The first thing I noticed on Monday(evening) was how people suddenly couldn't drive in the dusk/dark. The motorway speed dropped down to 40mph average and has stayed that way all week.

I've had similar on the 'A' roads. A driver doing 30-35 in a 60, with 20-30 cars behind. The cars behind all too close to each other and none taking the opportunity to overtake. All of them just driving in a daze.

A wonder there are not more accidents due to poorly maintained vehicles on the roads to be honest.

The most impressive one I've seen so far this week was the cyclist, out on a rural lane, wearing dark clothing, with no lights, at 5:30pm last night. A slightly less aware driver could have killed him quite easily.

I stopped a few hundred yards on, and when he passed I asked him never to breed. Strangely, he saw nothing wrong with his 'night-camo' setup.

Ah well, someone will wipe him out, the rate he's going at. Milk tankers use the road regularly when collecting from farms, and delivering to a nearby creamery. I drive that road moderately regularly, so I'll probably hear about it when it happens.

Leaving them on for the rest of the month you mean.

Don't get me started on the Clarkson wannabe s around here in Essex Sidelights and fog lights only. Yeah that's a good look who needs headlights?

I spoke to one a few years back. He was adamant they were and I quote auxiliary driving lamps. There's no such thing. If they come on with sidelights they are fog lights. Spotlights and they're rare these days should operate with main beam only. As far as I can recall.

Is there a pedant in the room who knows more? ..

It is possible to have "auxilliary lights" but like headlights and spotlights, their beam centres must be 500mm or more above ground level - lower than that and they're fog lights only permissible in reduced visibility (below 100m) caused by fog or falling snow.

If spotlights or auxilliary lights aren't switched with the mainbeam, they must comply with dipped beam regulations, not project above the horizontal and not cause dazzle.

My gripe is with the new style of headlight on tall SUVs. On the dark nights some 'drivers' use a flash of the main beam to signal Thank You when you give way on narrow roads, thus blinding you for a time.

This messing around with the clocks seems to affect the weather too. It's been very cold since they put the clocks back.

Yes, it rained in essex today!

With the shorter days some people do not seem to realise when daylight has arrived. You get to 7:15 - 7:30 in bright daylight with the streetlamps off and yet people are driving towards you on full headlamps (and quite a number on full beam). Why...

Nearly bumped a stealth cyclist yesterday. Idiot dressed all in black, no rear red light,on a road in dark visibility, and totally invisible until you was on top of him. And on the front, a high intensity spotlight. What a maroon.

But this mornings offerings were the best. Frosty conditions, and idiots trying to drive whilst peering through at best a foot wide section of scraped off windscreen. To be honest, you'd get better visibility in a Churchill tank.

Research by ROSPA suggests that changing the clocks leads to approx 80 additional road fatalities pa and (I assume) a proportionate increase in serious injuries.

The only major proponents of clock changing seem to be Scottish farmers - but I fail to see how changing the clocks has any impact on daylight hours. In the era of internet and catch up TV it is time to scrap a practice which was first implemented in 1916 and reinforced in 1940 to allow workers to get home from work before the balkout!

Virtually everyone uses time-shift - many businesses are expected to operate 24/7 - the old idea of 9-5 Mon-Fri have long gone.

The days are shorter in winter because it's winter, not because the clocks have changed - and being longer in summer is nothing to do with summer time.

It's entirely possible that if Scotland leaves the UK, then they may adopt CET and the UKRem may adopt constant GMT.

What about the horse riders, mainly young women, who don't know that the horse needs to carry lights ? Being in a country district we get a number of them. I've seen only one rider, a long time ago, who was wearing a special light that clipped onto her boot. I came upon one on the main street at twilight, dressed in brown, brown horse, a tall one. I was turning right and saw her at the last second. Must have given her as much of a fright as it gave me.