DRL's are going to kill me.

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Living in a big city it seems as if I see more early AM commuters on the roads with just their DRL's lit. Don't these people understand that drivers need to see your rear lamps as well? Are these people so oblivious to their surroundings that they don't even notice their dashboard is dark?

WTH
 
In my 07 Accord, the dashboard is lit all the time, whether the DRL's or main lights are on. It's easy to forget.
 
Per a previous thread, their dashboards are likely lit up as many gauges are backlit 24/7.

This usually comes with an electric eye to automatically turn on the headlights, but the adjustment on that seems suspect by your anecdata.
 
I think a lot of cars actually dim the dash when the headlights go on. I find fog is the worst though, it can be bright enough for the auto lights to go off, but a set of red tail lights would still help. Normally though I don't catch myself over driving my visibility.
 
In my "Old Tech" VillaQuest

There's no DRL's
Just a Auto setting on the switch, and the fogs (Which are really good and still rocking the 13~ year old Factory bulbs) are tied to the auto lights, and the fogs have there own push button.

It's left on auto, unless My Common sense (not so common according to OP) dictates they need to go on.
 
I have had a few close calls at night from people just driving with their DRLs on. It seems that they always drive slow (my guess is because they can barely see with the DRL on)
 
Our Fusion does not have DRLs, but it does have automatic headlamps. They do seem to come on a bit too late in dusk and/or cloudy conditions, so I turn them on manually quite often. Like many cars, our Fusion have backlit gauges, so it can be difficult to tell when the headlights are on or not. And the gauges don't always dim with headlamp usage, but with how light or dark the sensor thinks it is outside. It's odd.
 
Why vehicles don't come with an auto sensing circuit is beyond me. I have it on my Acura MDX and it works really well including adjustments for sensitivity.
 
My '09 Accord's dash lights turn on/dash gauge lights dim when you turn the headlights on. Quite a noticeable difference... but that is probably because I have the intensity of the "night time" dash brightness turned down (don't like staring into a flash light).
 
I live in a large city as well. I see idiots driving at night with NO lights on (major highways). I have no idea how you can believe your lights are on, under these circumstances. I literally see this at least twice a month.

It isn't tied into any demographics, either.

Originally Posted By: BMWTurboDzl
Living in a big city it seems as if I see more early AM commuters on the roads with just their DRL's lit. Don't these people understand that drivers need to see your rear lamps as well? Are these people so oblivious to their surroundings that they don't even notice their dashboard is dark?

WTH
 
Yup came up on a black car with just DRL's on last night at 9pm. The car was doing 30 in a 45 zone, and I didn't even know it was there until my headlights lit up their reflectors.

Some people just have no common sense.
 
All my cars from the past 15 years have the dash lights at full brightness when the headlights are off. My New Nissan does not have drl so I put my lights on this morning during a rainy AM commute. The guy in front of me in a old dark gray rav 4 did not have his lights driving on a high speed 2 lane highway with no divider and pasing zones. Moron.
 
I always turn on my parking lights in the morning/evening (as long as it's not completely dark) as I figure the same thing -- people need to see the tail lamps as much as the front DRLs in the Firebird. It really is incredible how many people don't turn on any form of lights when it's dark out. The DRLs in that car are the same as the parking lights (the large amber bulbs built in to the bumper, by the fog lights). I'll always turn them on in the Integra as well, which doesn't have DRLs.
 
Seems about 20% of drivers *like* full-brightness gauge clusters at night, judging by what I see occasionally glancing over when I'm passing them. The new gauge clusters seem to have way too much light coming from them on top of that.

I do notice cars geared to the youth have bling lights that are on whenever you're entering/exiting or driving. Not like 30 years ago, when you'd add a cheap aftermarket radio and get an on-with-radio backlight, and that's about all that would light up in the daytime.
 
This has been a rant of mine and I suspect it's a combination of continuously-lit guages and people thinking the car will do everything for itself.

If I were king, I'd mandate that any car that uses always-on guages has to have an auto-on headlight system that can't be overridden.

As for me, having owned a gray car that seemed to get invisible unless it was a cloudless day with blazing sun, I turn my headlights on whenever it's cloudy or worse. My Sonata was the last generation that had guages that only lit when you turned the lights on and I've noticed that I have problems them seeing them when it's cloudy, so the lights are on for both my and others' convenience/safety.
 
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I always turn on my parking lights in the morning/evening (as long as it's not completely dark) as I figure the same thing -- people need to see the tail lamps as much as the front DRLs in the Firebird. It really is incredible how many people don't turn on any form of lights when it's dark out. The DRLs in that car are the same as the parking lights (the large amber bulbs built in to the bumper, by the fog lights). I'll always turn them on in the Integra as well, which doesn't have DRLs.


Parking lights are for parked cars, so people see you and your headlights don't interfere with other's visibility.

If you are driving in inclement weather or at/before dawn and at/after sunset, all of your applicable lights should be on to maximize visibility.
 
My car's DRLs (the corona rings/angel eyes) also run the rear tail lamps and illuminate the gauge cluster.

Fortunately, you can tell if you forgot to turn on the headlamps because all of the climate control and radio controls do NOT illuminate with DRLs.

I agree that the dusk periods are where this annoys me most, as it's when lots of accidents tend to happen due to the poor contrast.
 
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