Rear headlights weren't on

AdrianC

clt66 said:

I totally forgot that I had turned the lights off and my dash was lit so wasn't alerted to my moment of forgetfulness

Bet there's a "headlights on" light on your dash, right?

facade

There is probably an AUTO setting on the lightswitch, which will turn the lights on when it gets dark (or you go under a bridge, or a shadow crosses the car ) you can leave it on this, on my Suzuki it also has the (really annoying for other drivers) "benefit" of putting the headlights on for a while after you lock the car in case you forget where your house is, and putting them on when you unlock the car so you can see where it is.

Best to keep the habit of turning them on manually though, as AUTO won't put them on in fog or rain.

neilmcl

facade said:

There is probably an AUTO setting on the lightswitch, which will turn the lights on when it gets dark (or you go under a bridge, or a shadow crosses the car ) you can leave it on this, on my Suzuki it also has the (really annoying for other drivers) "benefit" of putting the headlights on for a while after you lock the car in case you forget where your house is, and putting them on when you unlock the car so you can see where it is.

Best to keep the habit of turning them on manually though, as AUTO won't put them on in fog or rain.

Mine comes on in rain, I don't know if it's because it's dark enough or because it knows your wipers are running but I agree they don't automatically come on in fog, not unless I switch on my front fog lights.

BOWFER

I see this happening all the time these days, people completely unaware they don't have their proper headlights on.
Permanently backlit instruments don't help, neither does seeing their DRLs on the back of vehicles in front.
Many of these cars are fitted with auto headlights though, I know it for a fact, so why the owners don't just leave their switch on auto baffles me.

MikeWhite

BOWFER said:

I see this happening all the time these days, people completely unaware they don't have their proper headlights on.
Permanently backlit instruments don't help, neither does seeing their DRLs on the back of vehicles in front.
Many of these cars are fitted with auto headlights though, I know it for a fact, so why the owners don't just leave their switch on auto baffles me.

The dash lit is definitely a design flaw. I too have seen many drivers with just front lights and dash on, in the otherwise pitch dark.

Username03725

My headlights are always on - Volvos do that. But I often check that they are on, maybe someone else has been driving it or it's been moved during its time in for service. The switch itself is vague and imo easy to misinterpret. 

Other people's failure to use the correct lighting annoys me, esp those who leave rear fogs on when no longer needed or only use parking lights after lighting up time etc so it's become one of those things to check routinely just out of habit, and tbh all the more so in a different car to the usual transport.

Grumpy_chap

BOWFER said:

I see this happening all the time these days, people completely unaware they don't have their proper headlights on.
Permanently backlit instruments don't help, neither does seeing their DRLs on the back of vehicles in front.
Many of these cars are fitted with auto headlights though, I know it for a fact, so why the owners don't just leave their switch on auto baffles me.

In some cases, it is because the regular driver always has the car set to auto lights.  When the car goes for a service and the garage turn the lights off, no-one from the garage puts the setting back to "as found" and the driver does not check so does not turn back to auto.  DRL front lights don't help the situation.  Why don't the rear lights also have a DRL? 

BOWFER

MikeWhite said:

The dash lit is definitely a design flaw. 

Yup, too many people still equate lit up instruments with lights on.

clt66

Richard53 said:

Point is this: you have committed a moving traffic offence. The police were fully entitled to stop you, check you are who you say you are, and that the car is yours and is legal (the reg number check probably checked the car was taxed and insured as well), and that you haven't been drinking. You satisfied them on all of those points and were (I'm guessing) polite and co-operative. They decided there was no purpose in pursuing it further, so they gave you a bit of advice and sent you on your way. Good, old-fashioned policing.

Thanks, Richard. Yep, all 3 of us in the car were polite and cooperative - we answered all the questions they asked us. No backchat like you see some doing on traffic cops. ICar all fully taxed until next year and MOT until the end of this month (booked in for it's MOT today - I mentioned that to the male officer when I asked if he could confirm my back lights had now come on ok). Car all ours - main driver and me as an additional driver. I panicked when they said "in trade" but literally they said it just meant the previous owner had let them know it was no longer their vehicle

Regarding asking if I had had a drink - I'm guessing when I said I'd had 2 diet cokes, they didn't brethalyse as they could tell from other signs I wasn't drunk

Hearing you and another on here saying it sounds like I passed the attitude test and that you would be confident it is 99.99% the last I will hear of it has helped alot. I feel less sick today - yesterday was terrible for beating myself up over it

neilmcl

TBH, if someone can't tell the difference at night between their DRLs and main, albeit dipped, headlights then perhaps they're in need of an eye test.