To think that you should always use your headlights when driving in the dark?

I'm not sure who ever told you that about me - they were most certainly wrong!

But there's forgetting - which could indeed include pulling away and then realising that you've forgotten to put your seat belt or your lights and quickly remedying it, which many of us will almost certainly have done when our minds are elsewhere - and merrily driving along for miles and it never crossing your mind to even double-check that your lights are on when it's pitch dark. If your mind is too busy to even remember that you need your headlights on when the road is very dark, I would suggest that you aren't in a frame of mind and therefore are unfit to be driving at all.

Of course we all forget things, but most of these things only impact on ourselves. If you forget to bring an umbrella and you get soaked, it doesn't affect anybody else and it doesn't really matter unduly. If you forget to put the milk back in the fridge and find it on the side the next morning, you have to go without your cornflakes and it's no great loss to anybody. On the other hand, if a pedestrian is crossing the road in the dark when they check and can see no oncoming traffic, and a completely unlit car smashes into them at 30mph... that's possibly a rather more important reason not to forget something.

My point is that, as a driver, you simply cannot rely on other drivers using their headlights or on councils turning on streetlights and keeping them in good repair. I'm surprised that dangerous driving doesn't concern you too.

I'm not saying that it's a grand conspiracy, but I was wondering what goes through people's minds to fail at such a basic essential of driving. I know people can make human errors, but I'm just shocked at how often I see this recently.

Nobody is going to argue that it's not safer to have lights on once it gets dark
Somebody upthread did specifically assert their belief that there is no need to use headlights at night if there are streetlights - supposedly backed up by the Highway Code!!!

I've addressed the analogy with drinking several pints twice above. It was about people 'forgetting' the absolute basics of driving before being in charge of a potential death machine. I've also repeatedly said that I'm talking about when it's properly dark and dismal and not just when dusk is gradually starting to draw in.

From this thread, I wanted to ask people's opinions and thoughts as to why so many people seem to do this and whether it was happening a lot elsewhere or just a concerning peculiarity in my own town. It's an online chat forum, where people discuss all manner of topics that cover the entire gamut of human interest - whether that be the war in Gaza, what people's favourite dishes are from the Chinese takeaway or anything in between. It isn't an emergency COBRA meeting or a UN summit and nobody is forced in any way to participate in any thread!

It's very MN how some people are denying that other people's experiences of weather in different parts of the country and on different days could possibly differ from their own!

The weather doesn't know or care one bit that 'but it's too early to be dark and gloomy yet'!!

But surely people think about this when they collect their cars after an MoT or repair? If the mechanic is significantly taller or shorter than you are, they've probably moved the seat back or forward from where it suits you. They may have left a plastic seat protector on, which is clearly not intended to stay on there after you've collected it; they might even have turned the radio station over from Classic FM to Kerrang whilst working on it!

Yes, they've repaired and made your car safe to drive, but that doesn't mean that you don't have to routinely check a few very basic settings and adjust them if necessary when you get it back. They're a mechanic; not your mum.

Eh? Being dark doesn't equate to seriously reduced visibility?!

I assume it's either referring to full beam (as opposed to everyday dipped beam) or maybe when the street lights have only just come on early - as they tend to be set to come on half an hour or so before the dark properly kicks in.

That said, street lights are set based on the time and season, so they aren't on when the weather is very gloomy and visibility is hugely reduced outside of those times - plus they may well be broken!

Why are people looking for excuses to justify not putting their lights on in the dark/gloomy weather because of a technicality? There seems to be a fear of ever being any safer than 'maybe just about safe-ish enough'! Headlight bulbs usually last for years before they have to be replaced, and even then, they're hardly expensive.

I would counter that by saying that you need to purposely make sure that you have adequate lights as a basic routine when driving. Headlights on a car when driving in the dark or otherwise poor visibility aren't a 'nice to have' optional extra - they're absolutely essential.

Sometimes, omission can be just as much a fault - and a danger - as commission.

What? Do you mean you don't need to use full beam (undipped) head lights when there's street lighting - in which case I would agree with you?

Why do some people have such an aversion to basic safety, when it literally takes two or three clicks of a knob? Are they trying to get a few more weeks' life out of a couple of already long-lasting £10 bulbs - like the man on the recent thread about tightwads who would cut matches lengthwise into four, to save himself a few pence?!