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Child Item

Parking lights are for being PARKED

Bass Reeves

Once again the Sun is low in the sky, we have frosty weather which means fog and have had wet weather with poor visibility.

I see more and more people driving in these conditions with parking lights on. Parking lights are for what there name suggested. Being PARKED. Now I think part of the problem is the auto setting for lights on a lot of cars.

For drivers out there you are better off with no light on than a parking light on when driving. In poor visibility it gives the impression you are further away than you really are

The round sexy lights below the headlights are fog lights. However they are useless for other drivers to see you as they are too low in the car. They are only useful to you in fog.

From now until May put your light control back a notch Drive with DIMMED headlights during the day. Light up.

Parking lights are for being PARKED.

Remember that especially when you are parked at the side of the road at night. Turn off your headlight and Dims and leave your parking lights on, as full headlights can be deceiving especially on narrow roads. On coming traffic can try to keep to the left of you as they normally do. If you are parked on your right the wall, ditch or whatever is on there left.

Remember parking lights are used when you are PARKED.

That is why they are called parking lights

Light up use you dimmed headlights when driving during the day and use you parking lights when parked. Do not use the auto control

Sorry for shouting

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Comments

CiniO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119970560#Comment_119970560

There isn't such legislation.

You are obliged to use headlight from half an hour after sunset, and up to half an hour before sunrise. That's what legislation says. There's noting about 5pm in it.

CiniO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119970577#Comment_119970577

But what do you need rear tail lights together with your DRLs? What possible scenario would you use it?

No need for your tail light in broad daylight, and in any other conditions (dark, rain, fog) you are obliged to turn on your dipped headlights.

Your parking lights are only designed to be used when car is temporarily parked in dark spot.

CiniO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119970988#Comment_119970988

But how?

In the past cars by default didn't have any lights until you turned them on.

So you are saying that car design feature to include front DRL to make cars more visible at daytime is just stupid, because it doesn't include also rear light (which are useless at daytime in good weather).

TherapyBoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973586#Comment_119973586

The problem with these daytime running lights not lighting the back of the car is they don’t realise when it’s not daytime anymore. Your dash is lit up, in front of your car is lit up so you forget your actual lights aren't turned on & don’t realise the back of your car is unlit.

Forget about side lights, parking lights, daytime running lights & automatic lights - day or night manually turn on your dipped lights, at least then you know everyone can see you.

bemak

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973557#Comment_119973557

Well if people are relying on front DRLs to be seen I think the same should be done on the rear. I dont see the big issue with having them on the back anyway. If anything there should be a front and rear light that comes on all the time

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973586#Comment_119973586

Some of the points I'd have made have already been addressed in the couple of posts above, but the proof of the pudding is the numerous people I've seen driving in the dark thinking they've got their lights on when it's just DRLs. The engineers and regulators should have anticipated that.

People are saying that rear lights make no difference in the daytime with good visibility. This may be true, but I don't know if they are questioning the point of DRLs in general, or missing the point that conditions aren't always ideal.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974056#Comment_119974056

Yes, the engineers should have anticipated it and it is not good interface design. But that's the product they bought, so they should bloody well learn how to use it safely before they took it out on the road.

I wonder about the legality of some of fancy new LED lights. I saw a Land Rover or Range Rover where the rear indicator 'replaces' the red back light while the indicator is flashing. Is that legal, I wonder?

Akrasia

Just drive with your dipped headlights on all the time.

Problem solved

My car automatically turns off the lights when the ignition is off and turns them back on when the ignition is on.

I just leave them at dipped headlights all the time because the amount of energy used to power the rear lamps is insignificant, and they do improve visibility even if it's not by a huge amount.

Another benefit is I know straight away if I have a blown bulb so I can fix it immediately, and don't have to wait until it gets dark for my car to tell me there's a problem

Alun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974075#Comment_119974075

I agree, many manufacturers seem to making stuff up as they go along with regards to lighting, but especially in regard to indicators. It seems to be more about looking flashy and innovative rather than functionality IMO. Also many cars where the rear indicators are embedded within the main cluster and sometimes no bigger than a €2 coin, making them extremely difficult to spot.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974075#Comment_119974075

IIRC it's not just legal, it's mandated, when the lights occupy the same space; will see if i can find a link.

and i take your point that the people i see should know how to use their lights, but good design should have made incorrect use less likely.

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973907#Comment_119973907

Cars don't usually reverse towards you at 100km/h or more.

Having front lights (low beam headlights or daylight running lights) makes an approaching car much more visible thereby sigificantly reducing risk of a collision.

Even in daylight some colour cars can blend more into the bckground. Low beam or daylight running lights make the car more easily seen and at a greater distance.

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119970560#Comment_119970560

Side lights are about as much use as a candle in the circumstances. Between daylight and dark there's still enough daylight to make side lights next to invisible. After dark they're not much better.

Lights are to help you see and be seen. Anyone who hasn't the awareness or intelligence to figure out how much less visible (possibly near to invisible) they are compared to all the oncoming cars with their headlights on shouldn't be driving.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975515#Comment_119975515

Look who's getting condescending. I've been driving safely, likely for more years than you've been on the the planet and I know when side lights are properly used.

bemak

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975447#Comment_119975447

You're right they don't - but you could be travelling at 100km or more behind a car with no lights on. Amazed I actually had to spell that out

kirving

In very many cases, like a rain shower in the sun, "automatic" rear lights are not activated by the wipers, making it very difficult to see a car in the grey/white spray. Driving into low sun, you are very hard to see from behind, despite the car believing it to be bright out.

DRL's are permitted to have more diffusion than dipped beams, so that they appear brighter off-axis, and so are more easily seen by more road users who are not head-on. This is why DRL's can be blinding at night.

The logic (which I don't agree is totally applicable in Ireland, due to low sun conditions), is that brake lights are less obvious in the daytime, if rear position lamps were already on, so they tend not to be activated with DRL's in Ireland.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119974075#Comment_119974075

It's totally confusing, especially so when manufacturers use the same symbol for entirely different functions. If I was to sit you in a random rental car, you would literally need to spend 10 minutes reading pages in the manual to figure out if a given symbol meant that your lights were on. But people don't even know it, so they are oblivious that it's even an issue.

Even highly trained pilots as I mentioned earlier fell foul of an utterly confusing MCAS system. I wouldn't be surprised if similar number of people are killed each year worldwide due to misleading lighting controls - needs proper legislation fast IMO, and it should be retrospective to force manufacturers to give free upgrades to old cars. Lights on all the time, and they deactivate with ignition off, so no worry to drain a battery.

Sam Russell

The real devil is the bright red rear fog light that gets left on with the driver unaware that it is on. On some cars, it is not obvious how to turn them off or on.

It should be off by default and only turned on by the driver actively turning it on.

I always drive with my lights on dipped, so rear lights are also on. Car lights get turned off when the ignition is off and car locked.

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975866#Comment_119975866

Except driving behind another car the closing speed is probably zero or near to it and as another poster pointed out having tail lights on in daylight can make brake lights less visible.

Turning out from a side road the closing speed of a car on the main road could be around 100km/h.

If a car is overtaking the closing speed could be around 200km/h.

magicbastarder

as another poster pointed out having tail lights on in daylight can make brake lights less visible.

how so? i don't think i've ever had that problem.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973568#Comment_119973568

Well I've seen plenty of cars on the nations roads driving with no rear lights on & that includes the Gardaí.

DaveyDave

Fog lights don't add any visibility so there's no point in having them on. With mine on they don't light up anything past the bonnet, what good is that? They're high intensity lights so it's harsh for anyone approaching. On unlit roads the less light coming towards you the better, they're a bastard in the rain when reflecting on wet roads.

As for "auto lights are crap" only if they're poorly implemented. Both of the cars I've owned are VW Group, I can set auto lights to come on early so if it's a dull cloudy afternoon or I'm driving in the shade they're on and they also have a wipers on = lights on function. It should be mandatory that all new cars have light sensors so if they're off it can ping at you. The tech is already there in cars with auto lights and if a phone can have a light sensor, so can a car.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119977919#Comment_119977919

Fog lights are intended to let other people see you, so there is a big point in having them on.

DaveyDave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119977938#Comment_119977938

You don't think cars are visible at night with headlights?

chicorytip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119976144#Comment_119976144

These don't come on automatically in any vehicle. They must be switched on by the driver purposely and are often not controlled from the lighting stalk but by separate switches on the dash.

lucernarian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119977948#Comment_119977948

How did you reach that conclusion? In very foggy weather on a busier road I would 100% agree with Allinall

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119977938#Comment_119977938

worth clarifying that there are different types of fog light; one being the extra bright red light on the back of the car, the second being the low slung white lights on the front. the low slung white lights are surely a visual aid for the driver, to more clearly illuminate the immediate area in front of the car?

DaveyDave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119978004#Comment_119978004

Sorry I should have clarified, I'm not talking about foggy weather. I'm talking about every second car driving with fog lights on in clear conditions.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119977948#Comment_119977948

In foggy conditions they’re not.

GSBellew

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119973907#Comment_119973907

You have to understand the concept behind the introduction of daytime running lights to understand the reasoning behind it being front lights only.

It's quite simple.

The primary objective was to reduce accidents at junctions by making approaching vehicles instantly more visible at a glance from a car at a junction, to keep this short, if you can see the tail lights its going away from you so not relevant in this scenario, only the approaching vehicles are of concern.

later you raise the idea of approaching the rear of a car at 100 kmph, any driver who can not see a car ahead on a road in broad daylight is driving too fast for the road or the conditions at the time. This is a completely different issue and unrelated to the passive safety concept of mandatory DRL's, to make cars more visible to other cars in a scenario the happens constantly on every road multiple millions of times every day as opposed to legislating for every possibility.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119978018#Comment_119978018

"Fog lamps are intended to provide an adjunct to the low beams. Because fog hovers close to the ground, the lamps are designed to shine down, illuminating the road beneath the fog. The top of the beam is cut off sharply so the light does not shine into the fog and reflect off it."

Shine a light into fog and it just reflects back off the fog.

Parking lights at least on VWs I've had, put the side lights on one side of the car only, So when parked. The side to the road is lit.

GSBellew

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119970552#Comment_119970552

Tell VW Audi Seat Skoda et all that their owners manuals are wrong, I'm reading here where it tells me how to switch on the side lights.

It does say never to drive with them, but they do call them side lights, you can activate the parking lights by leaving the indicator "on" on the side you want the parking light to be on.

It's all being a bit pedantic yes, but they are side lights when both are on, side position lights to be more accurate.