Are sidelights pointless?

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Soldato
Joined
24 Aug 2011
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6,162
Location
ABQ, NM
Well? Personally I can't stand the things. I can only assume the light conditions where they are useful is very minuscule.

Whenever I see a car with them on I either think 'i saw your car before I noticed the side lights, why bother' or 'you should really switch to your dipped beam so I can see you better'

My Audi's auto light setting has never once remained at side lights for more than half a second, normally carrying on straight to dipped beams or from beams through to off.

I think they should be banned.

What's your opinion of them?
 
Only really useful as they bring on the rears when its a bit dull....but then there would be no problem using the normal beams anyway. Never use mine either really

Actually I do, when I accidentally lean on the indicator and get out the car, leaving the parking light on
 
Pointless in my opinion. If you want to be more visible just put on your dipped beams. Some cars have absolutely pathetic sidelights, you would be better off driving with your interior light on in some cases.
 
I always thought they were so dim that there was little point in them, however I've seen now you can get fairly bright sidelight LEDs. Being only 5W, they would be a lot more efficient than using dipped beams at 35/55W so long as the brightness serves the purpose.

Why do you want them banned though?
 
I'm pretty certain my sidelights/markers/DRL's are pretty damn bright, and certainly draw more attention than the car without them.

Whilst you might "notice" the car without them lit, if you aren't paying full attention, or your attention is drawn elsewhere, or I'm approaching your peripheral vision rather than dead ahead, the marker lights will enable you (at least subconsciously) to see me far more easily.

So, in summary, they are there because they are useful.

Irish_Tom said:
Side lights are pointless — full-beam of off, that's all you need. :D
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Hopefully you either a) mean dipped beam, or b) are joking. Otherwise you are c) daft.
 
paradigm said:
I'm pretty certain my sidelights/markers/DRL's are pretty damn bright, and certainly draw more attention than the car without them.

Whilst you might "notice" the car without them lit, if you aren't paying full attention, or your attention is drawn elsewhere, or I'm approaching your peripheral vision rather than dead ahead, the marker lights will enable you (at least subconsciously) to see me far more easily.

So, in summary, they are there because they are useful.
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...but your dipped beams will enable you to be seen even more easily than that, so why wouldn't you just use those and skip the sidelight only stage?

I can't think of a scenario where i've ever decided I need light and reached the conclusion that the sidelight was a better option than the dipped beams.
 
Kenai said:
...but your dipped beams will enable you to be seen even more easily than that, so why wouldn't you just use those and skip the sidelight only stage?

I can't think of a scenario where i've ever decided I need light and reached the conclusion that the sidelight was a better option than the dipped beams.
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Wearing out headlights through extra hours maybe? That and more and more cars have LED side lights now, they'll last a lot longer.

Until we have complete LED lights, where you can run separate rows or brightness settings, i don't see how this is going to change.
 
Rossi~ said:
Wearing out headlights through extra hours maybe?
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Does that really enter peoples minds?

I don't think i've paid conscious thought to wearing out my headlight bulbs early but then again I don't use super-mega-ultra-bright-but-only-last-100-hours bulbs :p
 
I always go straight to dipped headlights if visibility or conditions warrant any form of lighting be fired up. Perhaps that's just out of habit for me as I've been riding motorcycles for longer than I've been driving cars 25 years+.
 
If you have sidelights on then you must believe you need additional lighting, in which case you should use headlights. Fog lights should be for FOG!!

Andi.
 
Kenai said:
...but your dipped beams will enable you to be seen even more easily than that, so why wouldn't you just use those and skip the sidelight only stage?

I can't think of a scenario where i've ever decided I need light and reached the conclusion that the sidelight was a better option than the dipped beams.
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Agreed.

I'll put my headlights on if it's cloudy or rainy or otherwise a bit grim outside. Or dark, obviously. I like being seen. And my Xenons look cool.
 
Tbh.. it's DRLs or On. Sidelights are just a bit pointless on the road whilst you're driving.

*waits for the DRL hater patrol*
 
DRLs are pretty unmissable, and I think a good addition to vehicles for those dull periods in a day, or grey dreary days, saves you having to flick lights on and off.
No one can claim they didn't see you.
 
West said:
Tbh.. it's DRLs or On. Sidelights are just a bit pointless on the road whilst you're driving.
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On mine (and it would be the same once I switch to the Xenon/LED units), the halogen DRL IS the sidelight (or rather, there are no sidelights).

So, yes. It's DRL or Dipped Beam, there is no inbetween.
 
Last 2 cars have had auto lights, so the selector is always in that position and seems to skip sidelights entirely.

I'll put my neck on the line and say I can actually see a use for DRLs and do quite like them. They only irritate me when I see people who don't turn the car off when at the side of the street at night but turn their lights off, so they stay in their retina-burning brightness mode.
 
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