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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

113 replies

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 05/12/2025 21:06

Now that it's getting darker much earlier in the afternoons, I've started seeing quite a sizeable minority of people each day driving either only with sidelights or with no lights at all when it's already properly fully dark - dark enough so that (thankfully) virtually every other driver does have their lights on. I don't know if it's just in my area or if people are doing it everywhere?

Am I missing something important here, or do they just have a death wish? How difficult is it to turn a knob and put your lights on? Do some people genuinely believe that headlights are strictly only for night time - and if it's 3:30pm, you don't turn your lights on because it's still only the afternoon, even though it's far too dark to see properly or be safely seen without them?

AIBU to think that it should be 3 or even 6 points on your licence for dangerous driving, unless your lights have just that moment failed on you and now don't actually work? Just why?

OP posts:

snoopythebeagle · 06/12/2025 10:52

Boing98 · 06/12/2025 10:47

You don't need to use headlights on a road that has street lighting

Err, you definitely do!

VickyEadieofThigh · 06/12/2025 10:51

CoralPombear · 05/12/2025 21:13

I think it’s because there are so many automatic headlights now. People just forget or don’t notice for a while if they haven’t come on.

Indeed. My previous car had automatic headlights, but my current one does not adjust when it gets darker. At first, I would find myself driving on the 'daylight' setting.

Nobody does it on purpose, OP.

Original poster

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 06/12/2025 10:49

MarvellousMonsters · 06/12/2025 10:41

It can be overcast and low visibility at any time of day.

I’ve also noticed that the cars with no lights are often grey or silver, it’s like they want to be camouflaged into the road

Just put your lights on, even if it’s daytime, it won’t do any harm, but it’ll make you more visible to other road users.

Show quote history

Yes, this absolutely. Ignore the clock - it's completely irrelevant what time it is.

Whenever conditions are dark or visibility is otherwise not good, you need to put your lights on. That's it. I don't see how this can be difficult to understand!

OP posts:

Boing98 · 06/12/2025 10:47

You don't need to use headlights on a road that has street lighting

Original poster

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 06/12/2025 10:41

If there can be a standard sensor that repeatedly nags you when it notices that the person in an occupied seat hasn't put their seatbelt on, and another one that monitors the temperature outside and warns you when it gets below a certain temperature and so conditions could be icy, why ever could they not have another sensor as standard, working on a very similar basis, that repeatedly nags you with an annoying ping to put your headlights on when road visibility requires it? Or better, on cars with automatic lights, it overrides it and turns the headlights on when they're needed after a brief warning to the driver, even if the auto light feature is switched off.

OP posts:

MarvellousMonsters · 06/12/2025 10:41

Lonelycrab · 05/12/2025 21:18

It’s not dark at 3.30pm though, unless you’re very far north.

Obvs some extreme conditions might warrant it but I haven’t had mine on during the school run here.

It can be overcast and low visibility at any time of day.

I’ve also noticed that the cars with no lights are often grey or silver, it’s like they want to be camouflaged into the road

Just put your lights on, even if it’s daytime, it won’t do any harm, but it’ll make you more visible to other road users.

ProfessorInkling · 06/12/2025 10:29

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 06/12/2025 10:22

I clarified that above. I accept it wasn't a great analogy; but my intention wasn't necessarily in comparing the severity and potential consequences of the two, but my incredulity as to how anybody (certainly anybody with capacity to have a driving licence) could forget a very basic principle of driving.

Even in a non-driving comparison, it would be like (non-vulnerable) people leaving their house for a stroll around town, having just had a shower beforehand, and simply 'forgetting' to put any clothes on before going out!

Show quote history

Fair enough - I don't see many drivers without their lights on but whenever I do, I definitely think 'wtf is wrong with you, can't you see it's dark?'

To give the benefit of the doubt perhaps they have not long pulled away and then turn them on soon enough.

snoopythebeagle · 06/12/2025 10:25

21ZIGGY · 05/12/2025 21:07

They forgot. They would get pulled over by the police, if the police passed them. It really doesn't need a post.

"Forgetting" is such a poor excuse. It's so dangerous.

Original poster

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 06/12/2025 10:22

ProfessorInkling · 06/12/2025 10:13

Forgetting to put your lights on is not comparable to forgetting you've had 'several pints' 😂

OP posts:

YouDriveMeCrazyButICanDoThatMyself · 06/12/2025 10:21

How can you forget that you're supposed to be able to see the road ahead of you, or indeed your dashboard?

My last car I left my lights on auto, my current car doesn’t turn lights off automatically so I turn them off when I stop, but the dash lights up when the ignition is on.
I drove several yards down the fully lit main road the other evening, I could see the road (&dash) fine. It was a helpful pedestrian waving at me that made me realise the lights weren’t on, but I’ve seen loads of cars driving without lights on recently

Original poster

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 06/12/2025 10:16

I'm amazed that car manufacturers haven't considered the very obvious consequences of making dashboards fully visible without putting your headlights on when it isn't fully visible outside the car.

Sometimes automating things can help with safety; but sometimes it can reduce safety.

Now they're talking about possibly legally requiring manufacturers to instal breathalysers in cars, so all drivers are forced to prove to the car that they're sober before it will allow the engine to be switched on. Yes, this would likely save lives (at least until drink-drivers learn to get their kids or a sober non-driver to blow into it for them), but would be permanently annoying to teetotallers like me, for whom alcohol simply is not a part of my life - along with all of the vast, vast majority of people who do enjoy a drink, but would never for a second ever dream of doing so before driving. I imagine it would be even more objectionable if you were devout in a faith that forbids drinking alcohol and your car forced you to 'prove you aren't a sinner' every time before you can use it.

Yet they've actively taken away a longstanding basic safety feature that prevents drivers from realising that, if they can't see their dashboard, it means that they need to put their headlights on?!

OP posts:

ProfessorInkling · 06/12/2025 10:13

Forgetting to put your lights on is not comparable to forgetting you've had 'several pints' 😂

xSideshowAuntSallyXx · 06/12/2025 10:10

I've seen many on motorways without their lights on. Or they only have working front lights or one working light. I get past them as soon as I can. Sometimes I think people start their journey when it's light and either forget to turn them on, or push it all the way home because "it's only 10 minutes further".

At this time of year, I tend to turn my lights on when it starts getting gloomy. On Thursday that was 11am as it was such a shit wet day. If I'm in the office I turn them on when I leave, it may be light but it will be dark at some point during my drive home (and it creeps up on you) then I don't have to think about it.

I also have daylight running lights but I still manage to turn my lights on.

Original poster

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 06/12/2025 10:00

Lonelycrab · 05/12/2025 21:56

So do I if the conditions warrant it.

The OP doesn’t mention that.

Show quote history

Doesn't mention what? Extreme conditions that severely impede visibility but not specifically because of darkness?

I thought that was obviously implied?! If visibility is not good at any time - for any reason and using your headlights will improve your being able to see and be seen by other drivers, always use them! If you're undecided as to whether they will help, err upon the side of using them!

OP posts:

Original poster

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 06/12/2025 09:54

HPFA · 05/12/2025 22:12

That comparison really annoyed me.

This thread and a quick Google have made me understand how a car can trick your brain into thinking your lights are on when they aren't.

That has nothing at all in common with drink driving.

Show quote history

It was probably a bad analogy on my part; but my point was that both are extremely dangerous to have to share a road with: a car being driven by a drunk driver and an invisible car in the dark. Also, both are completely avoidable - unlike with a car that suddenly breaks down in a really inconvenient place.

I still don't see how you could get in a car when it's dark, or be driving in a car when it gets very dark and forget that being able to see and be seen on the public road is a very, very basic part of driving.

Do people sit at home in the dark, groping around all evening and bumping into things, 'forgetting' to turn on the light switch?! Fair enough if they do, as that doesn't affect anybody else; but I still maintain that, if you can't remember/manage to make your car visible to other motorists when it's fully dark, you shouldn't be allowed to use the public roads.

OP posts:

Muchtoomuchtodo · 06/12/2025 08:56

I don’t understand why so many cars have front DRL but not back.

I’ve seen loads of cars in the motorway in poor driving conditions recently with nothing showing at the back but some lights on the front. It’s bonkers. I assume their drivers think that they’re on the back and front

IsItTimeToRetireYet · 05/12/2025 22:21

I was looking for a space in a busy car park this evening and ended up in the darkest corner. As I was turning into an aisle, a black car with no lights on was driving forward into a space. It was not directly in front of me so it was almost impossible to see until the driver hit the brake. Don’t know how they didn’t realise their lights were off!

i also wish drivers would turn on lights in very heavy rain on motorways/dual carriageways if they don’t turn on automatically. Grey cars without lights don’t stand out against a backdrop of grey rain and spray from the road surface!

mumofoneAloneandwell · 05/12/2025 22:15

Headlights are so so bright these days anyway, they probably didnt even realise

GasperyJacquesRoberts · 05/12/2025 22:15

HPFA · 05/12/2025 21:48

I managed to drive off without switching on headlights recently.

The difference inside my new car from having them on and not is nil except for a tiny green light so there's now nothing that clicks my brain like there used to be in my old car. The earlier poster is quite right about the effects of having a fully lit dashboard.

I'm now training myself to check for that green light frequently in the hope that if I drive off again without switching them on I'll notice very quickly.

However I don't think it's at all the equivalent of drinking five cans of beer which is something you do consciously.

My car has automatic lights but the little green light that shows they've turned on is perfectly hidden behind the top of the steering wheel when I've got it in the most comfortable position. I find myself hunkering down in my seat to see it, as well as checking how well the car in front of me is lit up, to reassure myself the lights have actually turned on. It's annoying.

HPFA · 05/12/2025 22:12

AnOldCynic · 05/12/2025 21:54

I forget every couple of weeks. Usually someone flashes me. If I can, I’ll acknowledge it and thank them.

I can honestly say I have never forgotten that I’ve had several pints.

Show quote history

That comparison really annoyed me.

This thread and a quick Google have made me understand how a car can trick your brain into thinking your lights are on when they aren't.

That has nothing at all in common with drink driving.

DeathMetalMum · 05/12/2025 22:01

Perfectly clear here at 3.30 this week.

I however find the opposite, more people will have their lights on at 3.30 or early evening any time of the year in perfect sight, than 11am when it's raining and this is affecting visibility. Today it was torrential rain at 3.30 and huge black clouds so lights definitely needed.

Lonelycrab · 05/12/2025 21:56

Isittimeformynapyet · 05/12/2025 21:53

I do!

Show quote history

So do I if the conditions warrant it.

The OP doesn’t mention that.

AnOldCynic · 05/12/2025 21:54

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 05/12/2025 21:20

And if somebody 'forgot' that they'd had several pints before driving?

How can you forget that you're supposed to be able to see the road ahead of you, or indeed your dashboard?

Show quote history

I forget every couple of weeks. Usually someone flashes me. If I can, I’ll acknowledge it and thank them.

I can honestly say I have never forgotten that I’ve had several pints.

Isittimeformynapyet · 05/12/2025 21:53

Lonelycrab · 05/12/2025 21:53

Extreme conditions

put your lights on

Show quote history

I do!

Lonelycrab · 05/12/2025 21:53

Isittimeformynapyet · 05/12/2025 21:52

It was pissing down in Brighton, but tbh I didn't look at the time.

Show quote history

Extreme conditions

put your lights on

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