LED running lights

DannagE said:
Some people are so oblivious to what's going on around them that they don't even see blue flashing lights on emergency vehicles. DRL's are not the problem, its peoples awareness or lack of giving a toss.
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Very true. I've seen this a lot more when sat in traffic and a emergency vehicle has been coming in our direction.

One in particular was a young girl in a Fiat 500 looking down into her lap (Presumably on Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp etc) only when the Ambulance was right behind me and her (She was in the right hand lane) did she eventually move (All in a panic I might add). I just shook my head at her when it was all over.
 
Wucked said:
I really don't get these LED lights. They're to bright, they're more of a distraction than anything else.
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That's kind of the idea. Daytime Running Lights - they are designed to be bright enough to give enough contrast to make them highly visible even during the day.

Wucked said:
If you're to blind or stupid to see a car in broad daylight then you have no business being anywhere near a road without adult supervision.
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It's not so much about seeing the car outright when you're already looking at it - it's about making the car quicker and easier to see in the periphery. No matter how observant you are, your eyes will pick out a car with DRLs in your peripheral vision much more easily and your brain will register it as a car much quicker than without. This could make the difference between pulling out of a junction or not.

You've kind of proved their usefulness in your second sentence..."they're more of a distraction than anything else". You are already noticing them much more readily and having your attention drawn to them; they're working as intended.

We're all only human, and mistakes like "looking but not seeing" are common, even for usually observant drivers. DRLs ensure that someone who makes the mistake of only making a quick glance "sees" the car, because it highlights it and makes the brain register what it is and identify it as a potential hazard much more quickly.

Have a read of this interesting article, it explains quite a lot about how the human eye works in relation to driving and peripheral vision: http://www.slobc.org/safety/documents/road-survival-guide.pdf
 
Auto wipers are great - as said, when it's raining they are always adjusting depending on the amount of rain and your vehicle's speed.

Auto lights are pointless though IMHO and I don't use mine a) because I usually want them on before the car thinks so and b) I don't want to wear my xenon bulbs and ballasts out by having them come on for 20 seconds every time I go under a bridge.
 
I too love auto wipers, but I also love auto lights. I disagree that they're pointless. Mine come on automatically (even in daylight) if the wipers are going because the systems are linked. I think any system that allows you to concentrate on the task at hand (i.e. driving the car) is good!
 
I was always horrifically bad at turning my headlights off in the past (which inevitably lead to several early morning swears) so auto-headlights are an absolute lifesaver for me!

Auto wipers are (at least in my Audi) very annoying though, and I'd prefer not to have them if I could.
 
arfoll said:
Yeah screw being safe, saving my bulbs! I don't brake hard so I don't have to wear my brake discs...
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Screw being safe? Read my other posts in this thread. I turn my lights on when they need to be on.

Mind you I drove past TWO people last night who didn't have their lights on (at about 10pm) so I suppose there are plenty of morons who do need their car to turn their lights on for them when it's dark, despite it being painfully obvious that they're not...


I don't brake hard for no reason, either. It's called mechanical sympathy.
 
I have my lights on all the time, there is a switch on the steering column that sets whether the parkers come on when I switch the engine off or if the lights go fully off. I have it set so that when I turn off the car all the lights go off, and when I turn it on they come on. Day or night, whatever the weather. I'm that lazy.
 
I like the auto-lights and they seem to "air on the side of caution" - I'll be driving along and suddenly I'll notice my lights on. It's funny as I'll see other Skoda's, VW's, Audi's etc all have their lights on too - the VW auto-sensors obviously all have the same setting.
I view side-lights as a complete waste of time - I cannot think of any situation where it would be an advantage to have side-lights on over dipped. If you want lights on then you want lights on.
My auto-lights certainly don't switch on every time I go under a bridge, there has to be significant coverage before they click on.

Auto-wipers I like too. I do tend to leave them in auto all the time (usually because I'd forget to move them to off after rain).
They automatically adjust to speed, the amount of rain etc.
We have the technology - so lets use it.
 
But auto lights only turn on when it starts to get dark. What I'm talking about is using lights at all times due to the large quantity of cars with LED running lights causing cars without lights on to be less visible.
 
Found on my car switching on the "sidelights" dims the DRL's and turns on the rear lights, much prefer this.

The same people who drive around with DRL's in the dark are usually the same people who would drive with no lights on when leaving the car park if they didn't have DRL's, so at least there's some safety.
 
I tell you what, the moment a self driving car becomes available I'll have one!
And then I hope someone invents an exoskeleton that can automate me getting up, going to work, etc etc.

(I already have a service that tells me what to think, it's called The Meeja)
 
ianh said:
Auto-Lights - when did car manufacturers realise people are too thick to turn their lights on when it gets dark? The same thought for Auto-Wipers too!
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:confused:

By the same logic you'd ask when did people get so thick that they couldn't wind up their own windows? Or unlock each door individually?
 
Auto lights are mint, going from a car with auto back to one with manual was definitely a backwards step.
I guess it's just like climate, when you have only driven cars with auto for ages then you get in a car with manual and are like WTF I used to have to operate this stuff myself!?
 
Rilot said:
What I'm talking about is using lights at all times due to the large quantity of cars with LED running lights causing cars without lights on to be less visible.
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I think you're looking at it the wrong way.

With DRL's becoming more common, people without them are turning their lights on in the day because they can see how much more visible a vehichle is with the lights on, increasing safety.
 
Wucked said:
If you're to blind or stupid to see a car in broad daylight then you have no business being anywhere near a road without adult supervision.
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Pretty much.
On the motorcycle I have more trouble being seen by everyone else because, even with fog lights on and mixed-colour hi-viz all over the place, I blend into the background of DRLs.
In fact, I get seen more often if I shift around in my lane, because drivers' eyes pick up on my movement more than my lights.

wilber said:
With DRL's becoming more common, people without them are turning their lights on in the day because they can see how much more visible a vehichle is with the lights on, increasing safety.
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So you get this swaythe of badly-adjusted vehicle lights (seriously, SO many car drivers have duff headlights), which then hides unlit objects like pedestrians and can often obscure smaller lights like peoples' indicators... especially these stupid LED ones that are just a small orange dot in the middle of a red circle.

If you need DRLs in daylight, you're either blind or are not paying enough attention.
 
I aleways drive with lights on, no reason not to. Simple. And people whining about auto lights, what difference does it make... it's not hurting anyone. And neither is converting fog lamps to DLR's as well, if it makes you easier to see and sometimes people forget to put lights on for whatever reason (as no one is perfect, even in OC Motors), why the hell not have auto lights and wipers.
 
Django x2 said:
What's worse is the number of cars (new) I've come up behind in dim (or even completely dark) light with no lights on at the rear, but these tiny LED strips at the front (DRL). They are obviously being told that they don't need to worry about turning their lights on / off as they are automatic. Surely these people must think their lights are still not that bright when driving. Why can't the default DRL be all sidelights (front and rear) instead of just front
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This. Downright dangerous.

My Saab has DRLs - front and rear. It's not a new idea, the car was built in 1978.
 
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