Side lights on cars

[totallyfixed]

Someone tell me why. I used to live in Germany and they have been banned over there for since I think the seventies. What makes people think that if it's a little bit dark they only need a little bit of light, crazy. Also in Germany, if it rains you put your dipped headlights on, it is law, end of. In this country there are a hell of a lot of numpties out there who only use side lights or no lights in thick fog or torrential rain. I'm stopping now before I start ranting and swearing.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I'd like to see headlights banned in built up areas. They are not needed for vision and they create too much glare, masking anything to the side of the vehicle and making it difficult to judge approach speed.

Vehicle lighting has unfortunately gone down the more is better route, when it clearly isn't.

 

[skudupnorth]

They are motorists.....enough said ! Saw loads today on my morning commute with no lights on at all and it is still dark enough to matter !

 

[ASC1951]

I think we should go back to what they were originally called - parking lights.

 

[I like Skol]

In this country there are a hell of a lot of numpties out there who only use side lights or no lights in thick fog or torrential rain.

Yep, it drives me nuts. The number of to**ers that belt along the 3rd lane of the motorway at 80 or 90mph in monsoon conditions with side light or NO lights at all in their nice executive silver or grey cars. If I happened to pull out in front of one and cause an accident who's fault would it be!!!!!

Also just as annoying but I suppose less dangerous (although very distracting) is the twonks that put the rear fog lights on at the first sign of a bit of drizzle, it's for FOG, not rain, drizzle or road spray. I rarely judge conditions bad enough to justify the rear fog light and even then, I switch it off once other vehicles have caught me up (it's a matter of courtesy, like not sitting at the lights with your high level 3rd brake light burning the retinas of the driver behind).

 

[mcshroom]

But the ones that make me laugh are the clowns that put their lights on when that are driving into a low sun, they obviously know that their is a connection between a low sun and putting your lights on but they obviously haven't got a clue why.

They are not as daft as you think!

The big thing about sidelights is that when they are on the rear running lights are on. I know I have been known to flick the sidelights on in those conditions for exactly that reason, in the same way as I usually run a rear light on a bike in the same conditions.

 

[GrasB]

reiver, in low sun often your rear lights make you much more visible. The lights them selves help road users behind you make more sense of the silhouette they're seeing

 

[GrasB]

For me, going into a low sun I have visually a load of blown highlights & dark patches. Lights in the dark patches make it much easier to work out what's going on.

 

[Night Train]

No they don't, I doubt even a rear fog light would make any notable difference. Headlight do.

Yes they do!

In low sun, the driver can only see sun glare and a silhouette of 'something' in front. It is very difficult to judge distance and action when the glare makes the 'something' ahead just a fuzzy edged mass.

Having tail lights showing from the car in front gives a lot of information that the driver's own headlights couldn't. It helps the driver judge distance, location and the actions of the car ahead much more easily and much sooner then just reacting to brake lights.

Even with oncoming traffic, the modern daytime running lights that some cars have as a strip of LEDs under the headlights make the car much more visible. As does the lights on motorbikes and cycles.

 

[totallyfixed]

One of the reasons sidelights or "parking lights" were banned, particularly in built up areas, was that if one of the front lights were to fail, partially sighted pedestrians might step out into the road thinking it was a bicycle coming towards them at a slower speed.
As the OP said, motorway driving in rain without headlights is dangerous, I used to drive a large vehicle with only wing mirrors and with the spray my vehicle threw up there was no way I could see a car on sidelights [or those fancy led ones] coming up on my outside, hence overtaking was a lottery.

 

[Night Train]

I don't think tail lights on the vehicle in front would make any worthwhile difference when travelling into a low sun. Unlike the use of headlight when the low sun is behind the driver.
However my point still remains, many drivers do not know what they are doing. When the sun is low and blinding many people put their lights on driving towards the sun yet very few put their lights on when the sun is behind them when it would actually make a significant difference to being seen.

When cycling towards a low sun I get off the bike when I hear a car coming

Well, given I drive considerably more then average mileage, in all conditions, and consider my driving ability as important, if not more so, then my career knowledge I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

I'll continue to use lights as and when they are required and when visibility is reduced and you continue to say that it doesn't make any worthwhile difference.

From my perspective, even if the difference isn't worthwhile in your opinion, if it prevents just one incident then it would have been worth while.

 

[subaqua]

in the late 80s there was a wonderful system called dim dip. with the ignition off they were parking lights, but when the ignition was on i.e. engine running they became a dimmed version of the dipped headlights which was significantly brighter than sidelights

worked wonderfully. i think my Audi was one of the first to have it ( OK it was many years later that i owned the Audi but you get the picture)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting#Dim-Dip_Lamps

 

[gaz]

I've seen a few people of late driving around at night with their side lights on and their fog lights. Instead of just their main lights. WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU ARS*HOLES

 

[Brandane]

I'd like to see headlights banned in built up areas. They are not needed for vision and they create too much glare, masking anything to the side of the vehicle and making it difficult to judge approach speed.

No, no, no! A million times, NO! Sorry to disagree but that is one of my (many) pet hates with regards to my fellow road users.

Sidelights in a built up area just blend into all the other lights such as street lights, shop windows etc.. In wet conditions they are all but impossible to see in your mirrors. They may not be necessary for vision, but they are most certainly needed to BE SEEN, which IMHO is more important.

As a motorcyclist with a plastic visor to see out of, with no windscreen wiper to clear it, a car with sidelights on becomes invisible in the rain.

As an HGV driver, I NEED to be able to see a car when it is a long way back, as my trailer alone is 45 feet long. A bit of rain on my mirrors, and I can assure you it is VERY difficult to pick out a car with sidelights on. DIPPED HEADLIGHTS only please!

 

[Norm]

The use of sidelights alone is illegal (to appease coruskate) outside street-lit areas. And what Brandane said.