Fed up of seeing vehicles with no lights on at 5:30pm

[kolpa]

It has been dark at the time since Oct. Yet on my journey home from work - I always see around 3 vehicles with no headlights on. Different cars of different ages.

How dump do you need to be not notice these things?

Well she clearly to me didn't understand what she had done !
Maybe she wasn't legal I don't know but like u I agree how can u drive a car with no lights in the dark and not realise ?

I don’t see vehicles without lights so much at 5:30 pm because it is definitely dark then and has been for some time. But often around the times of our early school run at 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. when it’s slightly less dark but lights are definitely needed. It seems completely arrogant to be driving around without lights at these times, depending on other people safe driving to avoid accidents.

That is cyclist's desperate for a compensation claim.

only one observation- especially in built up area with street lights some eyes will see quite clearly so won’t realise the problem - people with brown eyes get much less light in than those with blue apparently which can make a big difference as to how they perceive light levels and what they can clearly see

whixh may be why there is a law saying that lights should be on -certainly at 530

I find the same, it really irritates me when it’s foggy, low-light, or just starting to get dark early and cars don’t have their lights on, it seems so much less safe.

And cars that use side lights instead of headlights so only front lights are on but not rears - what’s the point in this?

Payable to their next of kin, after probate.

Just as annoying are the people who drive in fog or heavy rain without lights, or think they need their rear fogs on at all times.

Yes, DH was driving my car the other day and it was a bit dull, about 4-4:30pm, I said have you got the lights on, he said oh no, he hadn't realised because his car has automatic lights.

I've noticed it a lot this year.

Where are these areas where people drive in the dark without lights?
Are they all driving very old cars?

Are they all living in cities with lots of street lights?

I very rarely see a car at night being driven without lights on.

People who don’t face the traffic when walking or running on the road are idiots. Facing the traffic results in a drastic reduction in the chance of having a fatal or non-fatal accident.

Does facing traffic improve pedestrian safety?

”The main finding was that the mean effect of facing traffic compared to walking with traffic was a 77% decrease in fatal and in non-fatal injury pedestrian accidents.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457512003387

What do you class as 'very old'? My car is 8 years old (I don't consider that very old) and doesn't have automatic lights.

On the other thread, people were saying about not thinking to check and turn the automatic lights back on after collecting the car from the garage, where they'd turned them off.

I'm also thinking that, whilst very clever, automatic lights aren't completely infallible. Aeroplanes largely control themselves now, but nobody would dream of sending one up without two highly-trained human pilots as well.

As per street lights, somebody on the other thread claimed thaf you didn't legally need to ever use headlights on a road with streetlights!! Streetlights are ideal for pedestrians walking from one to the next, but they're no replacement for headlights for motorists. They sometimes instal them on busy sections of motorway as an extra help; but you need your own headlights at all times in any kind of poor visibility.

My car is 10 years old and doesn’t have automatic lights 🤷‍♀️

Surely speed cameras could also catch drivers driving with no lights on?

Mine is nearly 17 years old and does.

Only if they were speeding as well.

My 10 year old Fiesta doesn't have automatic lights but a more upmarket bigger car probably would.

We can't afford expensive cars so maybe some brands include automatic lights as standard? I have been driving Hondas for the last 11 years.

Most cars have their lights on all the time it seems to me, because their sensors think a slightly overcast day is the same as night time.

It depends how dark it is of course, doh!

At dusk (just after sunset so around the time you are talking about) many cars sensibly only have the dim low front lights on (some people call them side or parking lights) . This is correct behaviour, especially given how glaringly bright a lot of modern LED lights are. Blinding people with full headlights when they are not necessary is dangerous.

Some people drive around with full headlights on all day and are muppets - if they think I should have full headlights on when it is not dark then they are not fit to be driving as it seems they can’t see my shiny silver car when there is plenty of light.

Of course if it truly is dark, (after about 6.30pm at the moment where I am) then people should go from dim dusk lights to full headlights.

They’re daytime running lights not side lights. Side lights illuminate the tail lights as well.

I didn't see what make or model it was, but I saw a car out this morning with orange lights on the back corner - like indicators but fully on and not flashing. That seems a particularly stupidly confusing design. Unless it had a fault, I suppose.

I've also seen a few cars (or might just be the same one every time) with an irritating bright light in the middle, below the number plate, made up of 8 or 10 red LEDs - that just seems to randomly flash now and then. No idea what that's supposed to be for.

It feels the other way round here as people seem to have lights on all the time.

I think it's down to dashboards being permanently lit up now. It's easier for people to not realise that they've forgotten to put their lights on.

In the Olden Days, dashboards weren't backlit unless the lights were on. One of my two cars is 39 years old and you'd notice straight away if you were driving without lights on as the dashboard would be pitch black.

That said, fog lights and indicators have visible symbols on dashboards and people manage to ignore those for miles. I do wonder how often some people glance down at their dashboard displays...