Penalty for driving without lights on

droopsnoot

Surely if you didn't get stopped at the time, you're not likely to receive any retrospective punishment? I've seen on these various TV shows where people are pulled over for driving with no lights as it can sometimes indicate the person isn't fit to be behind the wheel, but I can't imagine someone will sit and review CCTV, see you have no lights on, do whatever is necessary to get your registration from an unlit plate and then send you a ticket.

Belenus

scrappy_returns said:

sevenhills said:

GunJack said:

What I don't understand is why, with DRL, they don't switch on the rear lights as well, a la volvo/saab used to for the scandinavian market - far more sensible than the equivalent of sidelights minus the back end 

With 35 million cars in the UK, how much wasted energy would that be?

None     

It isn't none.

If the rear lights are being used, that will consume some energy and that requires fuel to generate. It may be a relatively small amount compared to headlights but over millions of cars it will total a not insignificant figure.

A car does not generate free energy. All the electricity consumed by the various devices in a car needs to be generated. The higher the electricity demand in a car the more load the alternator puts on the engine and that increases fuel consumption.

Username03725

chrisw said:

I can't understand why garages always turn the auto lights off. They all seem to do it whether it's main dealer or smaller garage. They always ask whether the mirrors are set to fold or not, it would be helpful if they also turned the lights back on again afterwards.

Garages don't just turn them off out of belligerence, they have to check that they're all working and that the switch is functioning correctly. Mechanics are usually good but they can't be expected to know how every make's lights work, and it's more than reasonable to leave them in the Off position to avoid potential flat battery issues. Not every car has auto lights or lights that are linked to the ignition being on.

The real problem is that too many people don't understand lighting rules & regs, or how lights work on a specific car. My Volvo is a bit counter-intuitive, but I regularly check that the lights are on.

Jenni_D

Belenus said:

scrappy_returns said:

sevenhills said:

GunJack said:

What I don't understand is why, with DRL, they don't switch on the rear lights as well, a la volvo/saab used to for the scandinavian market - far more sensible than the equivalent of sidelights minus the back end 

With 35 million cars in the UK, how much wasted energy would that be?

None     

It isn't none.

If the rear lights are being used, that will consume some energy and that requires fuel to generate. It may be a relatively small amount compared to headlights but over millions of cars it will total a not insignificant figure.

A car does not generate free energy. All the electricity consumed by the various devices in a car needs to be generated. The higher the electricity demand in a car the more load the alternator puts on the engine and that increases fuel consumption.

The question was "how much wasted energy would that be?". It can be argued that the rear lights illuminating under DRL conditions is not wasted energy.  

Belenus

Jenni_D said:

Belenus said:

scrappy_returns said:

sevenhills said:

GunJack said:

What I don't understand is why, with DRL, they don't switch on the rear lights as well, a la volvo/saab used to for the scandinavian market - far more sensible than the equivalent of sidelights minus the back end 

With 35 million cars in the UK, how much wasted energy would that be?

None     

It isn't none.

If the rear lights are being used, that will consume some energy and that requires fuel to generate. It may be a relatively small amount compared to headlights but over millions of cars it will total a not insignificant figure.

A car does not generate free energy. All the electricity consumed by the various devices in a car needs to be generated. The higher the electricity demand in a car the more load the alternator puts on the engine and that increases fuel consumption.

The question was "how much wasted energy would that be?". It can be argued that the rear lights illuminating under DRL conditions is not wasted energy.  

Anything can be argued but, in this case, that argument would fail at the first hurdle. The question clearly refers to the energy cost of rear lights and no amount of smart !!!!!! semantics changes that. 
 
Having rear lights illuminated during normal day time is clearly wasting energy, regardless of whether it might save the occasional driver from forgetting to turn his lights on at night. That could be achieved without wasting the energy that rear lights consume.

I could argue that black is white but I would clearly be wrong. Sometimes I think that is precisely what half the posters on here are doing most of the time.. 

Jenni_D

Using that argument then front DRLs are also a waste of energy.  

Brie

was given a car by a dealer when ours was in for a service.  no problem leaving the place but I didn't realise how easy it was to turn off the lights when using the turn signal and ended up suddenly on a motorway with no lights on and then had to figure out how to get them back on while maintaining a relatively high speed.  

my fault entirely of course - but I now tend to do a practice on and off of lights, turn signals, wipers in any new (to me) vehicle to help ensure it doesn't happen again.  

but even in my own car, which I've been driving for 4 years I managed to leave a tesco car park one evening without my lights on as the whole place was lit up like Christmas!  only noticed when I turned onto the less well light road!

Belenus

Nice try Jenni but that is also a fallacious argument as front DRLs improve the visibility of an approaching vehicle to other drivers as well as pedestrians, cyclists and other road users so they do fulfil a purpose and the extra energy used is not being wasted.


Have a read of this. 

Research has shown that DRLs are likely to reduce multiple vehicle daytime accidents and fatalities by up to 6% once all vehicles are equipped. DRL are likely to result in a small increase in fuel consumption and CO² emissions of around 0.5% but this is expected to be lower when LEDs are used in place of filament light sources.

Ditzy_Mitzy

Jenni_D said:

Using that argument then front DRLs are also a waste of energy.  

That's not true.  I had an elderly Volvo with the old style running lights and they really added to the car's visibility.  Nine out of ten people, when tested, failed to notice the presence of a chrome spattered pimpmobile with similar dimensions to the Exxon Valdez and an unusually noisy engine.  Eight in ten did see it, however, when two tiny lights on the front were illuminated.  QED.   

TripleH

Not lights, but my BIL moans our car is a deathtrap and unsafe because we don't have sensors that tell us if we're on the edge of a lane (motorway driving), the thing is I have never had that function and I drive to the conditions of the road. Some safety functions make you complacent because how so you drive when they develop a fault?

On lights, I often keep turning the knob when driving to make sure my lights are on and every time they are on (turned on by me not the car) when it's dark.