As we all know, this winter has been particularly, dreary, dark, wet and British.
Yet I am astounded by the amount of people I see on a daily basis who have no idea that headlights are not just for the hours of darkness. Countless people drive through torrential rain without so much as a sidelight illuminated, and the other night I drove home past three cars with no lights at all showing well after dark. I could understand if they just had sidelights on, but how can you possibly drive a car for any sort of distance without noticing that nothing in your cockpit is illuminated?
It really surprises me how little people seem to understand how important making your car visible is. Many of the roads around me are tree-enclosed country lanes, and even in the brightest of sunshine, dappled shade can make an oncoming car hard to spot. Similarly, in the autumn and spring, travelling east/west at rush hour can be a nightmare on the motorway - the sun right in your mirrors rendering any car without headlights on impossible to see.
More and more cars are now coming equipped with DRLs, and although at first I thought they were a bit of a pointless gimmick, I am now seeing their true potential - it means even the most lazy or ignorant of drivers will always have their car illuminated somewhat when driving, so I'm glad of their introduction. But DRLs don't illuminate the tail lights, which can also be a problem sometime.
With that in mind, I was thinking about the Swedish rule, whereby all cars are required to have their headlights illuminated at all times, and thought that it wouldn't be such a bad idea over here. We obviously don't get the extended hours of darkness that Sweden does, but we suffer from very dim conditions for a large part of the year, and much inclement weather. But unfortunately that's coupled with a driving population who seem wholly uneducated about the importance of being seen.
What say you OCUK? Would you support a move to mandatory headlights at all times? Do you think it would help? Would it be a problem? About the only disadvantage I can think of is that motorcyclists might lose their advantage of being contrasted against other vehicles with no lights on. Otherwise though, I can't help thinking it might improve standards on our roads.
Yet I am astounded by the amount of people I see on a daily basis who have no idea that headlights are not just for the hours of darkness. Countless people drive through torrential rain without so much as a sidelight illuminated, and the other night I drove home past three cars with no lights at all showing well after dark. I could understand if they just had sidelights on, but how can you possibly drive a car for any sort of distance without noticing that nothing in your cockpit is illuminated?
It really surprises me how little people seem to understand how important making your car visible is. Many of the roads around me are tree-enclosed country lanes, and even in the brightest of sunshine, dappled shade can make an oncoming car hard to spot. Similarly, in the autumn and spring, travelling east/west at rush hour can be a nightmare on the motorway - the sun right in your mirrors rendering any car without headlights on impossible to see.
More and more cars are now coming equipped with DRLs, and although at first I thought they were a bit of a pointless gimmick, I am now seeing their true potential - it means even the most lazy or ignorant of drivers will always have their car illuminated somewhat when driving, so I'm glad of their introduction. But DRLs don't illuminate the tail lights, which can also be a problem sometime.
With that in mind, I was thinking about the Swedish rule, whereby all cars are required to have their headlights illuminated at all times, and thought that it wouldn't be such a bad idea over here. We obviously don't get the extended hours of darkness that Sweden does, but we suffer from very dim conditions for a large part of the year, and much inclement weather. But unfortunately that's coupled with a driving population who seem wholly uneducated about the importance of being seen.
What say you OCUK? Would you support a move to mandatory headlights at all times? Do you think it would help? Would it be a problem? About the only disadvantage I can think of is that motorcyclists might lose their advantage of being contrasted against other vehicles with no lights on. Otherwise though, I can't help thinking it might improve standards on our roads.
