Anybody taking bets yet on how long it takes this thread to go "for/against front fogs"?

hefty_langer

for foglights

Alun

It's probably that they have turned them on but neither of them work

Saw someone the other day coming towards me on a dark, rainy country road with one working headlight and one working low mounted foglight on the other side (no working sidelight on that side either!). Couldn't figure out what the hell it was for a while, it looked like the car was tilted at 30 degrees or something !

Seriously though, it's a PITA, and also what's the deal with sidelights? In most European countries they call them parking lights, and that is all they can be legally used for, but what do the rules say here? Any ideas?

ambro25

You're allowed to drive in town with parking lights only in France, provided that there is public lighting. Although, judging from my visit there this last Christmas, French cops themselves don't know that one, apparently :rolleyes: . A bit like Irish cops don't know that EU citizens don't have to change their driving license .

MrPudding

ambro25 wrote:

Anybody taking bets yet on how long it takes this thread to go "for/against front fogs"?

Foglights are the "Godwins Law" of motors.

Personally I am against. Unless of course it is foggy.:D

MrP

fletch

I have my lights on all the time....never turn them off...

Rew

Same here

irlirishkev

Fog lights are especially annoying when it's wet. They just create extra glare!
Leave them off I say! Unless of course, it's foggy.
Me, I always have my dipped headlights on.

Kevin.

Boggle

Not a foglight discussion (if it was I'd tell you to leave em on if you want - as long as they're not too blinding!! )

Seriously though, I do agree with the comments above - there's nothing worse than driving behind some moron at 50MPH with his dims on.... how the hell are you supposed to see far enough ahead of him to know if you can overtake safely??!?!

mike65

The next poster to mention fog-lights on this thread gets a weeks rest!

As for the issue of non-headlights, its just the usual fvckwit behaviour. I really think Daylight Runing Lights should be law a la Sweden but we had that discussion a while back too - it got quite heated!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=200898&highlight=daylight+running

Mike.

Canis Lupus

Fuh fuh fuh..... ooh I really want to say it but I won't. Anyway some of the real old ppl where I live wait until it's almost pitch black to turn on their lights... One bloke in particular thought it wasted his battery!!!! I kid u not. Last month it was dark enough for me to have my headlights on and I rounded a bend to have a car coming at me with just side/parking lights on. I almsot died of a heartattack. Some people just don't get it. My da when he sees me with lights on during the day asks me if I can't see where I'm going and NO amount of explaining to him convinces him that it's so other people can see me. I reckon it's just an old persons habit/ingrained idea.

stratos

You use more petrol with your lights on.






runs........

KoNiT

My understanding of the thread title was that cars were slowing down when headlights are coming towards them... That drives me nuts, your doing a nice 55+ on a decient road & the driver of the car in front has a ****-fit & brakes hard down to 30 till the oncomming car passes by, then back up to 55+ again... & keeps doing it on every car they meet!!!

I usually have the lights on when driving

Seth Brundle

KoNiT wrote:

My understanding of the thread title was that cars were slowing down when headlights are coming towards them... That drives me nuts, your doing a nice 55+ on a decient road & the driver of the car in front has a ****-fit & brakes hard down to 30 till the oncomming car passes by, then back up to 55+ again... & keeps doing it on every car they meet!!!

I usually have the lights on when driving

I have often found the need to slow on a minor road because of an approaching car's mis-aligned headlights. Im fupped if Im going to cream a cyclist or pedestrian because another driver cannot maintain their car!

Silvera

I'm just back from a long drive, mostly on country roads.

The amount of people I saw today driving in dark rainy conditions with no lights whatsoever was unreal ! Gob****es!... is what I say !

N.B. From my sig, you can see my position on this matter.

unkel

mike65 wrote:

The next poster to mention fog-lights on this thread gets a weeks rest!

Bravo Mike! I was secretly hoping you got as p!ssed off as myself on seeing this topic repeated time and time again

Can you extend that to any thread or even any individual post say till the end of the year?

BrianD3

What about tractor driving morons who turn on blinding white floodlights on the *back* of their tractor while travelling on a public road. Anyone who has experienced this will know how disorientating it is when you see a tractor lit up like that in the distance. You don't know if it's a car coming towards you, a parked car, lights on someones house etc. It's far worse than misuse of front or rear f*glights. Christ it makes me want to get out an pull the feckin rednecks out of their tractors and use my extendable wheelbrace on 'em :mad:

BrianD3

KoNiT

kbannon wrote:

I have often found the need to slow on a minor road because of an approaching car's mis-aligned headlights. Im fupped if Im going to cream a cyclist or pedestrian because another driver cannot maintain their car!

thats true & I've no problem there,in fact it's expected.

But when it's a national road with hard shoulders, cats eye's, & reflectors and the car in front repetedly goes through a " close encounters of the third kind" episode at every oncoming car, you can get pretty fed up!!

Silvera

car in front of me tonight ........ (BMW driver incidentially - AND a woman )..

switching front lights on and off for no apparent reason
switching rear fogs lights on and off for no apparent reason

I thought that I may be too close behind her (nervous driver perhaps?) so I pulled back even more.
she still repeated the same thing ?!

then I noticed a lot of oncoming cars flashing lights now and again
I thought - Garda car ahead maybe ?

Finally she pulled over.

Dawned on me then - both her dipped light must have been gone ??!! ........and this was on a '03 BMW !!!


........AND I met another car tonight with the same problem - would switch to side lights momentarily, then back to full lights (to show they had no dips) !

All this in pitch darkness !



To cap my night off ..........
When I parked up, I was asked to reverse/turn a car for a girl who couldn't do it herself - her mate said it was her first day driving !!!!!!

WTF is she doin out on the roads, at night, miles from home (with two other girls) ON HER FIRST DAY DRIVING ???? !!!!!


Just another day on Irish roads eh :rolleyes:

Ronan|Raven

You werent driving in Roscommon were you? Your lucky they have one working light here.

mike65

Thread Closed, I could and should ban Silvera for a week but the software is screwed up at the moment.

Mike.