Car lights

PostCar lights by **Herdanos** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:28 am

Old man rant incoming

Yesterday I spent a fair amount of time driving. It was a completely clear, bright, sunny day. Yet I would say at least three-quarters of the other vehicles I saw on the road had their lights on.

When I was taking my driving lessons some years ago, I was told that the primary purpose of having one's lights on during the day was for visibility, i.e. so that other road users could see you when conditions might prevent it. But on a completely clear day, with nary a cloud in the sky and sunglasses essential, I fail to see the purpose of having the lights on...

Am I in the wrong here? It wasn't always like this, was it?

PostRe: Car lights by **more heat than light** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:35 am

Usually it's cars with automatic light sensors. They're pretty sensitive.

PostRe: Car lights by **Grumpy David** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:39 am

Volvo lights (and I assume other manufacturers) are always-on as a safety feature. Maybe it's become standard across newer cars with the rise of LED lights so that's why you're noticing it more compared to when you first started driving?

I prefer having it always-on, I can't remember what my driving instructor would have said about it but it seems like a very sensible safety precaution.

PostRe: Car lights by **RichardUK** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:42 am

My car and most cars now that have automatic lights have a lights on all the time (not full lights they only come on in the dark) probably to comply with the EU law below

https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_saf ... g-light_en

PostRe: Car lights by **SEP** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:43 am

Cars built after 2013 (I think) are required to have Daytime Running Lights.

PostRe: Car lights by **Zilnad** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:53 am

Case closed.

PostRe: Car lights by **LewisD** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 9:57 am

Can we talk about the strawberry floating WASTE OF SPACE PARASITE banana splits that have their full-beam on on the motorway instead?

strawberry floating boils my piss. Getting angry just remembering to be honest.

PostRe: Car lights by **Dowbocop** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:16 am

Volvo lights are always on apparently as it gets so dark in Sweden they kept having accidents, particularly because they swapped road sides in the sixties (my dad told me this). I assume this concept has caught on with other manufacturers.

For me it's not lights being on per se that's the problem. It's the monstrous halogen death beams on the front of Audis and Range Rovers.

I stopped typing this to cook breakfast and people have answered before me but you're getting it anyway!

PostRe: Car lights by **mcjihge2** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:25 am

Herdanos wrote: Am I in the wrong here?

Yes

Herdanos wrote: ............But on a completely clear day, with nary a cloud in the sky and sunglasses essential, I fail to see the purpose of having the lights on..

When youre driving into the sun and the sun is low in the sky (morning / late afternoon), it can be hard to see the car infront due to the angled sunlight and direction of motion - them having their rear red lights on (and headlights for oncoming vehicles if needs be) make the other cars alot more visible and therefore raises road safety.

PostRe: Car lights by **Moggy** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:30 am

PostRe: Car lights by **Herdanos** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:42 am

Well, there you go. Every day's a school day and all that.

Would've thought it'd be better for energy conservation to have lights off, but if we're now in a position legally where most road users have lights on at standard, I expect I'd be in trouble if I were to be involved in an accident, even if not my fault, with my lights off. Time to change my ways!

SEP wrote:Cars built after 2013 (I think) are required to have Daytime Running Lights.

Mine's post-2013 but doesn't always have its lights on. I'm going to investigate further!

Moggy wrote:

ugh I'm so much more a Mark than a Tom obviously

PostRe: Car lights by **Moggy** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:48 am

Herdanos wrote:
Would've thought it'd be better for energy conservation to have lights off,

Does your car run on a really long extension lead?

PostRe: Car lights by **SEP** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:59 am

Upon further investigation, any car first operated after 1st March 2018 can fail and MOT for not having working DRLs in the UK. EU legislation required them from 2011, so many manufacturers included them in UK version of European models to simplify production.

PostRe: Car lights by **Mommy Christmas** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 11:58 am

My car has automatic mains but constant side lights,all LED. When I drove a vehicle for work I'd always have the lights on. Better to be seen.

PostRe: Car lights by **Victor Mildew** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 12:29 pm

SEP wrote:Cars built after 2013 (I think) are required to have Daytime Running Lights.

^

PostRe: Car lights by **Herdanos** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 12:45 pm

Is my car illegal then? :slol:

PostRe: Car lights by **SEP** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 12:52 pm

Herdanos wrote:Is my car illegal then?

Looks like 2018 was the cut-off in the UK. But many manufacturers started doing so earlier, in line with EU regulations. My 2012 Fiesta didn't have them, but my 2013 Corsa and 2015 Insignia did/do.

PostRe: Car lights by **RichardUK** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 5:33 pm

EU Blah Blah Blah wrote:In many countries, headlights are compulsory only in the dark. But DRLs are designed to be on during the day too. Their job isn't to help the driver see the road but to help other road users see the vehicle. Daytime running lights consume just 25-30% of the energy needed to power a conventional dipped headlight.

Legislation

Since 2011, DLRs are mandatory for all new cars and small delivery vans in the EU. Trucks and buses followed in August 2012. Vehicles produced before don't have to be retrofitted.

PostRe: Car lights by **Jenuall** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 6:46 pm

I don't mind daytime lights, if they cause fewer accidents and use minimal energy then that's a win. It's the people who don't understand about how to set the angle of dipped headlights correctly and so have them angled way too high and blinding everyone that really piss me off

PostRe: Car lights by **Robbo-92** » Sun Mar 27, 2022 8:11 pm

It’s the portable stars that people seem to have in their cars in the form of LED lights that are the biggest issue for me, makes driving at night pretty crap really.

Car lights

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