Indicators are becoming dangerous

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Wed 9 May 2012 14:37
Indicators are becoming dangerous - pullgees

Indicator lights are dangerously getting smaller with a weaker orange light. Most of these lights are in a clear lens as well, so when they flash all you see is a watery orange light at the back of the light unit. They are less noticable than they were and must be contributing to more accidents. This is sacrificing safety for the sake or styling. Surely there shoukd be minimum legal reqiurements for these lights.

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Wed 9 May 2012 15:19
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Chips with everything

I wouldn't worry as the major are either used incorrectly or not at all. ;D

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Wed 9 May 2012 19:39
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Leif

I wouldn't worry as the major are either used incorrectly or not at all.

Sadly you are not joking. Most people do not start to indicate until they start turning at which point the indicator is superfluous.

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Wed 9 May 2012 19:41
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Bobbin Threadbare

I wouldn't worry as the major are either used incorrectly or not at all.

Sadly you are not joking. Most people do not start to indicate until they start turning at which point the indicator is superfluous.

Or they've actually moved lane on the motorway and then you get a perfunctory single flash.

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Wed 9 May 2012 15:25
Indicators are becoming dangerous - sb10

very much agree but i think the regulation size is not adhered to anymore.sidelights and brake lights are getting bigger imo

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Wed 9 May 2012 15:42
Indicators are becoming dangerous - GavoTheSane

Worse are the ones that are where the fog lights should be at the front, horrible idea. I think there's a Vauxhall at the moment with them in an odd place.

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Wed 9 May 2012 16:14
Indicators are becoming dangerous - galileo

Indicators are also less noticeable when d***heads will persist in having headlights on (often badly adjusted) when the sun is shining or it is just a bright, clear day.These are often the type who boast they have "a little princess on board " or similar inane placard.

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Wed 9 May 2012 17:26
Indicators are becoming dangerous - davecooper

I find rear lights on HGV's pretty pitiful as well, especially in the rain etc. The fronts however are lit up like Christmas trees with more colours than I ever thought legal.

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Wed 9 May 2012 19:41
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Leif

Indicators are also less noticeable when d***heads will persist in having headlights on (often badly adjusted) when the sun is shining or it is just a bright, clear day.These are often the type who boast they have "a little princess on board " or similar inane placard.

Clearly I am one of your dungheads as I have daylight running lights on my car. I do though get angry at bikers who have lights on full beam during the day, and make it impossible for me to look ahead, which is dangerous.

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Wed 9 May 2012 20:33
Indicators are becoming dangerous - unthrottled

It's a fundamental principle of optics that when you put a dimly illuminated object next to a brightly illuminated object, the dimly illuminated object becomes less visible. This is why I use the mimimum amount of lighting possible.

Vw's rear lighting cluster is terrible. The indicator is right in the middle of the brake/rear light lens and can be very difficult to distinguish from all the other lights.

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Wed 9 May 2012 22:00
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Leif

It's a fundamental principle of optics that when you put a dimly illuminated object next to a brightly illuminated object, the dimly illuminated object becomes less visible. This is why I use the mimimum amount of lighting possible.

Exactly. An oncoming bike with lights on full will prevent you seeing oncoming cars, all you can see is a blaze of light ahead, and you have to look sideways, and hope you care going straight ahead, and not drifting sideways.

It is possible this effect is not experienced by young people, as on average they have irises that can dilate far more those of older people e.g. 40+ years old, and hence they can dim the light and avoid being dazzled.

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Wed 9 May 2012 22:26
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Bobbin Threadbare

It's a fundamental principle of optics that when you put a dimly illuminated object next to a brightly illuminated object, the dimly illuminated object becomes less visible. This is why I use the mimimum amount of lighting possible.

Exactly. An oncoming bike with lights on full will prevent you seeing oncoming cars, all you can see is a blaze of light ahead, and you have to look sideways, and hope you care going straight ahead, and not drifting sideways.

It is possible this effect is not experienced by young people, as on average they have irises that can dilate far more those of older people e.g. 40+ years old, and hence they can dim the light and avoid being dazzled.

Nah - still dazzles! But then I wear glasses, which gives extra reflection now and then.

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Wed 9 May 2012 20:33
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Bilboman

The recent fashion of door mirror mounted indicators is an excellent idea, but even those can be tiny and virtually invisible - A few VWs and BMWs I've seen - or rather, struggled to see - amongst others. Amazingly, the normal position indicators are also verging on the miniscule, too! I find particularly annoying the little orange dots surrouded by brake lights which are all but invisible when the car is braking - The old model Seat Altea/Toledo is a particularly appalling example.

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Wed 9 May 2012 22:23
Indicators are becoming dangerous - coopshere
All lights within lights such as the later Passat are useless and dangerous, one of the reasons I declined to buy one. If you have one or something similar, or even if not, follow the advanced driving technique and always indicate at least three flashes before braking. It gives those following an advanced warning of your intention and may save you too.

As far as I remember the only rule on coloured lights is that you can't have a white light to the rear. Providing you have the front position lights (sidelights) in the correct location and they are white you can have what else you like as long as they don't dazzle on coming traffic or they are flashing.

Day running lights are the next worse thing to fog lights in other than dense fog. They are distracting to other drivers and when seen suddenly, as in rounding a bend, can confuse and cause opposing traffic to over react. The only thing worse are automatic headlights which can be misconstrued as a flash to traffic waiting to pullout of a junction or round an obstacle. If you really want to be seen get a white car.

Bah humbug.
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Wed 9 May 2012 23:52
Indicators are becoming dangerous - MrEckerslikefromRamsbottom

I can only agree with you.. There's no excuse for tiny, hard-to-see indicator lamps on modern cars. We don't have ARP wardens looking for bright lights any more.. Perhaps motor manufacturers haven't realised that yet! Only a couple of days ago in this area a motorcyclist was killed running into the back of a car which was turning left. I wonder if this was one of the cars with tiny rear turn indicators? I have noticed so many new cars with hard-to-see rear indicators. If insurance companies were cleverer (and insurance companies have proved themselves to be far from clever) they would set standards for vehicle safety and refuse to insure cars with hard-to-see lighting.

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Thu 10 May 2012 08:35
Indicators are becoming dangerous - pullgees

It's areas like this where the AA and RAC should be more vociferous. I fail to see the point in these archaic megaliths apart from breakdown service of which their competitors often do a better job.

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Thu 10 May 2012 08:44
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Andy P

One problem I've noticed is how poorly visible some rear lights are when the sun in shining (not very often, but it does occasionally) - some brake lights become practically invisible in strong sunlight.

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Thu 10 May 2012 10:39
Indicators are becoming dangerous - TeeCee

One problem I've noticed is how poorly visible some rear lights are when the sun in shining (not very often, but it does occasionally) - some brake lights become practically invisible in strong sunlight.

The reverse is also true. Some of the things sportiing LED brake lights give me spots before my eyes for a while after they've been fired in my face, even in bright sunlight. Porsche? I'm looking at you here.......

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Thu 10 May 2012 14:03
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Leif

Some of the things sportiing LED brake lights give me spots before my eyes for a while after they've been fired in my face, even in bright sunlight. Porsche? I'm looking at you here.......

And some front lights, not LED but on upmarket cars, are too bright for me.

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Thu 10 May 2012 21:03
Indicators are becoming dangerous - Bilboman

And another thing (slight topic drift here; hope nobody minds!) As all new cars have/ will have DRLs, like it or not (Aug 2012? Jan 2013? Anyone know?) there is now a two-tier system with upmarket models having LEDs and bog standard cars getting standard, i.e. short-life, halogen-bulbed efforts. Bringing us back once again to the near impossibility of roadside bulb changing for those of us not having mobile workshops.
Case in point is my next company car, Toyota Avensis in Spanish-spec "Comfort" trim with halogen DRLs. The other two trim levels get LED DRLs. I've seen some Tourans with LEDs bracketing the headlights and lesser models (one I hired this week) with halogen bulbs. Current Spain-spec Mondeo base models don't get DRLs at all! Most annoying is the way manufacturers abuse forthcoming legislation to differentiate models of different trim levels, and boast of new safety features (already or about to be legally compulsory!) as "luxury"items. e.g. tyre pressure monitoring,
Time was when an "XL" or "Ghia" badge on the boot lid helped the Joneses overtake the Smiths, but now it's a question of a quick glance at the lights and miscellaneous safety features!

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Fri 11 May 2012 10:54
Indicators are becoming dangerous - ChannelZ

Might I recommend www.specsavers.co.uk ?

If you can't see lights, you shouldn't be driving.

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Fri 11 May 2012 14:26
Indicators are becoming dangerous - VR6

I agree that some indicators are getting harder to see, but I don't think I've had a near miss / incident because of this.

I have noticed that on some Audis the DRL is dimmed when the indicator is on which works quite well, but I guess a similar thing can't be done on the rear.

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