Situation: this morning was VERY thick fog so having headlights/tailights on to be seen is a MUST.

Half the idiots I see on the road STILL do not have their lights on and are basically invisible past about 25 feet!

I give up getting angry over such stupidity, I just hope one of these morons doesn't kill anyone I care about.

Shit like that is why we have automatic everything now. Idiots don't even know when to turn their damn headlights on. To my knowledge, it's also law in most states (if not all) to turn on headlights if it rains hard enough to use your windshield wipers.

Then you have the idiots driving around at night without headlights on. Hello? Can you not see the lack of lights to illuminate the road you're driving on?

This is what happens when driving is seen as a right and not as a privilege anymore.

Auto headlights need to be installed on all cars. Leave the option to turn it off but always have it reset to AUTO after shutting the car off so the next time the idiot starts driving, they turn on when it needs it.

I see lots of idiots driving around at night with their DRLs on which is not enough light and the rear is completely dark.

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Leave the option to turn it off but always have it reset to AUTO after shutting the car off so the next time the idiot starts driving, they turn on when it needs it.

GREAT idea.

As an illustration, wife was driving a friends car at her request last week. Darkness comes, she asks if headlights are auto. Friend says no. Wife fishes around for switch, sees it has an "Auto" setting. Turns them on and asks about that, 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.......

So you DO have them but choose not to use.

And here's another, but separate, idea. How about they come on automatically every time you turn on the wipers? Or if auto-wipers when they are triggered? That would be a huge help in dark rain showers.....

I think our ML350 may actually do this, but haven't verified in manual. The lights do see to come on every time it rains, so probably not coincidence....

Cloudy and light rain here. I almost missed seeing a pickup truck about to make a left turn in front of me (he did have right-of-way) because his lights weren't on and the white truck blended into the background. These are the operative words. Lights aren't so you can see where you're going, they are so you can BE seen.

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.

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Jackasses at the auto companies decided to make the dashboard lights automatic, but not the headlights.

I discovered this driving my (then) new 2005 Toyota Tacoma home from the dealer just before dusk. Speaking of which, near dusk and dawn are another time you need headlights, again, to be seen.

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.

I owned an asphalt grey Nissan Altima. That damned car was very nearly the death of me multiple times. Enough so even my blind wife commented on it. No one could see the damned thing. It honestly made me worry about my safety after a few incidents.

Fast forward a couple years, I now drive a F150, Blue Flame color thank you very much. There is an indicator as to headlight and driving light status in the cluster. The lights do come on with the wipers, and DRL are an owner option as to whether you want them on or not.

Had to drive from Fayetteville to Sandy Springs (GA) this morning. It was raining all the way, at times pretty heavy.

My wife counted 86 vehicles without their headlights on. I'm sure there were a lot more than that.

Stupid people abound.

Yes, that's why we have auto on headlights now. If it's real bad, I flash them.

A lot with drl have no back lights lit, that drives me nuts.

People who drive asphalt colored cars at dusky dark thirty with no lights.....
Even in clear weather I have a hard time seeing them.

At this point, I'd just forego the switch, just have lights come on when the car starts. Not DRL, the regular lights. People aren't smart enough, obviously, to know how to use it properly.

Automatic headlights aren't the solution to this issue, they are the problem.

More often than not, they won't turn on in fog or rain.

Too many people fail to think when too many things are automatic. They just assume they are going to work when often-times they don't.

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Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
I owned an asphalt grey Nissan Altima.

Ha! You must mean the Precision Grey Metallic. That was my '07 (because I wanted something other than black).

I know exactly what you're talking about. On the other hand, it was practically invisible to speed traps and if you had the 3.5, you know it was a sleeper anyway.

Damn, I wish I could have kept that car going another 300K+.

Anyway - my 2015 Cherokee has automatic lights (that I can turn off if I need to) as well as an option to have them turn on with the wipers (which I leave on, since it's the law and I don't have to think about it).

When we were in Maui, our rental did not have automatic lights, despite being brand new, and I admit that I'm guilty of driving about a block or so (under very bright street lights) before realizing I needed to turn them on.

-Rob

Might as well make the head and tails lights always on. No option to turn them off unless the car is in park.

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
I owned an asphalt grey Nissan Altima. That damned car was very nearly the death of me multiple times. Enough so even my blind wife commented on it. No one could see the damned thing. It honestly made me worry about my safety after a few incidents.

Fast forward a couple years, I now drive a F150, Blue Flame color thank you very much. There is an indicator as to headlight and driving light status in the cluster. The lights do come on with the wipers, and DRL are an owner option as to whether you want them on or not.

Well, I've got a monkey butt bright red F-150 and I swear I've had more people cut me off, turn in front of me and act like they don't see me than any other vehicle I've owned.

Saw one this morning coming in to work in the dark, had his running lights on and they must have been bright enough that he didn't realize the headlights were off. No tail lights at all. I didn't catch what make of car it was. All I could do was shake my head, move away from him and hope he has his accident someplace else.