Pet peeve #822: Why don't some drivers turn on their headlights at dawn and dusk?

They may have things on their mind and haven’t really noticed how dark it is getting. Not right, but it happens.

I remember driving home one night. I was severely overworked at the time. The freeway was well lit and I suddenly realized I hadn’t turned my lights on!

Possibly for the same reasons why some drivers don’t turn on their headlights during the rain – fatigue, distraction, absentmindedness…

I can only speak for myself.

Especially in cases of highway driving I wait until the last possible moment to turn my headlights on at dusk, or at the tipping point when drivers with their lights on are significantly in the majority.

I am under no obligation to make my car more attractive to a police officer’s radar gun.

Sometimes a person has several stops to make, and have turned them on and off so many times, they believe they have turned them on.

People don’t think about being seen, only seeing. I once was driving through a pouring rain at dusk where you couldn’t see oncoming traffic beyond 200’. Traffic was flowing at about 50 MPH. And I see some oncoming idiot with his headlights off! Death-wish much?? Seriously, ALL drivers need to take a defensive driving course. It won’t make exemplary drivers out of all idiots but it might help.

Many thanks to all but one of you for your excellent perspectives. Watching in utter amazement a dark brown car with its lights turned off run a red light at dusk yesterday prompted my question.

Hahahahahahahahah…<hiccup>

When their car gets hit by another car, it might teach them a lesson.

In New York state, it’s a law that “wipers on, lights on,” yet about half of the car still won’t have their lights on in the pouring rain. Yes the majority of cars have daytime running lights but when it’s dark and gloomy out and pouring rain, it’s very hard to see the cars in front of you, especially when half of them are colors that blend in with the asphalt.

@Pachy @jca

There’s the dilemma. How to be visible to other motorists while as invisible as possible to law enforcement that allows complete anarchy on our roads except for the more easily detected and profitable matter of vehicle speed.

I never make the assumption that any driver sees me in any situation and drive accordingly.

@kritiper

I don’t think defensive driving courses would make much difference. Instead it will take a complete revamping of law enforcement’s approach to motoring safety. This would include strict enforcement regarding use of signals, dangerous following distances, lane discipline, distracted driving, vehicle condition and more.

A defensive driving course or legal ramifications wouldn’t have affected my situation. I would have been penalized had the police seen me driving without my lights. It was about my eyes becoming accustomed to the diminishing light and being in a well lit space. I don’t think most people guilty of this are deliberately driving in low visibility without their lights on.

I do think driver training should include a discussion about low and high beam lighting and the dangers of inaccurate response to changing lighting. Also, don’t most new cars provide an option for the lights to come on in certain levels of light?

Automatic headlights have been available on some models since the late ‘70’s. However it’s only been relatively recently that the computer and sensor technology has become sophisticated enough to be something a smart driver would rely on.

That said, I still would not put my complete faith in the tech and would still decide for myself how to adjust the lights based on conditions much of the time.

For the curious:

Headlight intensity is regulated country by country. Here’s some numbers to give perspective.

If Japan is 100, Germany is 50, The US would be around 20.

BMW now offers incredibly effective laser headlights on some of their models. They are not installed on models destined for the United States as they exceed the US mandated maximum output. Sad.

I’ve been tempted more than once to fit my Honda and two Acuras with HID headlight systems taken from salvaged Japanese market cars.

The significantly increased output would make for a safer driving experience for me but the dilemma reappears:

At night my cars would stick out like a sore thumb to law enforcement.

You might not put your absolute faith in technology, but such technology is a safeguard against people forgetting to turn on their lights or being distracted. It can only help in a situation like this. We should always have the ability to override whatever the ‘car’ decides to do.

Hey, @Pachy, do you really have just 822 pet peeves? You’d better hurry to catch up with the rest of us.