People driving with headlights off

[rh71]

Yeah I thought all cars had this... my first car was a 98 and my current car is a 2004. I've never had to touch any lights other than switching to/from high beams, and signaling obviously. (some people don't bother with that though :awe

DRLs on don't always mean lit dashes though.

 

[rudeguy]

DRLs on don't always mean lit dashes though.

or tail lights

 

[Red Squirrel]

DRLs on don't always mean lit dashes though.

What's DRLs? I just turn the key, start the car and go. All the lights that have to be on are on. This is a 2004 Alero, nothing high end. :biggrin:

 

[Hugh Jass]

I've driven several cars with "automatic" headlights. None has ever successfully turned the lights on in all conditions where the lights are supposed to be on. This is especially true on foggy/overcast/misty days where ambient light levels are modestly high, but visibility is low due to the way those conditions cause low contrast.

Never had this problem in my shitty 2010 Chevy Impala. Never had my automatic lights not turn on when necessary.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

By interesting coincidence, my passenger-side headlight just blew today. :hmm:

 

[SparkyJJO]

I disabled the auto headlights on both my cars. I prefer manual control of that as the auto system is sometimes rather stupid and I'm overriding it by the switch anyway.

I also see some asshats drive at night with their daytime running lights at night. Just because they can see with DRL's but they don't realize that their tail lights are not on.

Just saw that tonight. Saw a dummy with his lights off in heavy traffic last night in one lane, and a guy with his high beams on in the other lane a few cars back.

 

[KeithTalent]

By interesting coincidence, my passenger-side headlight just blew today. :hmm:

How was it?

KT

 

[Zenmervolt]

Never had this problem in my shitty 2010 Chevy Impala. Never had my automatic lights not turn on when necessary.

Either you live in an area with no rain/fog/overcast, or you aren't good at identifying when you should use your headlights.

There are lots of situations where the ambient light level is high but atmospheric conditions render contrast very low. In these situations, automatic headlights will not turn on (since they simply measure light level) but a driver should have his lights on anyway. This is especially true with grey/silver cars that blend into the background much moreso than other colors.

ZV

 

[Cerb]

I do it sometimes.

If it's daylight when I leave work, but starts getting dark on the way home, I barely notice, because the whole way is lit so well that I wouldn't even be able to tell my lights were on or off, until I'm just a few hundred feet from home, unless I'm carefully looking for that, and I do not have backlit gauges--my eyes adjust the ambient light as it gets reduced, and I'm mostly paying attention to other things, like assholes that ride their brakes and don't use their blinkers . Unless the weather is bad on the way, or someone flashes their high beams at me, I won't even notice until I'm home, if I forget to turn them on when I leave, and there's still plenty of sunlight.