Adopting Swedish Headlight Discipline

Rain, fog, darkness, some people drive in all of the above with zero light output from their vehicles, frankly they are putting themselves and all other road users and pedestrians at risk and should be pulled over and given a fine and compulsory re-education on safe driving in different conditions.

Its a real joke and its not hard to figure it out as others have pointed out, your dash is all dark then turn the damned lights on, if its raining hard turn the lights on, if its foggy and you cant see very far turn the lights on, its pressing a button or turning a dial on your stalk controls its not rocket science.
 
alex24 said:
I think we have to come to terms with the fact that most people don't care about car maintenance and will do the minimum to get by, sometimes less until they're called on it (read, pulled over or MOT).

As for those with poor sidelights, they probably don't even know as they're usually in the car when they're on. This only seems to be an issue with older vehicles, so will go away.

My main bugbear with lights now is those running around with their headlights as high as possible at some crazy unnecessary level of brightness. I notice a lot of new German cars have needlessly bright headlights. They blind me when I'm driving the go cart, especially when poorly adjusted.
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My s3 has these. Been flashed a few times, obviously people think I've got my full beams on :p

Not a lot I can do, no adjustment from within the cockpit, they auto level themselves based on the angle of the car I think.

Also on this topic, my headlights are automatic so I need not worry. However my general rule always used to be that if I wasn't sure whether to put them on yet then if I drove past 3 consecutive cars that have their headlights on then I would put mine on.

Give it 5-10 more years and every car on the road will have auto lights.
 
TheVoice said:
Good point, same in my Mazda. Can't remember if that was the case in my Astra though.
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It's the other way round in Mazdas isn't it? Can't turn on front fogs without turning on rear fogs first. Explains the number of idiots I've seen driving around with a single rear fog light on thinking they look all cool because they have their front fogs on.
 
Volvo have done it since forever, dipped lights are always on, so you have to buy robust long life bulbs but you don't need to worry about it.

What really annoys me is the overly bright led drls, both front and rear.. Especially when sat in traffic, they burn my retinas, overly bright red rear lights in particular.
 
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TheVoice said:
Good point, same in my Mazda. Can't remember if that was the case in my Astra though.
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also my clio sport 2K2

but in the dark when lights come on automatically, I cant turn the fogs on at all, I have to switch it to manually on, so its 2 clicks the other way
which means it goes to sidelights only, then on, THEN I can turn fogs on, front first then rears (or the other way around I cant remember)
 
bitslice said:
I've had both my headlights go in a week,
as it was peeing down all week I wasn't inclined to fix them :p
Done now though.


Yep,

People think that having headlights on make you more visible, which it does to an extent.

BUT, it also destroys any distance perception, so yes I can see you but I've now less of an idea how far away you are or how fast you are travelling.
All I can see is the equivalent of lens flare.

Some research on this would be nice. Save us from cars lit up like a disco ball.
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Lens flare? Last I recall I wasn't driving through a J.J. Abrams movie :p

On a more on point note though, some are bright but I've never found it a problem? The only ones that I find glaring are the ones that are clearly misaligned or aftermarket rubbish.
 
mrk said:
Lens flare? Last I recall I wasn't driving through a J.J. Abrams movie :p

On a more on point note though, some are bright but I've never found it a problem? The only ones that I find glaring are the ones that are clearly misaligned or aftermarket rubbish.
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Some modern brake lights are far more bright than is needed, especially when people insist in keeping the foot on the brake in an urban traffic queue at night. It's not such a problem on a motorway as you never get close enough for it to be an issue.

I'm all for visibility, but some cars seem to take it to the next level.
 
Oh I agree that brake lights can be too bright. E46 rear LED lights are exactly that. So bright that through the auto dimming rear view mirror I can see them light up signs far away down the road behind.

I try keeping this in mind when someone is behind me though.
 
Sin_Chase said:
Rules I live by:

If wipers are permanently required - Dipped beam on.
If sidelights are needed - Dipped beam on. Absolutely no point running sidelights only.
Periods of darkness - Dipped beam on, main beam in all possible situations.

Main beam not used when - Observational advantage to be gained without them (seeing oncoming headlights around bends, from junctions etc). Using them would dazzle other road users. There is no advantage to be gained (Highly illuminated areas.)
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I was always taught that you aren't actually supposed to drive on sidelights anyway as they are only meant for marking your car when parked.

Whether thats true or not I don't know but like you if I need my lights I put them straight to dipped
 
SilverTongue said:
I was always taught that you aren't actually supposed to drive on sidelights anyway as they are only meant for marking your car when parked.

Whether thats true or not I don't know but like you if I need my lights I put them straight to dipped
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Most cars have "parking lights" mode where you turn the indicator stalk the direction that's facing the road so the car can be seen and they will turn on at a dimmer level for that purpose.
 
I think some people have no idea how half the stuff on their car works. I was on my way to my mums in Scarborough a few months ago just after sunset & there was a woman trundling up the A1 who kept overtaking me getting a hundred yards in front & then slow down again. Her car was lit up like a Christmas tree with all the fogs on, I flashed her as well as a couple of drivers but rather than turn them off she pulled onto the hard shoulder & stopped. :confused:
 
scorza said:
It's the other way round in Mazdas isn't it? Can't turn on front fogs without turning on rear fogs first. Explains the number of idiots I've seen driving around with a single rear fog light on thinking they look all cool because they have their front fogs on.
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Not in mine (3 Sport) I don't think, there's a 'ring' on the indicator stalk that you click forward one position for front fogs, then push forward again (which then returns back to the previous position) for the rear fog light. If you click it back to 'off', it turns them both off.

I may go and check that that's correct though...
 
If you made a law requiring mandatory headlights at all times, you'd have to make a punishment for those who didn't obey it, and enforce it rigorously enough to make it not be a joke.
And then you might find such legislation being used for purposes never intended by the drafters...
 
TheVoice said:
Not in mine (3 Sport) I don't think, there's a 'ring' on the indicator stalk that you click forward one position for front fogs, then push forward again (which then returns back to the previous position) for the rear fog light. If you click it back to 'off', it turns them both off.

I may go and check that that's correct though...
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I have a 3 Sport as well so know the ring on the indicator stalk. I've only had it a couple of weeks and haven't actually used the fogs yet but looking at the stalk I'm sure it's rear fogs first.
 
I saw a black Range Rover on the motorway the other week in fog/torrential rain.

Yep, no lights on. You could not see him at all, it was an accident waiting to happen. Half of me hopes someone drove into the side of him to change lanes.
 
Audi auto, drls and led lighting sorts this, all new cars are becoming the same. It'll migrate to the end point soon enough.
Only decision the driver has to make is if they want their fogs on or off.
Wipers can be happily set to auto also.
 
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