Driving with Headlights on

DTDfanBoy

aardvaak wrote: »

And they are smarter then?

I suspect a piece of boiled cabbage would give you a run for your money

HoofeHearted

wba31 wrote: »

is his TV working yet?

No. It's all those cars passing his house with their lights on, causing interference with his TV signal.

Strider590

DRLs became law because too many people in the UK are too stupid to turn their lights on at night, or in fog, or in snow......

For the rest of us, there's no harm in using the headlights during daylight hours and it's certainly not illegal.

I turn mine on for anything short of a bright cloudy day or if I see a situation coming up where i'll need to start overtaking slow moving vehicles.

Seems to me the OP has caught a touch of the "My way code".

Horizon81

A lot of hate on this thread! My gripe with DRLs is they often just look like a tacky fashion accessory (Audis, and the ones on the Aygo/C1). I can understand Volvo have been doing the dipped beam thing for years, but it's just silly how modern cars with DRLs can look like a cheap Christmas tree.

The fact they're white LEDs doesn't help. Do any fellow specs wearers find they get blue halos around these lights? It's very distracting and dazzling.

Strider590

Horizon81 wrote: »

A lot of hate on this thread! My gripe with DRLs is they often just look like a tacky fashion accessory (Audis, and the ones on the Aygo/C1). I can understand Volvo have been doing the dipped beam thing for years, but it's just silly how modern cars with DRLs can look like a cheap Christmas tree.

The fact they're white LEDs doesn't help. Do any fellow specs wearers find they get blue halos around these lights? It's very distracting and dazzling.

That's just because of the marketing that was pushed at the time the law was being bought in. They had to make them trendy otherwise people would have rejected them for using more power and more fuel, which obviously they don't, but stupid people think anything with a light uses massive amounts of power.

Going off on a slight IT/computers/internet tangent (to prove the point)......

Anyone here got a BT homehub with the "powersave" feature?
It barely saves 1watt of power, but it turns all the routers lights off, which makes people think it saves loads and all in an attempt to reduce support calls caused by people power cycling their routers every day (which causes their connection to slow down, because the line detects power cycling as being a connection fault).

Iceweasel

Have you seen the BMW ones?

I can't say they are discreet because that would defeat the object but they are not garish at all.

Other manufacturers take note!

Horizon81

This thread reminds me of that one I started ages ago about VAG group cars (amongst others) whose fog light comes on with the relevant indicator to assist the drivers view of the road when turning. It also split opinion. Obviously it only does this when the headlights are on, but if peoples headlights are on all the time, then it renders this feature largely useless in the daylight hours, and still makes you look like a chump with only one fog light working.

interstellaflyer

Iceweasel wrote: »

Have you seen the BMW ones?

I can't say they are discreet because that would defeat the object but they are not garish at all.

Other manufacturers take note!

This is the case for many manufacturers and I think it depends on model, some fords, VWs, Volvos and Vauxhalls have the DRLs either next to the front fogs or discretely in the front headlight units, it's mainly Audis and sporty hatches that have the garish LED strips.

Incidentally, I have a Nissan Qashqai on a 13 plate, it is the second from top model (360) brought out for 13 plate, no DRLs.

almillar

You'll often catch me with my dipped beam on. I won't shout at you, nor will I apologise. Thanks for slowing down and letting me past though!
Ever hear of car crashes, where one driver didn't see the other? Ever hear of a bike crash where a car driver didn't see the bike?
THAT is why people drive around with their lights on.
Volvos have always had DLRs (not dipped beam) and any new cars now will have them too. DLRs are not as bright as dipped beam and look to me just a bit better than sidelights, depending on model.

Carcluster

All new vehicles now have this requirement. Grey area as to how necessary in broad daylight, but at least those who "forget" to put their lights on when the lighting is poor don't have to bother...
I was able to switch mine off (via a complicated process and reading the manual). bottom line is get used to it its happening.