Headlights

mikey72

I was turning right out of a side road tonight, pitch black, checked to the right, nothing but a couple of headlights, close together, quite small, - car in the distance, far enough away for me to get out safely.
Checked left, nothing, checked right again, it wasn't a car, it was a quad bike with twin headlights right on top of me.

He turned left, so fortunately I didn't scare him to death.

Who thought it was a good idea to make it look like a mini car, or a full size car a long way away?

withabix

Have you tried an opticians?

mikey72

Why, do they make quad bikes?

scooby75

Probably the same kind of idiots who think it's a good idea to drive with a broken headlight and so to drive with fog lights on as if the one working one blinding everyone else makes up for the non-working light.

jase1

Do you not pause to ascertain the distance and speed of the lights before setting off?

Your post seems to imply that you ran out in front of them. Not much sympathy coming from this poster.

mikey72

jase1 wrote: »

Do you not pause to ascertain the distance and speed of the lights before setting off?

Your post seems to imply that you ran out in front of them. Not much sympathy coming from this poster.

No, I stopped, as when I looked again I could see the (still little, close together, long long way away headlights, now accompanied by an indicator either 2miles in front of him, or next to a pair of teany tiney headlights.

Then I went, as he turned left.

One headlight would have been a lot safer, then he wouldn't have looked like a car miles away.

jase1

Fair enough, it was just the "He turned left, so fortunately I didn't scare him to death" bit that threw me, which could have meant that the only thing that stopped a nasty accident was his turning left -- why would he have been scared if you were stationary?

I generally track the movement of the lights for a good few seconds before making a decision if it's dark -- the apparent distance of the lights is not something I rely on.

mikey72

Up to the junction, quick glance to the right, car a long way away, look left, clear, so prepared to go, look to the right, quad bike a lot closer, faster stop them he'd be expecting if he was watching me get to the junction.

I've got to be honest, if a junction looks perfectly clear, I wouldn't expect to come to a complete stop for a couple of seconds to make sure, I'd watch the lights, and be ready to carry on if they looked miles away.

Strider590

Never assume the size of or the distance to a vehicle by it's headlights......



Unfortunately when we see uncommon vehicles, most of us are taken by surprise.

mikey72

I can live with that one, that's not a motorbike with two 3" headlights next to each other.

Tony69

Have you ever tried to drive whilst sat on an inflated balloon but then making sure you don't burst the balloon?