Driving with headlights on

[Quantum Theory]

Maybe this has been asked, as I did not read the whole thread... but if headlights blind you during the day, what happens at night? Perceived brightness is up quite dramatically, because your eyes are used to the dark. You must be blind as a bat. Do you have to use sonar navigation too?

 

[M3mPh1z]

Maybe this has been asked, as I did not read the whole thread... but if headlights blind you during the day, what happens at night? Perceived brightness is up quite dramatically, because your eyes are used to the dark. You must be blind as a bat. Do you have to use sonar navigation too?

It was asked and swiftly ignored actually

 

[Archer]

A laser emits less light than a torch, which one do you think would be more distracting in your eye? Notice how I mentioned sharpness and white LED

Sigh

A laser has an incredibly high luminous intensity which is what gets you, not its brightness. So again, your argument is void. The reality remains, more light does not necessarily equate to being more visible. Hence, DRLs.

 

[Ivork]

And on top of that, the shear fact that cars now come with DRL's is a perfect indicator that more light means more chance of being seen

Agreed. Although my golf doesn't have DRL's, VW have gone to the trouble to have the headlights go on automatically on start, and off a minute or two after turning the ignition off.

 

[Lycanthrope]

LOL - my frustration levels have reached a whole new high this afternoon!

I noticed and I don't blame you for it.

oh look another country thats basically in darkness all the time. SA has roughly 4 times the sun hours of Sweden, so of course more light = better.

I'm not seeing the relevance here.

At the peak of summer, depending on where in Sweden you are, you could either have zero darkness (North) whatsoever or you could have 5-6-hours (South) of darkness.

Similarly at the peak of winter you can have zero light (North) or you can have 5-6-hours (South) of light.

We're certainly not "in darkness all the time"...

Driving with lights on is safer, it doesn't negatively impact you in any tangible way so... I don't see the validity of any argument against it?

 

[Archer]

Driving with lights on is safer, it doesn't negatively impact you in any tangible way so... I don't see the validity of any argument against it?

The only issue I have is against normal headlights being used as DRLs. That's it.

What people do not realise is that in these first world countries we hear so much about, if headlights are to function as DRLs they operate at half brightness. Maybe, just maybe, all the clever engineers around the world have a good reason for this?

 

[M3mPh1z]

Anyone who thinks this is distracting\blinding should not be on the road in the first place



Btw, an LED DRL is a sharp bright light aimed directly out, a normal halogen bulb is aimed away from eyesight so it is actually just the reflective glare that you are seeing unless you drive a tricycle/extreme low rider

 

[Archer]

Yes, because photos portray real world lighting conditions so accurately

 

[M3mPh1z]

Yes, because photos portray real world lighting conditions so accurately

Tell me, if it wasn't law, would you not drive your bike with its headlights on?

 

[supersunbird]

Maybe this has been asked, as I did not read the whole thread... but if headlights blind you during the day, what happens at night? Perceived brightness is up quite dramatically, because your eyes are used to the dark. You must be blind as a bat. Do you have to use sonar navigation too?

LMFAO

Anyway, would be nice if all cars had DRLs so that if they forget to put on their main lights, at least one can still see them approaching in the dark.

 

[Nerfherder]

Maybe this has been asked, as I did not read the whole thread... but if headlights blind you during the day, what happens at night? Perceived brightness is up quite dramatically, because your eyes are used to the dark. You must be blind as a bat. Do you have to use sonar navigation too?

But there is less light so you need the headlights.

More light : bad : eyes sore

Less light: good : eyes not sore


Let me ask you this?

Do any of you chops walk round with a flash-light during the day so that other people don't bump in to you ?

 

[supersunbird]

But there is less light so you need the headlights.

More light : bad : eyes sore

Less light: good : eyes not sore


Let me ask you this?

Do any of you chops walk round with a flash-light during the day so that other people don't bump in to you ?

Much lower speeds, so a casual bump does not cause death, so a HiVis vest or flashlight not necessary. And yes, I do bump into people on purpose who don't look where they are going and step into my straight path of travel.

When dealing with cars as a pedestrian its best to use a HiVis vest...

 

[OMB]

I see there's one moron in this thread that never read the research that I quoted

 

[Nerfherder]

The only issue I have is against normal headlights being used as DRLs. That's it.

What people do not realise is that in these first world countries we hear so much about, if headlights are to function as DRLs they operate at half brightness. Maybe, just maybe, all the clever engineers around the world have a good reason for this?

If lights were meant to be kept on all the time then they would not give you an off button.

 

[Nerfherder]

Much lower speeds, so a casual bump does not cause death. And yes, I do bump into people on purpose who don't look where they are going...

Do you use a torch ?

 

[SauRoNZA]

Yes, because photos portray real world lighting conditions so accurately

Especially photos at angles like that where they wouldn't appear bright anyway.

That being said I don't like the idea of cars having lights on during the day because that makes us motorcycles even less visible which is the primary reason by law that we need to have them on.


Which is why when it's rainy/misty/foggy and all the cars have their lights on I put my brights on. Yes I know it irritates motorists but it's the lesser of two evils as I'd rather be seen while irritating someone instead of not being seen at all.

 

[supersunbird]

Do you use a torch ?

Post was updated already.

 

[JStrike]

And I'm NOT BEING SEEN despite everyone telling me more lights = being seen

Oh wow.
More lights = more chance of being seen. Nothing will make that 100%

 

[Quantum Theory]

But there is less light so you need the headlights.

More light : bad : eyes sore

Less light: good : eyes not sore


Let me ask you this?

Do any of you chops walk round with a flash-light during the day so that other people don't bump in to you ?

Chops? I just got here and asked a general question. Why the aggressive tone?

Anyway, your logic makes no sense. This is my logic:

Day: Sunlight > Headlights : Eyes used to sunlight : Eyes okay with headlights (we know yours is not...)
Night: Darkness < Headlights : Eyes used to darkness : Some eyes struggle with headlights (with the above reference point, it must be like direct sunlight for you)

 

[Archer]

I see there's one moron in this thread that never read the research that I quoted

I dont think you read your own study...

How visible are the other road users?
It is sometimes suggested that vehicles that do not have their lights on during the daytime are visually
'pushed aside' by DRL vehicles, due to the masking effect. The EC has had this investigated as well.
TNO carried out a laboratory experiment (Brouwer et al., 2004) in which subjects were shown slides
with pictures of traffic situations in daylight circumstances. The slides contained a car with or without
DRL and another road user: a pedestrian, a cyclist or a motorcyclist with or without lights. The
subjects were instructed to determine as quickly as possible whether there was another road user
present.

Yes, because photos portray real world lighting conditions so accurately

DRL have no benefits in good weather,

I'm sure I've expressed the above

It has been established that DRL can cause glare (mainly in the
form of nuisance) when the light intensity of the dipped light is too high and the surrounding lighting is
at a relatively low level (for example at sunset)

But I'm sure the above simply cannot apply to normal headlights right? Because the sun > lights Reading further

Nowadays, dipped headlights are quite well adjusted because of the MOT (Ministry of Transport test: an annual
test of automobile safety, roadworthiness aspects and exhaust emissions required for most vehicles
over three years old)

Oh, they adjust their headlights regularly. That would most certainly avoid that problem.

But I'm sure I've said all this already. Now that its been said in a pro DRL (note DRL, not headlight) study, maybe people will listen. One can only hope. DRL good, full brightness headlight bad

But wait, theres more

Some of the sources in the above study are not valid. I admit I havent had the time to read it fully but here it is
http://www.dadrl.org.uk/docs/DaDRL_Daytime_lights_wrong_short.pdf

But scrutiny of their text shows that they only achieved new findings in
favour of motorcar daytime running lights in Sweden and Norway by
inconsistently changing methodology when their Swedish methodology
failed to yield a favourable finding in Norway.

What attracts, also distracts....
The Commission's proposal fails to make it clear to a lay readership that,
in this way, motorcar daytime running lights are, not a ëpassiveí road safety
measure that has only beneficial effects, but an ëactiveí road safety measure
that has potential adverse side-effects

I wish people could understand the above...

But Commission authors Elvik et al 2003 caution that their estimates of effect
are ëbased on small samples and are very far from statistical significance at
conventional levelsí

Interesting no? ol man, did you read that part of the study you are punting?

I wont even get into the additional dangers that cyclists and motorcyclists face when headlights are used as DRLs