I have been shopping to the Trafford Centre in Manchester today and had to drive an hour each way.
While on my journey the weather was very dull with light rain and reduced visibility.The majority of cars had their lights on but out of the ones that had no lights at all the majority of these cars were either black or dark grey in colour.
Can someone explain why the cars that need their lights on the most are all the dark coloured cars that you cannot see very well?
Oh and just to add to the other thread,broken down cars on the hard shoulder were a Renault,a Citroen and a Volkswagen.
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Silver or grey cars, in my experience, are the most difficult to see in ones mirrors if they're driving without lights in rain.
I can only repeat the advice I was given many years ago; if you need your wipers on, you probably need your lights on too.
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>> I can only repeat the advice I was given many years ago; if you need
>> your wipers on, you probably need your lights on too.
>>
It is the law in some countries. I expect we will catch up one day. I think the wiper and light switches should be interlocked.
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...of the ones that had no lights at all the majority of these cars were either black or dark grey in colour.
But of the cars that did have lights on, weren't most of them black or dark grey as well? It's just the drab me-too world we live in now.
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I agree, most cars are black or grey, they even have names like brilliant black. Pick up a brochure and look at the emo colour chart.
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And there are 50 shades of grey.
I'll get my coat :)
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Some dash lights come one with the ignition rather than when the headlights are put on. This gives the impression to some that aren't used to it that their headlights are also on. All you get to indicate your headlights are on is a small green light in the speedo housing.
DRLs are misleading too. They only light up the front of the car - not very helpful if you're following a dark coloured car on a dull day that has no lights on.
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The CRV did that - fully illuminated dash - easy to miss small green icon when the headlamps are on. Auto lights on the 3 Series are well sorted - Mode 1. Lights on after darkness. Mode 2. DRLs at all times. Even when you use the lighting system's manual setting they go off completely when you remove the keys. Mine are in DRL mode in the winter and will reset them to on-demand in the Spring. Never got on with auto-wipers though.
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>> Some dash lights come one with the ignition rather than when the headlights are put
>> on. This gives the impression to some that aren't used to it that their headlights
>> are also on. All you get to indicate your headlights are on is a small
>> green light in the speedo housing.
>>
Yep. And given that the vast majority of drivers do not RTFM when they get the car, some probably have no idea what that particular idiot light is for anyway. Ditto the one for rear fog lamps.
I concede that I too have been caught out by this. On my lorry, the only indication that the lights are on (apart from the switch position) is that part of the dash display changes colour. If I stop somewhere with headlights on, and switch the engine off, out go all the lights; one has to switch to side lights, or parking lamps as our American friends correctly call them. I have to be careful, when starting of again, to remember to switch the headlights back on.
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Recently I was guilty of driving on a motorway in poor light with no exterior lights on.
Eventually I sussed the flashing lights from others were trying to alert ME!
I was driving my daughters old Yaris which has the dash / digital speedo is always lit up unlike all the other cars I have owned.
No rotary switch to look at but a stalk behind your hand.
The lights on indicator has also failed.
On a crowded motorway with not fantastic headlights and little to illuminate on dip beams.
Still no excuse. I am guilty of forgetting to switch on the lights.
There are many more out there who do not have lights on and have no dash illumination. IMO they are really really thick.
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>> Still no excuse. I am guilty of forgetting to switch on the lights.
>>
>> There are many more out there who do not have lights on and have no
>> dash illumination. IMO they are really really thick.
>>
Yes Henry, but on a street-lit motorway it's understandable given your circs. First car I had like that was a Citroen B19 and I got caught out the same way. If anyone flashes me now, especially if I don't recognise t'other vehicle, first glance is the dash/light switch to make sure I'm correctly lit.
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I've always been one of the first to turn lights on in poor conditions. I remember adding DRLs to a dull dark green Rover 2000 in the late 70s after noticing folks were very prone to pull out in front of it compared with my previous bright yellow Herald.
Yesterday collected eldest daughter from spending her Christmas money and commented to her how many folks were driving without lights in town despite the gloom. In fact as she is about 30% into learning to drive I gave her a police type commentary through busy town, on the 4-lane A1(M) and country B-roads as to all my decisions for positioning, speeds etc.
We agreed there is something about Christmas that brings out some rubbish driving.... more lack of proper decision making that absolute speed or aggression. From the profile of the drivers we noted it seems many were venturing out in circumstances they were not comfortable with.
Like the couple in a Focus who held the middle lane of the 3-lane A1 at 67mph but even worse stuck in that lane when it became lane 3 of the not very busy 4-lane motorway. We watched faster cars pull out from lane 1 to lane 4 and back again to pass and several risking 85mph undertakes. Yet on these folks went oblivious to all around them.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sat 29 Dec 12 at 07:52
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My obsevations starting very early for work is that most farmers and drivers of big (usually black) FWDs do not put lights on in the morning, even if still half-dark.
Once they do have their lights on, usually mounted very high up and with badly-adjusted dip, they are reluctant ever to turn them off.
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My Mercedes has clever lights. Too clever for me sometimes but anyway they do have a couple of features which at least amuse.
First of all they are xenons so pretty bright anyway. Self levelling of course and with headlamp washers which I think are a required item when xenons are fitted? You can programme them from a menu on a steering wheel function switch to be left or right dipping depending on where you're driving. If you are driving slowly with the lights on and start to turn the steering wheel the foglight on the side you are steering towards illuminates to give better peripheral light.
You can set them so that they employ full beam automatically where appropriate to do so. There must be a clever sensor which can "see" streetlights, oncoming traffic and the red tail lamps of vehicles it is following. It reverts to dipped in those circumstances but gives you full beam when safe to do so. That is clever if a little disturbing.
In addition they can be set to automatic on/off. This is not only a function of ambient light but it does also seem to be linked to the automatic wiper system. If ambient light is good and the wipers are choosing a slow intermitent sweep then the lights stay off but if the wipers move up to continuous motion the the lights come on.
More or less the only thing which confuses the system is fog or mist when they are reluctant to come on automatically. There is of course a manual override for those circumstances.
It does get quite boring sometimes though. Not much to do. What with an automatic gearbox, parking sensors, traction control, abs brakes etc etc etc you do, ( or I do anyway ) feel more than a bit disenfranchised from the process of actually driving the thing. It even has a gizmo, God knows how that works, which beeps at me when it decides I need a coffee break. That may well be a useful thing but it is a bridge too far for me !
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f you are driving slowly with the lights on and start to turn the steering wheel the foglight on the side you are steering towards illuminates to give better peripheral light.
My old Roomie did that !
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Dead clever dem Germans !
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Dead clever dem Germans !
Wan' t this first introduced by Citroen on the DS19?
OK the 2cv probably flexed enough to have it built in as a passive feature. May have been the inspiration? :)
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Cheapskates. The Outlandish has extra sideways firing lamps in the headlamp cluster that come on round corners, rather than using the foglamps.
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Jap though innit. They're clever chaps too. Need to ease back on the chrome though sometimes.
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Are the turning-foglamp things actually any use, though? Can't say they've yet shown me anything I'd have missed by the light of the dipped beams alone. I suppose it gives the foglamps something to do; the Verso had them and they were never switched on.
On the other hand, arriving at work involves a gentle U-turn in front of the big windows in the side of the building, so I get the full reflected benefit of my unilateral illumination. If I jiggle it gratuitously I can get the left one, then both, then the right one in the space of a few seconds.
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When I see these single "turning" foglights my first thought is "failed bulb".
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>> When I see these single "turning" foglights my first thought is "failed bulb".
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Very early in my sons ownership of his MB, when he was not aware of the feature, he was stopped by a Transit full of BiB as he turned into a side road.
They accused him of driving with his fog lights on ( and of course he had deliberately switched them on manually).
Ho Hum. What is the law on fog lights with all these MBs around ?
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>>What is the law ...
One doesn't trouble one's self with such proletarian matters...
:-)
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>> >>What is the law ...
>>
>> One doesn't trouble one's self with such proletarian matters...
>>
>> :-)
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Thank ye kind sir for your kind words of wisdom.
I know my place... doffs hat.
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>>>Are the turning-foglamp things actually any use, though?
Well I thought the ones on the C5 were. I'll live without them but liked the extra light on farm tracks, country house drives and for cat avoidance on twisty modern housing estate roads.
Not much use over 20mph though... unlike the steering main beams of the old DS which were amazing for fast twisty B-roads.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sat 29 Dec 12 at 12:05
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Included in the most recent RVLR IIRC from around 2007..
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I cannot turn the lights off on my (dark grey) BMW. Even with the switch in the "off" position, or in Auto mode in bright daylight, the sidelights are permanently on.
I believe this is a legal thing, but as the holder of a motorcycle license, I have very mixed feelings about it.
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Maybe there is a way DP, but it might be hidden in some onboard computer sub function. I know you can disable the drls on the Merc if you want but it involves a bit of press button B while holding down switch A sort of thing. I've never bothered.
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Sat 29 Dec 12 at 12:43
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>> Like the couple in a Focus who held the middle lane of the 3-lane A1
>> at 67mph but even worse stuck in that lane when it became lane 3 of
>> the not very busy 4-lane motorway. We watched faster cars pull out from lane 1
>> to lane 4 and back again to pass and several risking 85mph undertakes. Yet on
>> these folks went oblivious to all around them.
>>
Do you think that perhaps they had 70mph showing on their speedo and thought "well, that's the legal limit, if anyone wants to overtake, they can drive round us"?
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>> Do you think that perhaps they had 70mph showing on their speedo and thought "well,
>> that's the legal limit, if anyone wants to overtake, they can drive round us"?
>>
That. I'm afraid, is more than likely.
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Dark coloured cars and their lights. - Harleyman
