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Why not, it seems that hands alone are not enough!
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but infra-red? surely you mean a light dependent resistor?
pedant
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I didn't realise so many drivers had active night vision goggles. How else do you explain the idiots I seem to get stuck behind on winding country roads who refuse to use their main beam.
Call me old fashioned but I like to see more than 20 feet ahead of me when I'm doing 60mph.
Presumably having to work out when to dip for approaching cars would distract them from their mobile phones.
When we lived just outside Newcastle it was much worse. Drivers who seemingly had never driven outside the city before at night clearly had no idea what the push and pull part of their indicator stalk did.
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Stackman: "I didn't realise so many drivers had active night vision goggles. How else do you explain the idiots I seem to get stuck behind on winding country roads who refuse to use their main beam.
Call me old fashioned but I like to see more than 20 feet ahead of me when I'm doing 60mph."
Well I must be one of those idiots. I drive mostly on dipped beam in country lanes so I can see the lights of an approaching vehicle BEFORE I see said vehicle - even if that vehicle has dipped beam on too. It's far safer than driving with full beam as you said at 60mph!! in a winding country lane to be suddenly blinded and no time to react.
If we ever passed on a lane. I'll see you well before you see me. I just hope there's somewhere safe for me to pull into as you go hurtling passed.
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*past
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Not sure I can agree with you there Stonk. Even with your lights on high beam, you should easily be able to make out oncoming headlights reflecting off hedges, road, sky, whatever, and surely you have to accept that high beam allows you to see better?
If you don't use high beam for pitch black country lanes, what do you use it for?
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Also, as Stackman was pointing out, the reason for a slow car ahead of you not having high-beam being an annoyance, is that you can't make out where the road goes ahead of them, so you can't tell howe long an overtaking space you have, and you can't tell where to look for oncoming vehicles. Well, neither can the person in that slow moving cars. I really can't see a benefit to deliberately reducing the length of your vision when driving on a dark road.
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Stonk, are you saying that having your headlamps on main beam renders the light beams of oncoming cars invisible? If that's the case I suggest you make an urgent appointment with an optician. There's enough danger on the road without having people who can't see properly driving about.
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What I am saying is that full/main beam lights flood out the immediate area and reduce the likelyhood of having forewarning of an approaching vehicle. I am only referring to winding country roads - roads that in no way can you overtake but require passing places. Of course you can use full beam on wider or straighter roads, it's the winding country roads I'm talking about. Actually what I do is flick between full and dipped to give me the best advantage. I'd be cursing anyone who drove around all the time with full beam and only dipped after rounding a corner seeing an oncoming car for the fisrt time about 10 meters away.
Just in case.. When I refer to vehicle lights I mean, in order of brightness:
1. Off
2. Sidelights
3. Dipped beam
4. Main/Full Beam
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for the fisrt time about 10 meters away.
*first
*metres
Sorry, couldn't resist.
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I'll see you well before you see me. I just hope there's somewhere safe for me to pull into as you go hurtling past.
Yes, you will see me first, because my main beam headlights will be visible from a greater distance. Your dipped beams will probably be obscured by hedges etc.
You will only make yourself visible to me when you round the last bend between us. So I will only know that I need to dip my headlights when you are directly ahead.
If you used your main beam then I would see you earlier, have greater warning of what is happening, and be able to dip my headlights before they dazzle you because I will know you are coming!
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You can't tell me that on a dark country road that you are unable to see another car approaching from quite some distance that has dipped headlamps. Are you not paying enough attention? Look ahead rather than just the end of your bonnet.
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Thank you. I do try to look out from time to time. Sometimes it feels as if this habit sets me apart from many road users.
Sadly there are hedges, hills, buildings etc that get in my way and I find myself unable to look round corners. A main beam headlight projects significantly beyond a dipped beam - that is its purpose. If an oncoming driver uses them then I have more warning of their approach, which is (a) inherently useful and (b) allows me more time to dip my headlights.
You have made two criticisms of other drivers in your posts - first that they dip their lights too late and second that you have to dive out of their way as they come past you. May I suggest that both could be remedied if you were to use your headlights in the manner for which they were designed and which is recommended by the Highway Code?
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By all means continue to discuss this, but please make sure that all toys stay in prams and that nothing gets personal.
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"Sadly there are hedges, hills, buildings etc that get in my way and I find myself unable to look round corners. A main beam headlight projects significantly beyond a dipped beam - that is its purpose."
Exactly, main beam won't benefit you because the of the obstructions mentioned. You may see things immediatly in front of you brighter but it will wash-out the glare from an approaching vehicle and give you less advantage. Don't get me wrong, I do use main beam on longer straighter parts of the road but flick back to dipped when approaching blind bends. Best of both worlds.
Highway code? Naturally everyone should follow this by the book. It even overules common sense.
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The difference, I find, is that dipped beam is exactly that ... dipped. It is at the same level as the obstructions and points downwards at the road ahead. If I can't see the road immediately in front of the oncoming car then there is little sign of its arrival.
Main beam points forward, roughly horizontal with some upwards spread. Say (for example) that there is a bend ahead with trees/bushes either side and that the oncoming car is far enough away from the bend that his dipped beams don't reach it. Given the general background light, there is not much to tell me about him. Now he switches to main beam, and illuminates the hedge at the apex of the bend. I can't see him, but I can see that the hedge is now brightly lit up.
This tells me that he is coming.... and gives me time to dip. This is not hypothetical - my commute home takes me along country roads of this type and I have noticed the ability to take account of cars with main beam much earlier.
Your own main beam should not glare out everyone else, as someone else has mentioned. Mine do not. If they do, then perhaps they may need re-aligning, or the windscreen may need a serious scrub, of the windscreen wipers may need renewing? Do you have spectacles? I find that mine need cleaning to a higher level for driving than for general use.
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I regularly drive the Tunstall Hope road, this clearly qualifys as a twisty road, anyone who knows Sunderland will back me up! I find main beam so much more useful than dipped, I can see further ahead, which helps pick up the odd suicidal pedestrian alightly before I knock them over, giving me the chance to take evasive action.
My lights reflect off the hedges that prevent me seeing further up the road. This allows oncoming cars to see my approach sooner, and as they are all invariably using their main beam, I see them sooner from their reflections, in almost all cases, both myself and the ooncoming driver have switched to dipped headlights by the time we come face to face.
I can't believe anyone would risk driving along a country road without main beam, how are you meant to see any mad people who have decided that it is a good idea to walk along the road. It doesn't happen regularly, but in 3 years I have came across a few pedestrians dressed in dark clothes, walking along the Hope Road, if I didn't have main beam on I'm quite positive that I would hace killed them, with dipped headlights you just don't see them in time to react.
Blue
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I'm with patently on this one, as it's the technique I use when I drive.
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Well I'm with him on this one as it is, IIRC, recommended by Roadcraft, I was taught to do it, and this was backed up by a Police Traffic driver, can't get a higher endorsement of the technique IMO. Plus I can see further this way :-)
Blue
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Well I must say I'm amazed that only I seem to use the 'flick between main and dipped beam' method. My father taught me this (IAM driver) and I found it safe for both approaching vehicles. Because of my location I regularly drive on winding country roads in the dark with never the slightest problem in 25 years of driving.
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I'm with Stonk.
I always move between dip & beam on the windy bits to try and 1) maximise my sight along the road on beam and 2) maximise how early I become aware of something coming towards me when on dip.
With my car, on beam, there is no way I would pick up the reflection of someone else's lights off hedges/trees. On the other hand, on dip I can't see far enough. - so I switch between the two (and I still manage to avoid getting nailed by speed cameras)
And frankly I don't really see why this is such a heated/forceful conversation since it seems like blatantly obvious common sense to me.
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Do you flick constantly between dipped and high beam then?
I think blue-oval's point is the most important - there may be road users without any lights at all, pedestrians, cyclists (albeit illegally), wildlife - and you don't stand a great chance of seeing them in time on dipped beam, unless you're flicking between them every few seconds.
And, if you're doing that I would say that you're not helping yourself at all, as you're forcing your eyes to constantly re-adjust to the latest light levels.
If I'm on a drark country road and there's no traffic ahead, I'll be on high beam, I have absolutely no problem picking out oncoming traffic before they come onto my stretch of road, since I can see the glow of their headlights. The only way I wouldn't see them is if they only had dipped beam on, and frankly, that'd be their fault.
High beam means you can see better, and you are more visible, the only down-side is dazzling people, if their aren't people thre to dazzle, why on earth would you choose to not use it?
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And yes, I know there were many many typos in there, but I was a bit too eager with the post button. Sorry.
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>>Do you flick constantly between dipped and high beam then?
Why on earth would I do that ? What a silly question.
I drive on beam; when I come to a sharp corner, or least one that I cannot see around, I drop briefly to dip to check I do not then pick up the lights of something I had not already seen - and sometimes I do.
>The only way I wouldn\'t see them is if they only had dipped beam on, and frankly, that\'d be their fault.
Well, I guess that something to comfort yourself with as you pick bits of airbag out of your teeth, at least it wasn\'t your fault.
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With more explanation, I can see the reasoning behind Stonk and Mark's technique.
What I don't understand is why they need to use it - I simply don't find that main beam washes out other people's lights or their reflections. I can still see the illumination that they cause.
Maybe its due to different designs of headlight, in which case we are ALL right (!) because we are adjusting our technique to suit the conditions.... :-)
I agree wholeheartedly with Mark, however, that "It was their fault" will not be much consolation if there is actually an accident that I could have avoided. Especially if the other driver has no tax/insurance/MOT ... as we have discussed previously at length.
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I do find that it will wash out the lights of another car;
However what is certain is that it will most definitely wash out the lights of a bicycle, tractor, moped, etc. etc.
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Hmm. I'll keep an eye out for this in case I'm missing something.
Mind you, I'll also keep mine on full beam so that they're not washed out by someone else's full beams....
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>>I'll also keep mine on full beam so that they're not washed out by someone else's full beams
Well, that made me smile.
It works for me, and if I spot one vehicle a year I wouldn't have seen so soon otherwise, that makes it worth the effort. And honestly, dipped for a couple of seconds isn't going to make any difference to how quickly someone will spot me.
Especially as I drive in the middle of the road with my foglights on so that I stand out ;-)
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Especially as I drive in the middle of the road with my foglights on so that I stand out ;-)
Don't forget to use the hazard lights whenever you park as well! And rear fog lights if there is some nasty drizzle - oh and best get some flashing blue LEDs soon as.
Agreed that 1 per year is worth it. I still recall my driving instructor suggesting that a quick look to the right when turning left at a traffic light would be useful. OK, he said, 99% of the time there will be nothing there but on the 100th time you'll be glad you spotted the guy jumping the lights.
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Ah, I begin to understand your point better. Dipping as you come to the corner does make sense, if you find that your high beam drown out reflective light around the corner. I was envisioning a constant switching from dipped to high beam and back to see if either state was causing you to miss anything the other would pick up.
Personally, I've never found high beam to stop me picking something up coming the other way, but that'd depend on your car / conditions/ how your eyes react to light and many other variables.
And yes, you're 100% right about the 'fault' comment, didn't really put my point across properly there. I was trying to make a point about my dipping not making abny difference to my ability to see the oncoming car, but his being constantly dipped making the difference.... I think.
BTW, with your professed method of lighting, this would never be an issue anyway, since even if you assume I wouldn't see your dipped beam (which I think I would, especially if you were at all close to the corner), I would certainly have seen your high beam moments earlier.
In fact, now I understand your method, I can say that in some ways I drive similarly. As I approach a blind corner, even if I can't see lights coming the other way, I will always have my fingers ready to dip, and if I feel that I might not be able to make anything out, I will sometimes dip anyway, just in case.
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Now the sort of behaviour described by Mark etc. I don't mind if I am following, I probably do it myself. What I was trying to articulate is my dislike of those who refuse to use full beam under any circumstances yet still drive at speeds up to 60mph on straight or winding road, with only 20 feet of illumination ahead of them.
You can't see if its safe to pass and end up either dropping so far back that you can use your own main beam without dazzling them or just letting rip into their mirrors. Seems to me if they can't work out how to use main beam they probably haven't been able to adjust their mirrors either.
Its the fact that not only are they putting themselves at risk they are preventing me from getting a full look at the road ahead as well.
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Maybe I didn't read correctly first time. On approaching a bend I do flick back to dipped so that I can see if there are any headlights shining onto the hedges etc, from the opposing direction.
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but infra-red? surely you mean a light dependent resistor? pedant
I know what I mean and I think you know what I mean, maybe I\'ve got the name wrong,but something like a magic eye like on street lights i.e. as soon as it gets dark, it switches on automatically
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My top two:
1. Lane drifting on roundabouts. I've lost count of the number of times I've nearly been hit by morons who think it's perfectly acceptable to approach a roundabout in the left-hand lane, only to cut straight across all traffic in the other lanes and then and shoot off the roundabout going straigh on, without so much as a backward (or even sidewards) glance.
2. Crawling down the slip road when joining a motorway. For the love of God, the slip road is there so you can match your speed to the traffic on the motorway, thereby enabling you to join the motorway, causing minimal disruption to other road users. If the traffic in the inside lane is doing 70, YOU should be doing 70 when you hit the bottom of the slip road, NOT 40, you numbskull.
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Robzilla,
They are my top two as well. The roundabout one is even more annoying / dangerous when I'm on my motorbike.
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These are the people who drive with blinkers on - only the things directly in front of them actually exist.
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Agree with Robzilla's point 2
Joining the M40 at Beaconsfield Jcn 2 there is a big downwards slip towards the motorway which even the lorries are at 75mph plus on and the majority of the traffic flows at 90mph. For some reason well over half the joining traffic joins at less than 50mph, god knows why
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