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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

full beam headlights are just for when there is no traffic coming the other way, right?

88 replies

BellaBearisWideAwake · 06/12/2010 21:14

So many drivers seem to be using their full beam headlights at the moment, and I keep getting blinded by oncoming traffic!

I wonder if they think they are foglights?

I wish there was some recognised signal for 'DIP YOUR HEADLIGHTS!!!!!!'

Grr.

OP posts:
Abr1de · 07/12/2010 19:35

I remembered that just after I'd posted, sazm! Sorry.

Original poster
BellaBearisWideAwake · 07/12/2010 19:58

I suspect that quite a few of the 'full beam' offenders I have seen are actually silly-new-headlights-that-shouldn't-be-allowed-that-I-previously-to-this-thread-knew-nothing-about, but I reckon quite few are actually full beam offenders. (cos they don't look new enough to have fancy-pants headlights)

Once again, grr.

But thanks to everyone who has made me realise IANBU, rather than just grumpy.

OP posts:
MrsArchchancellorRidcully · 07/12/2010 20:00

Light angles may be tested in an MOT but that only comes when the car is 3 yrs old. Until then, you have to ask for it at a service. Some people change their (new) cars every 3 yrs, so never have an MOT.

GetToFalkirk · 07/12/2010 20:42

This is one of my pet hates too, however to say "dazzle them back" or "I flash them back" means that you both can't see what's going on in the road and is therefore a foolish thing to do.

In my driving test I was asked this question - what do you do if someone is driving towards you with their full beams on?
The answer - SLOW DOWN.

That way nobody gets hurt x

P.S. I got the answer correct (smug)

WineBeforePearls · 07/12/2010 20:48

We have those silly new blue xenon things by accident (they were on the 2nd-hand car we bought without us realising) and they are bloody annoying for all the reasons above, but also because

a) they are actually crap on dipped beam at night (and yes we've had them checked and checked the handbook and they level 'automatically' dontcha know, but clearly not properly)

and b) because they cost £800 to replace when you don't want to screw your no-claims bonus

ElusiveMoose · 07/12/2010 22:06

Sometimes I think it is due to the adjustment not the type of light. I've got a bog-standard Golf and I'm forever getting flashed at because people think I have my high beams on (I don't). It's probably because the adjustment's wrong, but whenever the car's in the garage for something I always forget to ask them to check Blush.

Oh, and another thing, I think you should always dip your lights for pedestrians as well. I live in an unlit country area, and whenever I'm walking home in the dark, oncoming drivers NEVER dip their lights, and it drives me nuts - I even do an exaggerated 'hands in front of my face' posture but it still makes no difference Angry.

oldraver · 07/12/2010 22:13

They are also NOT to be used when you have a car in the front of you, so you think you are being a good driver by dipping your headlights whenever there is an oncoming car but blind the driver in front of you when you go back to full beam

My one instance of road rage

catsinthejinglebelfry · 07/12/2010 22:26

It's a little bit worrying that so many people don't seem to know how to do their lights: this used to be a big thing in driving tests but obviously isn't now. The really really worst thing though is people in silver cars who don't put their lights on. It's like a rather strange game of chicken or hide and seek.

AlpinePony · 08/12/2010 05:20

cats I couldn't agree more - I think it's seriously worrying that people don't know how to drive. :(

On a lighter note perhaps, I also agree about silver/grey cars - I've got great eyesight (except at night) and those buggery things just blend in to the tarmarc.

I drive a red Saab - Saabs have a default of lights ALWAYS ON - it's amazing the number of people who just don't see me ffs. In a RED CAR!

GotArt · 08/12/2010 05:34

The newer cars actually have brighter lights unfortunately. Plus they are set straight out instead of slightly downwards. The ones I hate are the blueish halogens. A problem I find here in Canada is that the new cars have daytime running headlights that come on as soon as you turn your car on and lots of people forget to actually turn on the lights so you'll be cruising down the highway and all of a sudden there's a car in front of you with no rear lights on.

GotArt · 08/12/2010 05:37

At night I mean, you don't see them at night. Scary when you are on a one lane, bendy highway like on Vancouver Island; even more dangerous then the bloody deer on the highways.

stubbornhubby · 08/12/2010 08:58

I prefer to keep my headlights on beam - I can see a lot better
Wink

KaraStarbuckThrace · 08/12/2010 09:08

Alpine - I have a similar issue, my car is also bright red, I have my sidelights on all the time, I never switch them off (in my car the side lights don't stay on unless the key is in the ignition), and yet I still have people not seeing me.

It really wound me up the other day, when I was walking through a blizzard the number of drivers with no lights on.

I also drove to Liverpool in torrential rain, lot of cars were obscured by the heavy spray yet few thought to put their rear fogs on!! Some had NO lights on at all!

I really wish that they would put reminders on the over head gantries and signs "Put your lights on" instead of useless shit such as "think bike" and "don't drive tired".

My DH does 50K miles a year so invested on some high powered bulbs - tungsten ones to give him better visibility at night, and they DON'T dazzle like xenons do.

sparklerainbowglitter · 08/12/2010 13:14

I think its those minibuses 4x4's that are the problem their headlights are too high up. Still essential for getting through puddles on the 2 minute school run I suppose!

stubbornstains · 08/12/2010 13:48

You don't have to read the highway code anymore to pass a driving test- for the last 10 years or so, you've just had to do a pitifully dumbed down multiple-choice test on a computer. Which means that many new drivers know very little about the finer points of driving etiquette...

Cue me, having learnt to drive exclusively in London, and never having driven on a properly dark road before, calling my BF up in floods of tears from a Little Chef on the A303, 1 month after passing my test, to ask why all those nasty horrid cars coming in the opposite direction were flashing and beeping me....I had no idea what full beam was, let alone that I'd had it on on the new car for the last 100 miles!

sazm · 08/12/2010 14:34

stuborn stains - the questions are based on the highway code!
your asked a LOT more questions now than you used to be asked before there was a separate theory test.

NigellaPleaseComeDineWithMe · 08/12/2010 14:55

Oh yes, there's a car that often seems to be behind me leaving school - an Audi Q7 - with those horrendously bright white lights (in a kind of strip below the normal headlights).

From 2011 - next year - all new cars have to have these day time running lights in EU.

Had my headlights checked on my new car when at garage - some drivers were flashing me but I know lights were on dip - set them down a bit now so hopefully OK. Black car so could be difficulttosee

melikalikimaka · 08/12/2010 15:05

I have my lights on auto, so I don't think of them ever. Only on country roads, do I use full beam. I think you must be blinded by the xenon lights which are much more blue-white that creamy colour, which a lot of new cars have now. There's not much you can do about it, they are legal. There's alot more 4x4's on the road now too, and their lights are much higher than a normal car. I hope this helps you.Xmas Smile

melikalikimaka · 08/12/2010 15:09

Btw the angle of the headlights and all the lights front and rear are checked by an MOT test. The car will fail if they are not correct and working. Also, during a full service, they are checked too.

stubbornstains · 08/12/2010 15:21

Yes Sazm, but didn't you have to read the whole of the highway code because you didn't know where the instructor would strike, as it were? Rather than just work your way through the crib book they provide you with, as you do now?

jugglingjo · 08/12/2010 16:02

Sometimes I think my lights might be a bit bright, I think I've been flashed once or twice.

But I think they're on the regular setting, and the same my DH uses.

I think better education, testing, regulations, and just better lights are needed !

I wish there could be more lighting too on dangerous, dark roads, but I guess it's not environmentally friendly.

Saw a kid's programme recently where a kid invented lights that turned on and off according to demand !

lal123 · 08/12/2010 17:58

Jugglingo - could also be the angle of your lights? In DPs car you can change the angle of the headlights if you are carrying a heavy load etc. COuld be your lights are just angled too high?

People driving with sidelights only bug me - if it's dark enough for lights then put your bloody lights on!

sazm · 08/12/2010 19:35

yes,but you dont know which questions you you will be asked in the theory test.
when my mum passed she was asked 7 questions from the highway code.
when i passed i had to get 30 out of 35 questions correct (i got 35 correct :))
so in order to get the questions correct you do have to read the highway code!

SocialButterfly · 08/12/2010 21:10

People always flash me because they think I have my full beams on when I dont, I dont have xenon light I dont think but they are quite bright. I got DH to check all the settings - they are at the right height etc and I was using the correct lights, so now I have to put up with people blinding me every 2 minutes because they think I have my full beams on.

SocialButterfly · 08/12/2010 21:12

jugglingjo My lights turn on and off automatically depending on how dark it is - that kid much me minted now Grin