Adopting Swedish Headlight Discipline

malfunkshun · 19 Feb 2014 at 19:21

I always run with sidelights on, but primarily because the binnacle on my car is stupidly dark.

Conscript · 19 Feb 2014 at 22:07

Barks said:
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.

Erm.

matthab · 19 Feb 2014 at 22:33

I will have my side lights on whenever possible. The side lights on my car are led so there mega bright and standout.

In heavy rain I will even put fogs on so people can see me.

Locky · 19 Feb 2014 at 22:35

Even my zafira has auto lights and they are very sensitive.

SilverTongue · 19 Feb 2014 at 23:13

matthab said:
I will have my side lights on whenever possible. The side lights on my car are led so there mega bright and standout.

In heavy rain I will even put fogs on so people can see me.

However the clue is in the name, FOGlights, not RAINlights i.e to be used in fog. This is something I wish people would grasp

Conscript · 19 Feb 2014 at 23:24

SilverTongue said:
However the clue is in the name, FOGlights, not RAINlights i.e to be used in fog. This is something I wish people would grasp

Depends. Fog lights when theres heavy spray on the motorway seems fine. Its still reduced visibilty caused by water vapour

scorza · 20 Feb 2014 at 08:10

matthab said:
I will have my side lights on whenever possible. The side lights on my car are led so there mega bright and standout.

In heavy rain I will even put fogs on so people can see me.

Rule 226 & 236 of the Highway Code: https://www.gov.uk/driving-adverse-weather-conditions-226-to-237/overview-226

226: You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves (see Rule 236). Law RVLR regs 25 & 27

236: You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves.
Law RVLR regs 25 & 27

It's only very rarely that I've experienced rain heavy enough to reduce visibility to less than 100m, and usually it doesn't last very long. I do wish the police would have a good old crackdown on silly drivers who put their fogs on when visibility is not impaired. With all the lost revenue from having to switch the speed cameras off you'd think looking for new revenue streams like this would be a no brainer.

matthab · 20 Feb 2014 at 08:49

Conscript said:
Depends. Fog lights when theres heavy spray on the motorway seems fine. Its still reduced visibilty caused by water vapour

Exactly, I've been on motorways with heavy rain and spray and struggle to see the car in front.

DannyW · 20 Feb 2014 at 09:09

Heavy rain I always put mine on

on the flip side of the coin, there's also plenty of morans who switch on their headlights and fog lights on a sunny afternoon if we have the slightest bit of drizzle

EdwardTeach · 20 Feb 2014 at 09:37

I always have my lights on through winter (or when weather is wet/cloudy) probably most of the year in UK!

ubersonic · 20 Feb 2014 at 10:28

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

It's not true

basically sidelights are there to make you visible to other road users, headlights are there for your own benefit. Personally I turn the sidelights on as soon as it starts going dim but hold off on the head lights until I actually need them.

scorza said:
I do wish the police would have a good old crackdown on silly drivers who put their fogs on when visibility is not impaired.

Me too, technically speaking it's just as illegal as doing 50mph past a school so why do the police willfully ignore it

Barks · 20 Feb 2014 at 12:08

Conscript said:
Erm.

You know exactly what I mean and you're being incredibly pedantic.

Conscript · 20 Feb 2014 at 12:57

Barks said:
You know exactly what I mean and you're being incredibly pedantic.

Of course I do...it was just a joke

boxman2000 · 20 Feb 2014 at 14:00

I think it is a good idea as plenty of people don't have common sense to leave their lights on during bad weather, dawn/dusk hours.

My new car has this automatically on the front and I think it's a great feature and am in the habbit of turning on the lights on the other car when I drive it.

Sasso · 20 Feb 2014 at 14:44

full beams everytime, all the time!

lol

I'll chuck the side lights on if it's light rain/not that bright and then mains on if it's quite bad rain or dark enough. rarely use the fogs unless there is actual fog/mist or raining so had on the motorway I can barely see anything

Westyfield2 · 20 Feb 2014 at 15:10

8AM on the M4 this morning in rain & spray was pretty poor visibility. Everyone head their headlights on apart from one silver car :rolleyes:

.

TheVoice · 20 Feb 2014 at 15:19

Sasso said:
full beams everytime, all the time!

lol I'll chuck the side lights on if it's light rain/not that bright and then mains on if it's quite bad rain or dark enough. rarely use the fogs unless there is actual fog/mist or raining so had on the motorway I can barely see anything

Still don't see what benefit there is to using sidelights at any time rather than headlights.

Sasso · 20 Feb 2014 at 15:50

the side lights on my car are pretty bright to be fair and illuminate up a fair part of the headlight clusters so just to be seen rather than aiding me ability to see the road. It's just the way I do it

can't really think of any other reasons than the ones I stated

flashing someone would be more obvious? ummmmm.... I dunno...I'm out haha

ttaskmaster · 20 Feb 2014 at 16:44

Conscript said:
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.

That "disadvantage" means people will pull out, having not seen me and end up with 42 stone of steel motorcycle (plus around 13 stone of rider) flipping up through their side window and into their face... or more likely, their children's faces.
Statistically the biker will be dead, but your children will be horribly disfigured for the rest of their lives. It has happened...

Even without DRLs, you can be a biker with a Dynorod orange bike, yellow and black stripey Hi-Viz jacket, white helmet, headlight on and orange running lights going, yet still be hit by some myopic driver, with only a quick, "Sorry mate, I didn't see you" to console you while your full-time carer spoon-feeds you... and yes, that did happen for real.

Add to that the fact that British motorists will NOT bother to ensure their lights are properly adjusted and you'll have a nation of blinded drivers smashing into everything!!

There have already been several DRL investigations in the UK - I took part in data gathering for two of them a few years ago. The results suggested that it would increase accidents, especially involving low-visibility vehicles, by a notable percentage. Mr Hi-Viz Biker's incident mentioned above actually occurred during my first study.
It was also noted that vehicles driving around with headlights on during daytime were perceived as being more aggressive toward other road users, even though nothing else had actually changed about their driving style - The result of that perception was the other road users responding with short tempers and aggression to match.

It seems the only real advantage in making DRLs law is a reduced cost in importing foreign-made cars immediately, instead of having to add a lights-off switch for the UK market.

alex24 said:
As the driver of a very small car, I'm extremely aware of the need to make it visible.

But should aditional responsibility rest with you?
If a driver cannot see the likes of Mr Hi-Viz Biker, what hope has a cyclist or a pedestrian got?

Resident · 20 Feb 2014 at 17:18

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

You were taught wrong according to the highway code.

The highway code states it's actually acceptable to use just sidelights on lit roads

113

You MUST

ensure all sidelights and rear registration plate lights are lit between sunset and sunrise
use headlights at night, except on a road which has lit street lighting. These roads are generally restricted to a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) unless otherwise specified
use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226).

Night (the hours of darkness) is defined as the period between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise).
Laws RVLR regs 3, 24, & 25, (In Scotland - RTRA 1984 sect 82 (as amended by NRSWA, para 59 of sched 8))

Obviously I'm not suggesting we should all do this, I still use dipped myself.

As for those posters saying that sidelights are dim. I've switched out my bulbs for LED. They're a little brighter and "day-white". Massively more noticeably that the "warm-white" from a normal incandescent bulb.