car headlights on

[King Nuts]

I've noticed lately that where I live, drivers seem to have their car headlights on all day, even in bright sunshine. Why is that? Do they think that the lights are 'free' because they're on a car? Or is is some sort of code, or virtue-signalling indication, like wearing a mask when you're on your own in a car?

I drive an old banger and haven't driven a new car for years, so maybe new cars are built so that the lights come on all the time for safety reasons or some other nonsense, but I see people driving cars that are at last ten or fifteen years old, doing the same.

Do they just do it because everyone else is doing it?

[Blackpool Rock]

DRL or Daytime running lights have been a legal requirement on new cars since 2011 so it's only taken you 11 years to notice 

Personally I do tend to use my lights anyway when it's raining etc, even if it's not to light up the road it's important to be seen

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[mr.bluesky]

A lot of modern cars are made that way now. Mine has it's side lights (or daytime driving lights as they call them ) on all the time or maybe these drivers don't realise their lights are on  Perhaps they should make it compulsory that all drivers go on a training course to show them how to use their f**cking indicators 

[WelshClipper]

It is standard in North America, the lights actually come on with the ignition. You have no choice.

I suspect its all things American seeping into British culture which started with Mcdonalds fast food.

For what its worth, the majotity of cars in my area have their lights on all the time.

 

[king tarzan]

A lot of modern cars are made that way now. Mine has it's side lights (or daytime driving lights as they call them ) on all the time or maybe these drivers don't realise their lights are on  Perhaps they should make it compulsory that all drivers go on a training course to show them how to use their f**cking indicators 

I love playing Hawaii five 0 theme out loud whilst I drive on the motorway!!
Ruus cluut boombacluut awesome!!👊👊👊🥊🥊🥊

[Blackpool Rock]

A lot of modern cars are made that way now. Mine has it's side lights (or daytime driving lights as they call them ) on all the time or maybe these drivers don't realise their lights are on  Perhaps they should make it compulsory that all drivers go on a training course to show them how to use their f**cking indicators 

Yeah they appear to be optional extras on Audi's and BMW's though Audi drivers have been more inclined to use them the last few years since they introduced those ones that progressively flash outwards as they think they look cool 

[daviemac]

The other day as a car was turning right at a junction the right hand fog light came on,     then by magic it went off again, what is this wizardry with these cars.      

BTW Volvo have had the automatic light thing for years.

[PumpDump]

Statistically cars with lights turned on in daytime are involved in less crashes.

[king tarzan]

The other day as a car was turning right at a junction the right hand fog light came on,     then by magic it went off again, what is this wizardry with these cars.      

BTW Volvo have had the automatic light thing for years.

The more modern day functions the car has the more likely hood of breakdowns..
The best cars are modern functions combined with manual old skool functions..

This I saw on a programme recommended by a car mechanic..

[King Nuts]

DRL or Daytime running lights have been a legal requirement on new cars since 2011 so it's only taken you 11 years to notice 

Personally I do tend to use my lights anyway when it's raining etc, even if it's not to light up the road it's important to be seen

External Link/Members Only

I'm not talking about running lights, or side lights as some people used to call them.

I'm talking about full-on headlights.

[Blackpool Rock]

The other day as a car was turning right at a junction the right hand fog light came on,     then by magic it went off again, what is this wizardry with these cars.      

BTW Volvo have had the automatic light thing for years.

I think the Volvo thing was due to Scandinavian laws and they just put it in all the cars regardless of the market.

The fog light coming on and going off was probably the daytime running light not a fog light, it's something I noticed a few years ago but have only got to the bottom of recently -
I 1st saw it on a Citroen and thought the lights were dodgy being a piece of French crap  but then saw it intermittently on other cars too but couldn't work it out.
From the Govt link I posted it appears that the permanent day time running lights are too bright to use at night causing dazzle and don't produce a beam of light to help illuminate the road so much like a fog light I guess but not actually a fog light.
The problem here is that if they are illuminated next to or near an indicator light then it means the indicator can't be clearly seen therefore they must flash on and off of go out when indicating 

On a similar note I find it very hard to actually see indicator lights on modern cars, not sure if it's different bulbs such as LED's or the reflectors but they can be seen when head on to a vehicle but not very well when at an angle such as when a car is turning on a roundabout etc which is exactly when you need to see them 

The worst ones are when the indicator is is the middle of the brake / tail light bulb cluster, looks stylish but fucking useless, dangerous IMO and i'm amazed they are legal 

[King Nuts]

It is standard in North America, the lights actually come on with the ignition. You have no choice.

I suspect its all things American seeping into British culture which started with Mcdonalds fast food.

For what its worth, the majotity of cars in my area have their lights on all the time.

 

Bloody Yanks, infesting our world with their damn Boeing 747s, 'supermarkets', and that bloody awful 'internet' thingy.

[Blackpool Rock]

I'm not talking about running lights, or side lights as some people used to call them.

I'm talking about full-on headlights.

But during the day with modern daytime lights being so bright i'm not sure whether I would know if they were actually daytime lights or headlights 

There did used to be a thing and probably still is of people using their front fogs as they thought it looked good

[daviemac]

I think the Volvo thing was due to Scandinavian laws and they just put it in all the cars regardless of the market.

The fog light coming on and going off was probably the daytime running light not a fog light, it's something I noticed a few years ago but have only got to the bottom of recently -
I 1st saw it on a Citroen and thought the lights were dodgy being a piece of French crap  but then saw it intermittently on other cars too but couldn't work it out.
From the Govt link I posted it appears that the permanent day time running lights are too bright to use at night causing dazzle and don't produce a beam of light to help illuminate the road so much like a fog light I guess but not actually a fog light.
The problem here is that if they are illuminated next to or near an indicator light then it means the indicator can't be clearly seen therefore they must flash on and off of go out when indicating 

On a similar note I find it very hard to actually see indicator lights on modern cars, not sure if it's different bulbs such as LED's or the reflectors but they can be seen when head on to a vehicle but not very well when at an angle such as when a car is turning on a roundabout etc which is exactly when you need to see them 

The worst ones are when the indicator is is the middle of the brake / tail light bulb cluster, looks stylish but fucking useless, dangerous IMO and i'm amazed they are legal 

Some cars are fitted with the system where whichever way the car turns that side fog light comes on, it's to 'aid visibility' when going round a corner. Also on most cars the daytime running lights go off if the sidelights are switched on.

I know what you mean about the indicators, some of them are tiny and they're hardly noticeable.

[radioman33]

I’ve noticed it on Mercedes cars

[WelshClipper]

Bloody Yanks, infesting our world with their damn Boeing 747s, 'supermarkets', and that bloody awful 'internet' thingy.

Yup they getcha every which way 

I am not decrying everything yank, at a street junction, cars have had to give way to pedestrians in America for as long as I have visited. This concept has just been added to the highway code in UK as an advisory.

Betcha it becomes law in 2023.

........back to the car issue. I have hired a car in Canada and the lights come on with the ignition and its impossible to turn them off, headlights un all, not just sidelights. I am pretty sure on my UK car I can still turn them off.

I’ll check later 

[Bigwilts]

Bloody Yanks, infesting our world with their damn Boeing 747s, 'supermarkets', and that bloody awful 'internet' thingy.

You can’t blame Americans for the internet

We gave them computers for free when we shut down Bletchley Park, and they just came up with a way to connect them.  The blame lies with Britain again for turning that inter-connection of networks into a global worldwide web filled with fluffy kittens

[timsussex]

Statistically cars with lights turned on in daytime are involved in less crashes.

I always believed that was due to other drivers thinking THAT PRAT HAS LEFT HIS LIGHTS ON - STAY AWAY FROM HIM

[Aldebaran]

The other day as a car was turning right at a junction the right hand fog light came on,     then by magic it went off again, what is this wizardry with these cars.      

BTW Volvo have had the automatic light thing for years.

This is standard on a few cars, my fiat does the same but only if I have the main lights on. The idea is that if you turn a corner at night the fog light on the side you are turning to comes on as long as the wheels are turned to throw a little more light onto the inside of the bend. It doesn't, or shouldn't, happen in daytime when only the automatic DRLs are on as it's linked to the headlights.

[mr.bluesky]

The other day as a car was turning right at a junction the right hand fog light came on,     then by magic it went off again, what is this wizardry with these cars.      

BTW Volvo have had the automatic light thing for years.

Yes it was a law introduced quite a long time ago in Scandinavian countries that they had to drive with sidelights on during the daytime.

[mr.bluesky]

Yeah they appear to be optional extras on Audi's and BMW's though Audi drivers have been more inclined to use them the last few years since they introduced those ones that progressively flash outwards as they think they look cool 

It's not just Audi's and BMW's it seems to be every make of car. I even use mine if there is no traffic about near me . A habit  I have always had.

[daviemac]

Yes it was a law introduced quite a long time ago in Scandinavian countries that they had to drive with sidelights on during the daytime.

Yeah, in the days before daytime running lights were the norm, I used to laugh at people who were saying "look at that, typical Volvo driver, driving about with his lights on".   

[Corus Boy]

I wonder how much that will eat into an EV range?

What about Air Con with that be switched off straight away?

[Strawberry]

I was told it's good practice to have side lights on during the daytime, so I do.

[JamesKW]

My car is fairly old but when you leave lights on automatic they seem to come on when its not even that dark,in this case I turn lights to a manual setting but most people must leave on automatic.

[shed]

Yeah, in the days before daytime running lights were the norm, I used to laugh at people who were saying "look at that, typical Volvo driver, driving about with his lights on". 

The Volvo 240 was the first car to have DRL in 1984 . I bought a second hand one few years later. Great car but was described by many as a "brick or a tank". Always felt very safe driving it.

[threechilliman]

The Volvo 240 was the first car to have DRL in 1984 . I bought a second hand one few years later. Great car but was described by many as a "brick or a tank". Always felt very safe driving it.

I seem to remember reading many, many years ago that DRL's were introduced by Volvo as you were more visible even in daylight hours and therefore less likely to have an accident.

[tesla]

We gave them computers for free when we shut down Bletchley Park,

not true, the ten Colossus computers at Bletchley Park were dismantled at the end of the war, two were reassembled at GCHQ and ran into the early 70's parts from another were taken to Manchester University by Max Newman (head of the team that ran Colossus at Bletchley) to help with his new computing department, Max Newman was later joined at Manchester by Alan Turing who had been frustrated at trying to get the NPL to build a computer.
Tommy Flowers the GPO engineer who designed and built Colossus was told to destroy all his drawings and documents, he burnt them in the boiler at the GPO research establishment at Dollis Hill.

A working rebuild of a Colossus MK2 computer can be seen at The National Museum of Computing which is located on the Bletchley Park site.

[scutty brown]

I've been driving cars with the headlights on in daytime for close on forty years. Habit I picked up from riding bikes - stops idiots pulling out in front of you at junctions, or from blindly overtaking oncoming traffic. I found it even better to use 80/120W rally headlight bulbs - except for a tendency for the wiring loom and bulbholders to melt.

[Jomoore]

I was told it's good practice to have side lights on during the daytime, so I do.

It think sidelights are officially called parking lights now, and are significantly less bright than DRLs.

The biggest problem with DRLs, IMHO, is that they're bright, the dashboard is often illuminated all the time on modern cars, but there are no rear lights; hence many drivers at night forget they haven't switched their headlights on so are completely dark from the rear.  Dangerous on rural roads.

[daviemac]

It think sidelights are officially called parking lights now, and are significantly less bright than DRLs.

The biggest problem with DRLs, IMHO, is that they're bright, the dashboard is often illuminated all the time on modern cars, but there are no rear lights; hence many drivers at night forget they haven't switched their headlights on so are completely dark from the rear.  Dangerous on rural roads.

They're called 'Front and rear position lamps'. 

Edit

They brought out automatic lights for the hard of thinking to combat your second point.

[Blackpool Rock]

I've been driving cars with the headlights on in daytime for close on forty years. Habit I picked up from riding bikes - stops idiots pulling out in front of you at junctions, or from blindly overtaking oncoming traffic. I found it even better to use 80/120W rally headlight bulbs - except for a tendency for the wiring loom and bulbholders to melt.

I was also going to mention back in my Biker days I always used low beam to try and be seen better, unfortunately there were still plenty of wankers who were happy to pull out in front of you.
Me and my mates often heard the usual "Sorry mate I didn't see you" and on one occasion "I thought well it's only a bike" 

I've always thought if people had to ride a moped or a small bike for a year or two before being allowed to drive a car then overall driving standards would be a lot higher.
Riding a bike give you an appreciation of how bad the roads are; potholes; drain covers; adverse cambers etc but also how much more dangerous it is and how much you should slow down in the wet or when it's icy etc.
It also taught me things like despite the road being dry a couple of hours after the rain stops when you go into a sheltered piece of road such as under trees it's often still wet, also in Autumn wet leaves sit in these areas and are slippery as fuck 

Most car drivers are oblivious and still drive the same 

[lostandfound]

I was also going to mention back in my Biker days I always used low beam to try and be seen better, unfortunately there were still plenty of wankers who were happy to pull out in front of you.
Me and my mates often heard the usual "Sorry mate I didn't see you" and on one occasion "I thought well it's only a bike" 

I've always thought if people had to ride a moped or a small bike for a year or two before being allowed to drive a car then overall driving standards would be a lot higher.
Riding a bike give you an appreciation of how bad the roads are; potholes; drain covers; adverse cambers etc but also how much more dangerous it is and how much you should slow down in the wet or when it's icy etc.
It also taught me things like despite the road being dry a couple of hours after the rain stops when you go into a sheltered piece of road such as under trees it's often still wet, also in Autumn wet leaves sit in these areas and are slippery as fuck 

Most car drivers are oblivious and still drive the same 

I rode a pushbike from teenager to twenties, sometimes fixed wheel, through woods and fields, leaf strewn autumn roads, and ice in winter. Loved to feel the bike starting to slip around and having to control and correct it. Good preparation for driving powerful cars on slippery roads. Never had a motorbike though. Not brave enough! A bicycle could be dangerous enough - heaven knows what it would be like with combustion engine power.

[shed]

I seem to remember reading many, many years ago that DRL's were introduced by Volvo as you were more visible even in daylight hours and therefore less likely to have an accident.

That was my understanding also.

[lillythesavage]

I was also going to mention back in my Biker days I always used low beam to try and be seen better, unfortunately there were still plenty of wankers who were happy to pull out in front of you.
Me and my mates often heard the usual "Sorry mate I didn't see you" and on one occasion "I thought well it's only a bike" 

I've always thought if people had to ride a moped or a small bike for a year or two before being allowed to drive a car then overall driving standards would be a lot higher.
Riding a bike give you an appreciation of how bad the roads are; potholes; drain covers; adverse cambers etc but also how much more dangerous it is and how much you should slow down in the wet or when it's icy etc.
It also taught me things like despite the road being dry a couple of hours after the rain stops when you go into a sheltered piece of road such as under trees it's often still wet, also in Autumn wet leaves sit in these areas and are slippery as fuck 

Most car drivers are oblivious and still drive the same 

There is nothing better as a kid, to be let loose in a field in a car, best training you could have, a skid pan does the job too, been on both from the age of 10.

Trouble is there is nowhere to do it these days, skid pans are gone, and fields are not accessible unless you know or are a farmer.

I was a passenger a couple of times, on a double decker on the skid pan at Chiswick bus driver training centre, when bus drivers learned how to drive a bus. The driver was the stunt double in the James bond film when he bus goes through a low bridge.

There is a scene in the " on the buses film" on that skid pan, no seat belts, just a bunch of scouts having a laugh, would never happen these days.

London bus driver training seems to include driving into buildings these days.

[Bigwilts]

not true, the ten Colossus computers at Bletchley Park were dismantled at the end of the war, two were reassembled at GCHQ and ran into the early 70's parts from another were taken to Manchester University by Max Newman (head of the team that ran Colossus at Bletchley) to help with his new computing department, Max Newman was later joined at Manchester by Alan Turing who had been frustrated at trying to get the NPL to build a computer.
Tommy Flowers the GPO engineer who designed and built Colossus was told to destroy all his drawings and documents, he burnt them in the boiler at the GPO research establishment at Dollis Hill.

A working rebuild of a Colossus MK2 computer can be seen at The National Museum of Computing which is located on the Bletchley Park site.

Not in the literal sense of giving them the computers out of Bletchley, but shared the knowledge of the digital groundwork in Bletchley then shutting down and keeping everything secret.
The US then ran with the technology

[spiralnotebook]

There is nothing better as a kid, to be let loose in a field in a car, best training you could have, a skid pan does the job too, been on both from the age of 10.

Trouble is there is nowhere to do it these days, skid pans are gone, and fields are not accessible unless you know or are a farmer.

I was a passenger a couple of times, on a double decker on the skid pan at Chiswick bus driver training centre, when bus drivers learned how to drive a bus. The driver was the stunt double in the James bond film when he bus goes through a low bridge.

There is a scene in the " on the buses film" on that skid pan, no seat belts, just a bunch of scouts having a laugh, would never happen these days.

London bus driver training seems to include driving into buildings these days.

So true along with the motorcycle comments  . I’ve had mixed feelings regarding automatic on/off lights since having someone pull out in front of me when the lights went on briefly going through some trees and then straight off, the person at the Jcn ahead thought I was flashing them and pulled out. My biggest bugbear regarding lights are being dazzled which seem to be more prevalent on cross overs and four wheel drives, I wished they would tighten up on MOT’s.

[Blackpool Rock]

So true along with the motorcycle comments  . I’ve had mixed feelings regarding automatic on/off lights since having someone pull out in front of me when the lights went on briefly going through some trees and then straight off, the person at the Jcn ahead thought I was flashing them and pulled out. My biggest bugbear regarding lights are being dazzled which seem to be more prevalent on cross overs and four wheel drives, I wished they would tighten up on MOT’s.

I voiced concern at automatic lights when they 1st came out for exactly that reason and everyone took the piss saying I was talking shite, funnily enough the only ones who didn't were people who rode bikes.

I think being dazzled by 4x4's is due to the lights being higher on the body

[lillythesavage]

I voiced concern at automatic lights when they 1st came out for exactly that reason and everyone took the piss saying I was talking shite, funnily enough the only ones who didn't were people who rode bikes.

I think being dazzled by 4x4's is due to the lights being higher on the body

Yep, it is the height of the headlights, the latest technology is Laser, when driving it is quite amazing, coming up behind a slower vehicle on full beam, and seeing split around the vehicle in front lighting the road ahead is amazing, but not without its faults apparently.

For the driver of a car with it, the view is brilliant, but as it is total auto reaction times to other vehicles seems to be the problem.

[scutty brown]

Yep, it is the height of the headlights, the latest technology is Laser, when driving it is quite amazing, coming up behind a slower vehicle on full beam, and seeing split around the vehicle in front lighting the road ahead is amazing, but not without its faults apparently.

For the driver of a car with it, the view is brilliant, but as it is total auto reaction times to other vehicles seems to be the problem.

Amazing? It blinds the car in front.

[Gordon Bennett]

So true along with the motorcycle comments  . I’ve had mixed feelings regarding automatic on/off lights since having someone pull out in front of me when the lights went on briefly going through some trees and then straight off, the person at the Jcn ahead thought I was flashing them and pulled out. My biggest bugbear regarding lights are being dazzled which seem to be more prevalent on cross overs and four wheel drives, I wished they would tighten up on MOT’s.

I was going along a road with speed bumps at night. I went over one about 25yds before a side road and a car waiting to pull out from it assumed I'd flashed him to pull out and duly did. Obviously I hadn't flashed him at all and was bemused why this bloke was looking at me but still pulled out into my path. He got quite shirty too, v-signs and whatnot.
Luckily I twigged that the brief rise and fall of my headlights over the bump had fooled him so I just ignored his aggression.

[lillythesavage]

Amazing? It blinds the car in front.

When you are driving a car with it, it is bloody amazing, but I did say it has faults, I only came across them, driving a car just before Xmas and only last night looked at a few of the shortcomings. apparently it is a cheaper option than Xenon

[DastardlyDick]

From a motorcycling point of view it was generally considered safer to have dipped beam(s) on at all times as you were a bit more visible to other road users. Now that DRLs are on the majority of cars, we're just another light in a sea of lights.
There's no escaping some idiots though - a few years ago, some plonker turned straight across me at 20 feet which resulted in a bike shaped dent in the side of his car. He came up very apologetic saying the classic "sorry mate, I didn't see you" - quite remarkable as it was a marked police bike with the dipped beam on, and I was wearing a hi-viz jacket and white helmet - I suggested a visit to a well known optitian!

[Proton]

I've been driving cars with the headlights on in daytime for close on forty years. Habit I picked up from riding bikes - stops idiots pulling out in front of you at junctions, or from blindly overtaking oncoming traffic. I found it even better to use 80/120W rally headlight bulbs - except for a tendency for the wiring loom and bulb holders to melt.

Yes!! I can remember it all too well relating to some similar a wiring loom issues when building a kit-car  "JAGO SAMURI built with Ford components"

[GreyDave]

Ive seen a BMW and an Audi both with flashing lights on,,,,,

Yep they were broken down    Maybe something to do with if power goes to lights car fails

[lillythesavage]

Yes!! I can remember it all too well relating to some similar a wiring loom issues when building a kit-car  "JAGO SAMURI built with Ford components"

I once bought a van in Ireland, it belonged to a band, and because they always played clubs and bars, probably had a few, the lights were wired to come on on start up.

It was no different from any other Mercedes Sprinter, and RHD, sold in Europe, but because it was first registered in Ireland it need a UK IVA test, red tape bollocks as we were in the EU, money making job creation exercise, and it had just passed a UK mot on the Chassis number. You do not have to have a UK reg to get an mot test.

The twat wanted to fail it because of the lights not being standard, a discussion about safety ensued and on this occasion common sense won.

[spiralnotebook]

Reminiscing I remember in the days of capris and escort mk2’s etc I was in a car with a mate going along a dual carriageway when we were dazzled by an oncoming car. Right I’ll have that ignorant bastard says matey and flicks on the set of Lucas spotlights he’d just bolted on the front bumper. Suddenly the whole dual carriageway lit up almost like daytime, I counted four sets of spotlights as well as the main beams bolted on a 5 bar gate like frame on the front. My mate turned his off and sheepishly acknowledged coming second best on that occasion. Those were the days! 

[Blackpool Rock]

Reminiscing I remember in the days of capris and escort mk2’s etc I was in a car with a mate going along a dual carriageway when we were dazzled by an oncoming car. Right I’ll have that ignorant bastard says matey and flicks on the set of Lucas spotlights he’d just bolted on the front bumper. Suddenly the whole dual carriageway lit up almost like daytime, I counted four sets of spotlights as well as the main beams bolted on a 5 bar gate like frame on the front. My mate turned his off and sheepishly acknowledged coming second best on that occasion. Those were the days! 

Thought that was leading up to a joke about taking a wrong turn onto the runway at Heathrow 

[spiralnotebook]

Joe Lucas - Prince of Darkness