...managed to see 3 cars with no lights on...
If you could see the cars, why did they need their lights on?
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Er, it was after sunset, and only saw one at last moment after it had emerged from a side road without looking, and was very close to colliding with my car. Apologies if forgot to say was after sundown.
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PW
Thought it probably was.
It's just that yet again this morning I drove to work in daylight and saw a small number of cars with their lights on, including two with foglights.
I can clearly see the horizon - as far as the eye can see - yet some drivers seem to think I might not be able to see them 10 yards away.
Do these people put the lights on in the house during daylight?
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I am in favour of running lights.
Some years ago I went from a bright red car to a gunmetal grey one. It was astounding how many people seemed not to see me in the grey car. People were constantly pulling out in front of me, stepping off kerbs etc.
In the end I started driving with lights on.
The downside? When I was stopped for speeding the policeman told me how easy it was to pick me out because of my lights.
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I have had some situations (like yours ac) where I've just not seen the car because of it colour, I know I'm not as young as I was when I was young, but I can still spot a £50 note on the floor at 30 paces!
>The downside? When I was stopped for speeding the policeman told me how easy it was to pick me out because of my lights.<
Probably because they were not daytime running lights like Volvo & Co. hence you *stuck out*
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It was astounding how many people seemed not to see me in the grey car. People were constantly pulling out in front of me stepping off kerbs etc. The downside? When I was stopped for speeding the policeman told me how easy it was to pick me out because of my lights.
LOL, maybe it's because you were driving too fast that people seemed to be pulling out in front of you and/or stepping off the kerbs etc.
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I do not agree with this post.
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Hi FT, can I ask why not? Point I was trying to make was that I was quite shocked to see a number of people driving round in the dark with no lights on. When I started driving 20 years ago, it was not something I ever remember seeing (although lived in the country then).
In the last 10 years though I have noticed it becoming increasingly frequent. It does scare me, more so now after my own near miss last night as I only saw the other car at the very last moment as was coming out from a side road.
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This thread is about people not putting their lights on "in the dark"! IMO if lights are needed, people should use them, but not have to use lights in the daytime.
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The colour of my car is so bright you would have to be near blind to miss it.
Quite a common thing in Northampton to see cars without lights on in town, I suspect it is related to some cars having dashboards illuminated even without lights on which was the giveaway in older cars.
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I do not agree with this post.
I can see where you are coming from on this one but to me the OP is saying nothing more than so many people now fail to see the avantages of having side or headlights on for other reasons than when it is actually just dark.
I know for a fact insurance companies like you to drive with your side or headlights on - this can and will work in your favour should an incident occur.
My biggest gripe is people driving with the sun behind them with no lights on at all or the idiots that drive on side lights at night - you cast no light beams doing this so people cannot see that you are approaching them.
As I have said in another post about the same subject I have always driven with my vehicles sidelights on during the day and headlights go on as & when I require them.
Take busy A or B roads - how many of you have had cars pull out at the last second because they have failed to see you? When I am on Busy A or B class roads like such as thosed mentioned, I always drive with my headlights on especially on the A1, A19 and the dreaded A64. A few places on the A64 is dual carriageway and is the national speed limit as well as having crossroads or traffic turning right on it - this is why these classes of roads are on the traffic news so much.
I don't care how many other Meldrew types flash me, stop at lights,pull along side, beep me & point and (try to) tell me that they are on - it means nothing more to me than I know I have been seen.
When I used to ride motorbikes the headlights had 90w low beam and 130w high beam halogen bulbs in them (adjusted so as to not blind anyone) but I still had people pull out in front of me?
We now have HID (high intensity daylights) on the market and I am thinking of having these mounted to my vehicle too.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 03/10/2008 at 11:31
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Hard to tell whether being pulled out on is due i) to lack of lights on my part (silver car), ii) lack of road craft by the "pulloutee", iii) calculated and deliberate. I suspect the latter quite often, especially when the POE is in a larger, or status-imbued vehicle:)
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To be perfectly honest ... if one can't see a car in low-light conditions, one should not be one the road - lights or not!
Dog.
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Dog, it wasn't low light- it was 7.15pm at night, and no light as sun had set and very cloudy after as had been raining- and clouds were still overhead.
The junction the car pulled out of was in the middle of a housing estate, and the view of cars emerging from this road is not particularly clear at the best of times (look at the junction of Bailey Close and Aspen Park road in Weston Super Mare- post code given on Google maps as BS22 8AX). As you will see from the map we were also approaching a chicane on the side of the road we were travelling on, so as well as negotiating cars parked on the road, also had to look for oncoming traffic that I would have to give way to. At night I have to admit my driving techinique is to look for the illumination to indicate an approaching car- as should see that before the car. If a car then emerges out of line of sight with no lights on in darkness, and was a dark blue/ grey Vectra, then it was a lot harder to spot, and also why my wife who was sat alongside me and looking forward also failed to see the car until the last moment.
Hope this helps clear up why I did not see the car. My eyesight is fine, and in fact have always had very good long distance vision. I also drive expecting people to pull out unexpectedly, and am normally very cautious in this section, as the chicane is just before a tight left hand bend. In fact, I only pull out for the chicane once past the junction, whereas the majority of drivers I follow through here are on the wrong side of the road before Bailey close- if I had done that we would have crashed.
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Ok, ok - 7-15pm is like *DARK* and he's an idiot for not lighting up!
DimDog.
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To be perfectly honest ... if one can't see a car in low-light conditions one should not be one the road - lights or not! Dog.
Hear hear.
All this bigger, better, brighter, always on lighting does is to breed lazy observation among the population at large.
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So you think we should all drive round in the dark with no lights on, cos otherwise we're all being lazy then?
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Well said. I believe often "pulloutee" thinks s/he can manage it before other car arrives on the spot.
Nice word "pulloutee" BTW. I'll use it from now on :o)
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In fairness to my pulloutee (very good word), think was just a temporary lapse, as got a big sorry wave from him, and happens to us all.
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Automatic lights have their good points. I use mine all the time and override them on in conditions when they dont work, (daylight fog or rain/spray).
Edited by Old Navy on 03/10/2008 at 13:45
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>>Nice word "pulloutee" BTW. I'll use it from now on :o)
I think correct usage (even for this neologism) would call the person who pulled out
the 'pullouter' & the person who was pulled out on ,the 'pulloutee'.
As such, 'to pullout' is a transitive verb, i.e. it's an action of subject on object(s), much the same as 'to employ' , where there is an 'employer' who employs the 'employee'.
Naughty though, however it's described.
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A dark coloured Audi was following me into Leeds, in the gloom, this AM and had a crescent shaped array, of what looked like 6 or 7 LEDS in each headlight. I quite liked that as it made it more noticeable. (Very helpful given the very deep tint of the vans rear window.)
Why aren`t arrays of LEDS specified for daylight running lights? Surely this would remove the argument of excessive electro-magnetic drag and increased fuel consumption?
Also a safeguard in those situations as described by the OP where people either forget, or use poor judgement in when to turn main lighting on.
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I too like the LED's on Audis, they are bright but not blinding and of course, they manage to be daytime running lights without driving a Volvo and the associated image of someone who just doesnt know they are on.
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If allowed creativity by legislation, daylight running LEDS could enhance a cars looks too and be part of the styling.
How sad if we just end up with dipped beams in daylight.
Makes you wonder though.. Do any of the decision makers in this field know what LEDS are?
Can`t take even basics like that for granted.
;)
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I can see where you are coming from .........
In that case FotheringtonThomas doesn't need his lights on. ;-)
Edited by L'escargot on 03/10/2008 at 15:46
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