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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Regarding people who don't use their car headlights properly?

105 replies

NeonDoll · 21/01/2015 17:00

This is real bug bear of mine!

For the past few weeks I've been nearly blinded driving to work by people using fog lights when there is no bloody fog and visibility is perfect! This morning there was a thick fog, so thick in fact that you could barely see your hand in front of your face and yet the amount of cars that were either driving without their fog lights on, or had their lights on main beam causing a glare was staggering!

How the hell did these idiots even manage to pass their theory driving tests? It's dangerous FFS. What the hell is wrong with them?

OP posts:

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 21/01/2015 18:51

My driving pet hate is the stupid blue-white xenon or halogen headlamps. They are so much more painful and blinding to oncoming traffic than regular yellow-white headlamps, even on dipped beam.

vienna1981 · 21/01/2015 18:53

Always surprised how many people drive at night with sidelights only. Saw a big 4x4 tonight doing just that.

Many cars now have indicators which aren't easy to see. They have orange bulbs but clear colourless lenses. Nowhere near as effective. And yes, folk who don't indicate at all. GRRR.

Methe · 21/01/2015 19:09

I don't like zenons either but have them on my car so can't really complain..Dh's car has the twinkles on the headlights too..

Sorry everyone

Angel1983 · 21/01/2015 19:31

I always struggle with all the different lights and settings on a car. However, I have managed to solve this by getting a car which has automatic lights and windscreen wipers. Brilliant but has drastically reduced my already poor driving ability as I think I have become lazy/complacent......

myotherusernameisbetter · 21/01/2015 19:40

side lights should be removed, you either need lights on or you don't - pissy wee dull lights serve no purpose - if it's dim put your fecking lights on!

re driving in the dark - as I've got older I find that its harder driving in the dark - the lights seem to glare more when a car is coming in the other direction regardless of the headlights being dipped. As a consequence I try to limit night driving to lit roads as much as I can. Someone told me to try to get glasses with yellow lenses as they can help, might give it a try.

TweedAddict · 21/01/2015 19:41

I always get flashed in my car, however there is nothing wrong with my lights, it's just a modern car with xenon lights. They are self levelling and factory fitted. Not all drivers are being tits.

TweedAddict · 21/01/2015 19:42

They are also automatic so turn on and off due to the light conditions.

ipswichwitch · 21/01/2015 19:47

People driving with fog lights on when there is no fog do not look cool. They look bloody stupid. The clue is in the name - they are FOG lights, not COOL lights.

It is my pet hate, and I'm sick to bloody death of being blinded by them. Fog light bulbs are not designed to be on all the time for every journey either (according to DH who has some knowledge of these things), which is why I see a large number of idiots with only one working fog light.

Don't wt me started on those halogen lights and the ones with the little pin lights all round them. It's getting harder for me to see when driving at night with all these ridiculous bright lights.

chemenger · 21/01/2015 19:50

People whout drive with side lights only are my pet driving hate. Can they not see how ineffective they are on other people's cars?

Devilforasideboard · 21/01/2015 19:57

If you use rear fog lights when it's not foggy you are MORE likely to be hit by another driver who is either distracted by the light or can't see you braking. Used to wind me right up when I drove on motorways a lot. I also memorably saw some utter twat driving along a busy motorway in the dark with no lights on. At all.

Hatespiders · 21/01/2015 20:05

Full beams in fog is totally mad. You can't see a blooming thing.
Side lights are no use whatever in any situation.
I hate people in an oncoming vehicle who flash and you wonder what they're trying to tell you. Police speed camera? Flood? An accident ahead? No, they're just saying howdy to their mate coming the other way. Twats!

Methe · 21/01/2015 20:15

I drove past someone on the m6 with no lights on at 9pm last Monday night. I pulled in front of him and put my hazards on but he was oblivious.

lampygirl · 21/01/2015 20:51

I like cars with the daytime running lights. I do a lot of miles a year on motorways and it does make them easier to see in the mirror, especially in a fully loaded estate where you only have side mirrors and not the big rear view mirror as the back window is blocked by equipment or people or baggage.

I also don't find xenons dazzle me, could be an age thing as I'm only 25, but I also do most of my miles in darkness so it could be 'eye training' to ignore them. For te same reason, I could also never go back to halogen headlights as night vis is so much better with them

My pet hate is people with a headlight out. There are so many near me that it can't be that they all just popped that evening.

scattered · 21/01/2015 21:35

Don't know about anyone else but as an aside, I am hating those people who sit on their brake lights in a traffic queue when it's dark. Use your handbrake, you're dazzling me!

LokiBear · 21/01/2015 21:42

My car has a row of led lights underneath each headlight. They can't be turned off. They are dazzling and irritating and I am sorry. When I bought the car they were legislating to make led lights law in the EU. Then they changed their minds. They are too bright and dazzling.

myotherusernameisbetter · 21/01/2015 21:42

My current car has "privacy glass" in the rear windows and i'm finding it great for cutting down the dazzle from cars behind me it's shit trying to reverse in the dark though

My other pet hate is people who park facing the wrong way and then sit with their headlights on so you get an eyeful on your own side of the road.

Hamiltoes · 21/01/2015 22:54

scattered i'm currently taking driving lessons and my instructor has told me that the only time the handbrake is to be used is when you have come to a full and complete stop i.e parking to get out of the car, or stopping on a hill. Strange though as I can't find anything about it. I'm learning in an automatic if that makes any difference.

Also, if you are going straight over a roundabout, then you don't indicate i've googled this too and most people on forums say indicate left after you pass the exit before the exit you want to leave on.

Maybe the people on the roads in this thread were taught by my driving instructor? Maybe I should sack my driving instructor.

Hamiltoes · 21/01/2015 22:57

Oh and can I just say, my instructor is from a pretty reputable driving school think the theme of 50 shades not some guy I found off Gumtree, so I was taking everything he said as pretty much gospel. I'm miles away from test day but starting to get anxious

myotherusernameisbetter · 21/01/2015 22:59

you don't need to apply your handbrake if you are stopped at the traffic lights and you are on the level - i.e. the car doesn't move when you take your foot of the brake. The point the PP was making is that they are keeping their foot on the brake so therefore they should apply the handbrake instead....and they are even bigger twats if they are sat at the lights on the level with their foot on the brake. :)

...and yes, if you are going straight over at a roundabout you do not indicate on entering but indicate left after you pass the exit prior to the one you are taking - you need a new instructor :o

myotherusernameisbetter · 21/01/2015 23:00

...unless of course you are driving one of those cars that has no indicators at all which i seem to encounter regularly.

CalamitouslyWrong · 21/01/2015 23:11

My car has sde lights and separate parking lights. DH and I can't work out what the purpose of the sidelights actually is.

Medoc · 21/01/2015 23:35

It's something I've noticed more and more- about 25% of cars have fog lights on at the front as well as their headlights- we're in an urban area, and I honestly cannot remember the last time it was foggy enough to put on fog lamps, not since I've had my current car anyway (4 years).

I really don't know what parking lights are for. Are you supposed to leave them on when you're parked?

Topseyt · 22/01/2015 02:06

I drive an automatic now. If you are in Drive / Automatic mode, which you normally will be when out on the road then releasing your foot from the footbrake means that the engine will engage and the car will automatically begin to "creep" forward. You don't need to apply the accelerator for it to do this.

You can, of course, put it into Neutral and sit with the handbrake on and I would do this if it looks like I will be actually stopped for some length of time (eg. waiting at a red traffic light). If the queue of traffic is just edging along slowly but regularly then I do it using the foot on/off the footbrake method.

Salmotrutta · 22/01/2015 07:00

I hate all of the above.

But I would also add the people who keep full beam on behind you for a while because they seem to think you have to be close behind someone before dipping lights.

Idiots.

RoganJosh · 22/01/2015 07:10

Hamiltoes I'm not seeing that you're not meant to indicate going straight over a roundabout. This link says you should.
www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/roundabouts-184-to-190
Where did you see that you shouldn't?

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