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

[NeonDoll]

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?

I was taught the same as Hamiltoes that you do not indicate when going straight over. You only indicate after the first exit so you don't confuse people.

Retread the third section in 186

If selecting an intermediate route, do not signal on approach

That was to Rigan Jish.
Li was taught the came as Hamiltoes

Roganjosh

signal left after you have passed the exit before the one you want.

From the Highway Code. You do not signal on approach to your roundabout exit, you signal to exit.

Interesting the side-light haters on here - I'm exactly the opposite - why put your full lights on if side lights will do? Full lights just produce glare.

The new "blue" lights are lethal on the roads at night. There seem to be an awful lot of idiots who won't dip the traditional "yellow" lights though. It's simply selfish and dangerous. TURN THEM DOWN. And if you are following a car you don't need them on either.

If I am on a roundabout, I indicate left for left, right for right and left after passing the last exit for straight on. And if I am going right, I switch to left after passing the last exit before it. I can't think offhand of a local roundabout with more than 3 exits.

Most people driving with no lights or just sidelights in the dark are not twats, they've simply made a mistake. Mine are usually set to automatic but when the car has been in for MOT or service, this gets switched off and with modern street lighting it isn't always apparent.

I have no idea where my fog lights are. I assume the car has them. I suspect that a lot of overly bright lights are just overly bright headlights.

I think my car always has side lights on. I can't be sure though as I am always in the car where you can't see them.

The idea of a grown adult driving round with fog lights on in non foggy conditions, even though they must know it is dazzling other road users and creating a hazard, because they think it looks cool boggles my mind. How self absorbed is it possible to be?

My driving instructor told me you shouldn't drive with just your side lights on. They were just for parking in places that would be hard for drivers to see your car.

I'm on the fence about sidelights. During the winter there are a lot of days when a bit of additional light makes the car more visible, yet if you put dipped headlights on you end up with all the oncoming drivers flashing at you to turn them off. Sidelights seem to fill a gap, although I know that actually that is not in keeping with the highway code.

People who use the Main Beam headlights unnecessarily annoy me. They dont realise that dipped headlights are sufficient unless driving down unlit roads.

Oh for goodness' sake. All of you bleating about how fog lights don't help you see better, the point of them is so that other drivers can see you. If it's foggy enough to warrant turning them on, no amount of bright light is going to help you see, it will just get reflected back at you. Dipped beam is best to see, fogs are best so traffic can see you.

Sidelights are useful in the winter with wet roads and a low sun when it's difficult to judge distances because the sun's in your eyes - it helps the driver behind you get a better idea of where you are exactly without dazzling them. Again, sidelights don't enable you to see, they enable you to be seen.

I have had cars where the front fog lights have made visibility significantly better than with dipped beam alone. Then again, I've had cars where they didn't. I suspect it depends on the design.

Apparently you're supposed to use your parking lights if you're parked on a road with a speed limit of more than 30mph at night. I actually can't think of a single time that I've been parked in such a situation.

The main benefit of sidelights are (apparently): they prevent you looking like a motorbike if one of your front headlamps has gone and you don't realise it. But that benefit is from use alongside the use of your dipped beam headlights.

They also have very minor cheapskate-friendly properties, in that they use a bit less fuel than the headlights so you can save a few pennies in the minutes between it being light enough for no headlights and dark enough to actually need them. Over many years of doing so, you might have saved yourself, ooh, £10.

Front fogs aren't there to help you be seen. They're designed to illuminate under the fog (hence then being mounted lower than headlights) and to show the edge of the carriageway with a level, wide beam. As such, they shouldn't really dazzle oncoming traffic when being used (incorrectly) in fair light conditions (as they're close to road). Obviously, when riding crests, they can be aiming straight at oncoming cars at eye level.
Rear fogs are there to aid being seen by following traffic. But (and here's my pet hate), if you can see a tailing car's headlights in your rear view mirror, then that car can see your tail lights - at that point, rear fogs should be turned off to prevent blinding the poor sod behind.

I used to have front fogs and they were really useful for driving around country lanes in the dark.

But I agree with the rear fog light being dazzling, and cars with factor fitted front fogs have a separate switch so you don't need to have both on at the same time.

I had a hire car with self-levelling/self adjusting headlights and I got flashed by so many cars for having "full beam" on that I switched off the automatic adjustment.

It makes up for all the people who don't put their headlights (or any lights on) in fog. Including police cars

Theoretician

Do front fog lights serve any purpose? I've never had a car where they've made any noticeable difference to what I could see in front of me, given I had dipped main beams on as well.

Front fog lights are intended to illuminate a much closer area of the road to you, so you can see any obstacles in the road. Because you are driving slower in fog - within your stopping distance - aren't you ?

Remember that 100+ car pile-up on the M25 a couple of years ago ?

The self-adjusting xenon headlights on many cars seem to be set precisely with the intention of dazzling everyone else on the road. They find just the right level to make things difficult for the maximum number of other road users. This is especially the case of you're in a normal car and have to encounter one of those bloody giant Audi 4x4 things.

If people are flashing you, it is because your headlights are dazzling them regardless of whether they're self-adjusting or not.

YY yo staring into the bloody disco light strip brake lights of some vehicles in standstill traffic or traffic lights.

I was taught to apply the handbrake even on the flat because if you were rear shunted you'd react and release the footbrake, causing damage to the car in front. Scoffed at by my dbil until it happened to him!

I was told to put the handbrake on if I was going to be stationary for longer than 5 seconds. For the same reason as Kato said.

I too put my handbrake on when I stop - at junctions, queues of traffic etc so if I'm hit from behind hopefully I'll stay put. I remember that horrendous accident a few years ago where a van skidded and shunted another driver into the path of an oncoming train

If I parked and left my side lights on I'd be worried about having a flat battery when I returned.

I don't think I would park somewhere that I felt I needed to leave the sidelights on. Clearly it's just not a very safe place to park if the car needs to be lit up so its not a hazard and I should find somewhere sensible to park instead.