Dark nights- Bright lights!!

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Mon 5 Nov 2012 17:26
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - concrete

Well it's back again. The dark nights and 'bright lights'. There must be an awful lot of cars that don't have a handbrake fitted. Every man and his wife seems to sit at traffic lights, junctions etc with their foot on the brake pedal. Blinding the manure out of anyone around them. It is ridiculous, not only do they blind the sugar out of drivers behind them, it is poor driving practice and a waste of energy. Then we come to the headlights- or more precisely the lack of one out of two. I nearly came a cropper the other evening. A large van with the offside headlight not working. On a dark road it was difficult to judge the width and position of the vehicle. It also has one of those deadly racks on the side for carrying Glass etc. Just swerved in time to prevent being opened like a can of beans along the side. Come on now people, give a thought and some consideration to other motorists, please. Best to all. Concrete

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 5 Nov 2012 18:12
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - Bobbin Threadbare

There must be an awful lot of cars that don't have a handbrake fitted. Every man and his wife seems to sit at traffic lights, junctions etc with their foot on the brake pedal. Blinding the manure out of anyone around them. It is ridiculous, not only do they blind the sugar out of drivers behind them, it is poor driving practice and a waste of energy.

One of my biggest bugbears. Hear, hear, Concrete!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 5 Nov 2012 18:23
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - RT

a waste of energy.

Get real - work out the energy used by bulbs of a few watts - compared to engines rated in 100s of kilowatts.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 5 Nov 2012 18:34
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - unthrottled

Get real - work out the energy used by bulbs of a few watts - compared to engines rated in 100s of kilowatts.

Yes, but how often do you use rated output? Certainly not when you're sitting stationary! If we figure that it takes 1.5-2KW of mechanical work for an engine to idle, and that electrical accessories sap about twice their electrical power in terms of crankshaft power, then the additional load on the engine isn't entirely trivial.

Not that fussed about brake lights. It's bright headlights that cause me the most problems. I've adopted a zero tolerence policy: If a car approaches me with excessively bright 'dipped' lights, then I simply flip to main beam.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 5 Nov 2012 18:42
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - Engineer Andy

a waste of energy.

Get real - work out the energy used by bulbs of a few watts - compared to engines rated in 100s of kilowatts.

Or they could just use the handbrake. Doing so often, especially on hills, can go through a clutch in months, not years. Sheer laziness.

I would add people using (and forgetting to turn off) front/rear fog lamps or badly adjusted dipped headlights as well. Its bad enough with all the too bright (normally on German-made cars) LED side lights...I'm amazed at how often people don't seem to be aware of a bright indicator light on their dash saying that one of these is on.

Edited by Engineer Andy on 05/11/2012 at 18:43

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 5 Nov 2012 19:02
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - jamie745

I have an automatic and still leave my foot on the brake despite it's electronic handbrake thing. That's the only downside of the car, that stupid automatic handbrake.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 6 Nov 2012 08:49
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - Happy Blue!

I have an automatic and still leave my foot on the brake despite it's electronic handbrake thing. That's the only downside of the car, that stupid automatic handbrake.

I disagree entirely. I have an automatic with an electronic handbrake. They work seamlessly. Come up to traffic lights, stop, flick up the handbrake switch, take foot off footbrake and relax. Lights go green, gently squeeze the throttle and away you go. Simples

2 1/2 years of using it and it has never failed and I would not be without one in an automatic now. I have even used one in a manual and thats OK as well. Good for hill starts.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 5 Nov 2012 22:53
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - Smileyman

I guess anyone driving an automatic will use the foot break to hold the car stationary in preference to selecting neutral and using handbrake.

However, I have a manual car and whether I use the foot brake or handbrake depends on

1) if I remember to do so and then

2) perceived lenght of time stationary.

I don't find having 3 red stop lamps (plus any number of side lamps) to be a problem, and indeed it is useful to see the lights going out as an indication that the traffic ahead might be moving.

Different situation with rear fog lamps though ..... all vehicles ought to have self cancelling rear fog lamps.

Famous motorist supplies chain is advertisng 'we fit' for car lights, so no excuse for not getting failed headlamps repaired. It would help if all vehicles had to have (by law) an orange 'bulb failure' light which would illuminate when headlamps fail.

Edited by Smileyman on 05/11/2012 at 22:54

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 6 Nov 2012 07:46
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - Chris79
Not that it makes it alright but I can live with the brake lights whilst stationary, although I do put my handbrake on. What really gets me is the excessively bright headlights, there should be some form of law to stop this, and those people who feel that they must have there fog lights n at all times. It always brings a smile to my face when I see some Chav/chavette that thinks that thee beat up saxo VCR now looks cooler because it has fog lights on.......
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 6 Nov 2012 08:50
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - Happy Blue!

Last night - six year old Mondeo with only one small side light at the front, no headlights at all. Accident waiting to happen.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 6 Nov 2012 15:06
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - 72 dudes

Brake lights in stationary traffic - yes pretty annoying but only about 6/10 for annoyance score.

Rear foglights in rain/dark, especially on motorways, that would be 9/10 for annoying.

Switch them off you pr*t, I can't see you brake!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 6 Nov 2012 15:54
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - RT

Rear fog lights and travelling at "normal" speed - surely if rear fog lights are required then speed should be significantly reduced?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 6 Nov 2012 17:46
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - Bobbin Threadbare

Oh there were a few fog lights on this morning. Ridiculous. A smattering of mist over the hills does not require all lights a-blazing!

I don't like the super-bright headlights; it's extra dazzle off my specs....!

Also seen a few cars in the past couple of weeks with no brake lights at all. One had nothing to indicate braking, and another had one 'pip' still lit in the red strip on the back window.

Edited by Bobbin Threadbare on 06/11/2012 at 17:47

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Nov 2012 11:15
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - TeeCee

Now worse than ever too.

Some of the LED brake lamp clusters fitted seem to chuck out as much "oof" as a set of front-facing HIDs do and are quite capable of temporarily blinding you at night when fired in your face at closer ranges.

Porsche? I'm looking at you.....

I'm waiting for someone to fit lasers and prove to everyone that lamp legislation based on wattage is a couple of decades out of date, by drilling holes in other vehicles.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 8 Nov 2012 11:47
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - RT

Logically, wattage can only be used sensibly to control light output if all bulbs are incandescent - which was the case when legislation was introduced.

When HID and LED were commercially practical, all the lighting regulations should have been re-written using lumens, or whatever if that isn't a SI unit, based on similar light output.

But this is the real world of bureaucratic legislators - logic doesn't come into it!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 9 Nov 2012 00:50
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - Bilboman

Dark nights and bright lights, very true. The clock change this year brought with it a higher than usual number of "bobby dazzlers", and curiously I find that it's the ever more common LED DRLs that cause the most dazzle. The worst offenders seem to be Fords (Mondeos and S-Maxes) and Renaults (Scenics), with great big ugly strips of huge LEDs that seem to be the brightest things on the road. Consequently a lot of drivers merrily tootle along in darkness without switching on their headlights, since the floodlight effect in front of their cars, plus permanently "on" panel lights (whose brilliant idea was THAT?) convince them their headlights are on.
A BIG re-think on DRLs is urgently needed! I would urge all manufacturers/lawmakers to adopt the following changes asap:

1.DRLs go OFF when headlights are switched on; they're NOT NEEDED! (And in my entry-level Avensis, my DRLs are halogen bulbs, so are bound to wear out in no time.)

2. DRLs fitted anywhere near indicators to dim when indicators are switched on (Audis do this already, not that many Audi drivers indicate, ahem...)

3. DRLs front and rear - well, why not?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 9 Nov 2012 13:57
Dark nights- Bright lights!! - pat76

Don't get me started on rear fog lights. Biggest bugbear of them all.

Even when it's relatively foggy, in a long snaking line of traffic there is absolutely no need for those drivers only metres in front of you to have them on. I can already see your car with normal lights on. And it's dazzling me. Sometimes I put up with it, sometimes I feel the need to flash the lights (especially if there's absolutely no fog).

Regarding post above, my Passat DRLs just utilise the dipped beam lights at the front only, and go off when the electronic handbrake is applied. This is the North American DRL standard.

Point 3 above - DRLs front and rear - that's pretty much the Scandinavian standard which my car, and many others, can be programmed to be (similar to the Volvo's). Not many people know that if they can access the cars computer via VCDS or their manufacturers equivalent, features like this can be turned on and off. It's a pity it;s just not part of a simpler in-car options menu though...

Reply | Report as offensive | Link