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

[Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService]

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?

Ive flashed countless people this afternoon, if you are driving in well lit areas with lots of other cars around you and you started driving in daylight I can see how people without auto lights can forget.

But isn't reacting to the changing conditions a very major part of basic driving? Don't people actually notice that it's getting gradually harder and harder to see in front of them outside?!

Not in well lit areas from my experience.

Radio 2 used to (maybe still do) shout outs to remind people to put lights on and it was amazing how many would go on!

Three days in a row now, for the morning school run, I've seen the same car without any lights on. Twice I've had to brake sharply because they've appeared out of nowhere in the dark, and they tend to drive a little 'over-assertively' shall we say.

And before anybody protests at how beautifully sunny it is in their part of the UK at 8:30am right now, it is seriously dark here - that's why every one of the other many vehicles on the road except for this one and one other car naturally had their headlights on.

They had that public information advert on TV a few years ago where they felt the need to tell drivers who broke down on the motorway that they should try to get over left to the hard shoulder if at all possible, rather than just staying stationary in their current lane; so maybe we also need a TV ad campaign to inform adults who drive that it's much safer and easier to see and be seen in the dark if you use lights, and to remember to check that you have them on in the dark.

But doesn’t this solve your problem? You’re complaining about people not turning their lights on, there is a way that mitigates that problem. But yet they shouldn’t need to use that either?

weird thread

But the clear problem is - as attested to on this thread - that some people believe that the existence of automatic lights means that they never ever have to even think to check that the automatic lights are still on/haven't been previously switched off.

My point is that, as a responsible driver would know anyway as a basic essential that they need to remember to ensure that their automatic lights are on, what is the actual point of them in the first place over clicking a knob two or three times to turn them on and know that you've turned them on? They don't bring any real benefits, but their presence does seem to make some drivers complacent and thus never bother to check that they aren't driving in the dark in a completely unlit car.

Are you really saying that it's a weird to start a thread to suggest that people in fast moving vehicles in the dark should ensure that they have lights on?!

I don't get it either OP. Ditto when there's heavy rain. Surely you want to make yourself as visible as possible?

I was always taught "if you need your wipers on, you need your lights on".

There's no excuse or reason for not using headlights

60w halogens would be illegal and fail your MOT. 55w is the maximum permitted headlight power.

With my car’s lights on the auto setting, when the wipers are on so are the supperheadlights and back lights.

They also seem to have a very low tolerance for low lightening levels - they switched from DRL to dipped headlights at 2.40pm one afternoon this week!

Using the features on modern cars is a no brainier to me.

Older cars have an automatic light setting. Newer cars they come on themselves by sensor

it would genuinely never occur to me to not trust these features

Really? I thought it was 55W for dipped beam and 60W for main beam?

Perfectly fine as long as people actually make sure to check that the automatic features are switched on in the first place!

Whatever it is making people 'forget' that leads to them driving unlit in the dark is what needs to be urgently addressed. Drivers who use whichever options they find better properly, diligently and safely... all grand.

But we're talking about the people who blithely trust the features without making sure that they're actually switched on.

Unless and until cars all have automatic lights which cannot be turned off or deactivated by the driver when the engine is on - and which emit a horrible loud beep and flash up a massive unignorable warning on the dash if they aren't working - it seems like we're going to get a sizeable minority of drivers who don't diligently check that their automatic lights are actually functional before relying on them.