Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That is not auto headlights, that is a battery drain saving feature.
Auto headlights come on when it gets dark, whereas you are talking about leaving them on all of the time.
Call it whatever like, but a lot of recent models don't even have that. I would be perfectly happy to be able have my lights on all the time without having to turn them on. I live in a safety corridor where headlights are required 24/7 anyway.
Hypothetically, you make a right turn onto a roadway, you checked well for a car coming, and no car coming, you enter the roadway and bang! You didn't see that all black car with no head lights. The man with the black car with no head lights realizes he didn't have his head lights on, and after the accident, he quickly put them on. Police are called:
"He didn't have his headlights on!"
"Yes, I did have my headlights on!"
No witnesses, one man against one man!
I worry about this happening to me some time!
Dash cam. Though, you pull out in front of him, doesn't matter whether he says the lights were on or not. They're likely not going to work afterwards.
Call it whatever like, but a lot of recent models don't even have that. I would be perfectly happy to be able have my lights on all the time without having to turn them on. I live in a safety corridor where headlights are required 24/7 anyway.
I prefer a rotary switch to turn the lights I need on and off. The reason for this is that sometimes I want to leave my car idling for a few minutes at a time-with all the exterior lights off, and also to save battery power during the cold winters of Alaska. For example, I often spend time taking photos of the Auroras during the winter months. The ambient temperature could be anywhere below freezing to perhaps -25 degrees F, so a few minutes into taking photos of the Auroras I get in my car to warmup for a few minutes, and then go outside again for another photo session. At such times I don't want to illuminate anything in the foreground and mess-up the photo.
This kind of thing is what happens when you let computer weenies design human interfaces for machinery. The interfaces, the sequencing of on/off, and what gets automatically turned on and off need to be standard. In the days of my youth, at least the vast majority of cars did not turn anything on or off automatically, so no matter what when it got dark you knew you needed to turn on the lights. Today, one gets accustomed (for example) to everything being automatically managed, in one particular way, and then when one gets into a different car where it's managed differently, there is no indication.
The proliferation of weird non-ergonomic automatic transmission shifters is another example of this.
Personally I had the automatic lights disabled on my car. If I always have to turn them on and off then I am unlikely to forget, because it will become a habit always to turn them on when it gets dark, and turn them off when I shut the car down.
Of course the worst example of letting the computer weenies design human interfaces is the use of touchscreens and menus to control simple functions that are better controlled with a simple rotary or pushbutton switch.
Well, what can you do? The vehicles offered for sale are what they are.
Agree. But at least I can turn the lights of the 2001 Silverado I drive on/off. Next to the light switch there is a button that I can press/release 4 times to turn the automatic lights off. Still a pain in the neck, but much easier to accomplish than the Corolla and RAV4. For these two turning the lights off when the motor is running I have to do the following: turn the motor off, set the parking brake, and now start the motor. I can leave the motor idling in park only. The soonest I release the parking brake to move, the lights come on again.
I see it a lot in cities with good street lights. they simply do not realize their headlights are not on. Then they get out a ways and start thinking "why is it so dim? I can hardly see. Eventually they figure it out.
This happens a lot in the city I used to live in-the downtown area has a ton of street lights. But it's a college town, and that area is where the bars are where the students hang out. So it's a hot spot for drunk driving arrests. Have a few cocktails at the bar, get in your car to drive home and it's bright enough that you don't notice your headlights aren't on-and the next thing you know, you have an OWI on your record.
Hypothetically, you make a right turn onto a roadway, you checked well for a car coming, and no car coming, you enter the roadway and bang! You didn't see that all black car with no head lights. The man with the black car with no head lights realizes he didn't have his head lights on, and after the accident, he quickly put them on. Police are called:
"He didn't have his headlights on!"
"Yes, I did have my headlights on!"
My next door neighbour is a Toronto Police constable. He has remarked a number of times that when he is on patrol, he stops any car that he sees with no lights at night. He estimates that more than 40 percent of his monthly total of impaired driving arrests come from those " no lights on at night " drivers. He arrests about 20 impaired drivers each month. That's about 250 per year.
Other signs that may indicate a drunk driver...... driver's window wide open in freezing winter weather, stopping at a red light, and not moving on the green, interior light on at night, hitting the curb while making a turn, falling asleep in the drive through line at a fast food place, park in the middle of the road instead of beside the curb. After midnight about one out of every 4 cars has a driver that has been drinking .
Source.......Ten years as an Ambulance Officer here in Toronto.
My next door neighbour is a Toronto Police constable. He has remarked a number of times that when he is on patrol, he stops any car that he sees with no lights at night. He estimates that more than 40 percent of his monthly total of impaired driving arrests come from those " no lights on at night " drivers. He arrests about 20 impaired drivers each month. That's about 250 per year.
Other signs that may indicate a drunk driver...... driver's window wide open in freezing winter weather, stopping at a red light, and not moving on the green, interior light on at night, hitting the curb while making a turn, falling asleep in the drive through line at a fast food place, park in the middle of the road instead of beside the curb. After midnight about one out of every 4 cars has a driver that has been drinking .
Source.......Ten years as an Ambulance Officer here in Toronto.
When I'd go on ride alongs with my brother on Friday nights. We'd sit on a side road with a crossing to a 4 lane divided highway between stoplights and wait for people to brake for no reason, took less then 5 minutes. Picking up drunks was worst, takes too much time. Going to a high speed chase was fun!!
What is it with people who are not smart enough to turn their headlights on at night ? Last night I worked late, coming home at about 9 pm, I saw 5 cars during the trip who either had no lights on at all, or just their parking lights. I am not talking about just at dusk, but hours after it was pitch black. I see this every time I am out at night, some car goes by in total darkness. Don't they even notice their dash lights are totally off ?
One of my cars has automatic lights that come on when it senses darkness, but I still pull out the switch just to be sure they are on. Are these idiots depending on the automatic feature, or just forgetting to turn them on ? Absolutely amazing !
I've seen this most often when people start driving when it's light out and then it gets darker and they forget their lights aren't on. Especially due to the always-on headlights, and streetlights making it so you can't tell.
The ones who annoy me are the ones who deliberately don't use their lights... it's a gray and dreary and rainy and maybe even foggy day, they're driving a gray car on a gray road, and they don't have their lights on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ddm2k
I've seen some people driving at night, late model cars, with all lights completely off.
Via the grapevine someone told me there were people who did that, waiting for someone to flash their lights, and whomever did would perish.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Last night I worked late, coming home at about 9 pm, I saw 5 cars during the trip who either had no lights on at all, or just their parking lights. I am not talking about just at dusk, but hours after it was pitch black. I see this every time I am out at night, some car goes by in total darkness. Don't they even notice their dash lights are totally off ?
