LED sidelights - yay or nay

[miniyazz]

I wish we could go back to the days where even in the middle of night, people would switch back to sidelights if the area has sufficient streetlights. Sidelights are (or should be) basically position markers that allow you to be seen, dipped and main beam are for allowing you to see if the current lighting conditions prevent you from doing so.

Sidelights are not sufficient at night, regardless of street lighting.. if the street has bright streetlamps, the car itself will need more lighting to be visible to oncoming traffic.

 

[Lum]

I agree but this is because modern sidelights are crap, mainly because they are too damn small to really stand out, they don't need to get brighter to fix this, just bigger.

Saying it needs all this bright light just to be visible to oncoming traffic is ridiculous IMO. Pedestrians don't have bright lights all over them but oncoming traffic needs to be able to see them, especially if they're on the road. This is why I object to so much lighting on cars, yes it makes the cars easier to see but as people get used to this it means that other road users who aren't any more easier to see are now less likely to be noticed.

I remember reading a study into this a while back, I'm sure you all know how Volvos have had forced daytime running lights for years and advertised this as a safety feature that you're much less likely to get hit driving a Volvo because of this. One state in the US agreed with Volvos claims and made a law that everyone should have sidelights on during the day. The result was not that car crashes went down by any significant amount, just that car crashes involving Volvos went up to match the rest of the cars, and also crashes involving motorbikes went up.

(on that note, if anyone knows how to prevent my J reg 940 from having it's sidelights on regardless of the position of the switch, I'd appreciate it)

 

[miniyazz]

(on that note, if anyone knows how to prevent my J reg 940 from having it's sidelights on regardless of the position of the switch, I'd appreciate it)

Rewire them into a different circuit with a switch if you're that fussed

 

[stoofa]

There is talk that daylight running lights will become a requirement on all new cars.

Many of the "requirements" on cars are very good.
Immobilisers becomming a requirement was a very good move.
High-level brake lights was also good - some of those light clusters out there are terrible.
ESP on all cars from 2012 - Shame it couldn't have been immediately, but I guess manufacturers do need to build this in.
This is an extremely good thing.
Daylight running lights - not convinced at the moment.