quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
Ever notice it seems to be the worst offenders are driving cars with colors that disappear in the fog, like silver, grey, and white?

Oh, or they think, hey, i have daytime running lights. Yeah, dude... and those don't turn on your tail lights.

Amen. (I've ranted this rant before.)

How 'bout the establishment of an IQ minimum for a DL; plants should not operate motor vehicles.

So I'm driving my work truck down the highway on a severely rainy day when I realize there's a car with no headlights maybe 200 feet behind me. The car literally fades in and out of view when the rain swells and ebbs. Up ahead, I see a truck waiting to pull out of a side street. He waits for me to pass and starts pulling out. The car behind me flashes his headlights to avoid the accident but continues to drive without turning them on.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
As a frequent traveler, I've identified one of the reasons for the lack of headlights. Jackasses at the auto companies decided to make the dashboard lights automatic, but not the headlights. It used to be that the dash lights didn't turn on until you turned on the headlights.

I fell into that trap one night. Luckily it was in a well lit area.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
[ friend says "Don't use it since they come on at random times and also don't always shut off when she thinks they should......

I like that word "random."

"Yeah, they come on at random times... especially after dark!"

Last week I saw an elderly lady driving with daytime running lights at night - NO taillights on, since it was only her daytime running lights that were on. We stopped at a red light. I thought I would be nice and notify her that her lights needed to be turned on. I flashed her with my flashlight - no response. I flashed her again - no response. I hit her with the strobe - no response. I blast her in the face with 1200 lumens of sunlight - no response. Fucking idiot wouldn't even look over at me.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Automatic headlights aren't the solution to this issue, they are the problem...

Agreed... but for a different reason.

The problem as I see it is when we dumb shit down or favor the lazy we get a reduction in the average IQ of the citizenry.

I work an overnight shift, and see multiple cars every night with no lights on as evidenced by no taillights. Of course as I come alongside, I see the dash lit up and then when I pass they have headlights on. They are the DRL, but not full bright headlights.

Auto is great, DRL is great, I think though that by adding features with benefits, we have dumbed down more people who didn’t have spare smarts to start with.


My truck (2015 F150) has DRL and auto-light setting. Regardless of light switch position, if wipers come on, headlights come on as well (not just DRL)

My 2017 Mustang has DRL and auto-light option. Same thing, wipers on = lights on regardless of setting. I never turn my wipers on though, because that is automatic as well due to a rain sensor on the windshield.

Both vehicles (and I imagine most if not all other somewhat recent vehicles) have a dash indicator to tell you the headlights are on unless it is just the DRL. So really no excuse for folks to not know, it is simply ignorance and an unwillingness to pay attention.

Auto everything. Removing personal responsibility from driving one knob at a time. Can't wait for driverless cars. We're half way there as it is.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Auto everything. Removing personal responsibility from driving one knob at a time. Can't wait for driverless cars. We're half way there as it is.

Yup.

Then people can forum / facespace / twatter to their hearts content and blame the car for crashes.

My wife had to take my vehicle the other day... Get a call, how do you turn on the headlights? I tell her to reach down by her left knee and pull out the knob. Ok, hangs up. Get a call, dash lights are on, no headlights... I tell her to pull it out again...

Pull out the knob??? Holy crap, that brings back memories! Are we talking 70's gas guzzler w/ the high beam dimmer switch on the floor, or are there 'modern' vehicles with this 'pull out knob' feature?

In central Florida we have this happen all the time.
We have a lot of tourist who rent cars and are not familiar with the cars.
As it starts to get dark out the dash lights may be on but only day time running light are on if that.
Last year I was coming home from Tennessee on I95 I saw a faint single light in my rear view mirror. I thought it was a motorcycle. It was not. I was a guy with a single flashlight on his dashboard. I was doing the speed limit ans he passed me doing about 80 to 90 miles per hour.
Hopefully he did not kill any one behind us you could not see him as he was passing because he had no lights at all.
We were going to call FHP but we saw him getting off at the next exit up ahead and off 95

I think the auto makers should have it that the dash lights only come on with the tail lights. If someone wants to use their DRLs to drive by, that doesn't bother me - I can see them well enough, but dark tail lights are a problem.

What really pisses me off is driving behind a police car who is driving behind the car with no lights on, and does nothing about it.

I guarantee that if the almost 3000ish JSO officers were to start pulling people over for this kind of stupid shit it would (mostly) stop.

had one pass me in the fog , in a no passing zone w/o the lights on in very low light conditions.

it was raining lightly so the dash cam did not catch the plate

2000 Jeep

quote:

posted 23.October.2017 10:32 AM Hide Post
Shit like that is why we have automatic everything now. Idiots don't even know when to turn their damn headlights on.

Id argue that this is also why people dont turn them on. The "my car is smart enough to know when i need them" bullshit. The driver is still an idiot, but without the auto feature, people would probably be in more of a habit to turn them on.

Or not, since people are idiots regardless.

Headlights are also helpful, if not essential, when the sun is low in the morning or afternoon.

yep - when it's more about being seen than needing them to see.

My new Mazda has auto headlights but they came on way too late, causing me to have to turn them on manually. A little searching around in the menus and I found a sensitivity adjustment, they work pretty good now.

That may be part of the mentioned problem in some cases.