What's so complicated about headlights?

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Every night, I come across people who can't use their headlights correctly. You've got:

1) Jokers with their brights on. Flashing them makes no difference, they just continue blinding you. I guess seeing the big high beam indicator on the instrument cluster is too much work for these people.

2) No lights on. Car companies invented AUTO headlights for these people but as the saying goes, you can't fix stupid. Again, flashing them makes no difference.

3) Only DRLs on. You come up behind these idiots and see their taillights are off but there's a small beam of light up front. You flash them but they give you a deer in the headlights look or even flip you off.

4) Not following the "wipers on, lights on" law during inclement weather. Hey, if people can't master turning on lights at night, expecting them to do it during the day is foolish.

It's upsetting because I almost got into an accident with genius from category #3. They were barreling down the left lane going 80+ mph with nothing but some dim DRLs on and ONE fog light.
 
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Just be patient. Self driving cars are going to fix all that.
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I totally agree with your list. On my way to work, I lose count of the number of people that find it necessary to drive with bright lights on with cars in front of them or with cars coming in the opposite direction. This number quadruples in the snow and rain. I see just fine with low beams when the roads are empty. I don't understand how they can't see well when the road is filled with other commuters.
 
I'd add to your list:

"My driver side low beam is burned out so I'll not bother to fix it and just drive with my high beams on all the time so I can see but everyone in front of me loses their vision"

"I lifted my Brodozer to the sky and put gigawatt lights on it, but never bothered to re-aim the beams so they shine to the North pole and blind people on the ISS"

I've seen a lot of poorly aimed headlights recently, much more than I remember in the past. Not sure why that is. All of my recent used car purchases have had lights that weren't "a little bit" off, they were pointed behind the car.
 
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adding to list:

guys who's lights will flood a 5 lanes highway.
Hooray if they are behind you... blind in all mirrors (left, middle, right).
 
Common sense left driving a long time ago. Auto headlights are nice though. Turn on the wipers and the lights come on. A pet peeve of mine as people drive in pouring rain with no lights.
 
The idiots on the roads get worse and worse everyday! Like what has been mentioned, there is a reason for auto cars, which will cure all that soon enough.
 
Originally Posted By: irv
The idiots on the roads get worse and worse everyday! Like what has been mentioned, there is a reason for auto cars, which will cure all that soon enough.


Seems like a great opportunity to write some tickets … the only thing that will change these self centered fools …
 
Originally Posted By: mightymousetech
Make it idiot proof, and the world will build a better idiot.

Post of the day.
 
Originally Posted By: irv
The idiots on the roads get worse and worse everyday!

Amazingly, this is in spite of the fact that cars today have more nanny features than ever before.
 
OH YES your points are well taken. but do want to open the can of worms about bad streets? i got pulled over the office thought i weaving around. i said NO SIR i wasnt weaving the lane is striped that way. i WAS staying in my lane.
 
I'm tempted to keep a cupholder full of spark plugs for the oncoming high beam traffic. DRL is the dumbest thing since the pet rock.
 
These would be the same morons or idiots( take your pick) of the same mindset that only scrape out a little peephole on the drivers side windshield on a frosty or icy morning and do not sweep the snow and ice off of the hood and roof. The same singlr digit IQ imbeciles who drive 80 on the freeway with a donut tire on the axle. The same geniuses who think that if they turn on that blinker it will create instant space to merge or worse yet those who just cut you off no blinker at all. The same idiots who think that they are at NASCAR and they tailgate and weave in and out of traffic constantly only to end up gaining maybe 1 car length at the next light. The same idiots who think that everyone in a mile radius wants to hear their bone rattling deep rumbling rap music bass blasted at a million decibels from their $5k stereo and their $200.00 Impala The same idiots who pay more attention to their cell phone than they do the road in front of them. You are not alone sir, these people are everywhere, everyday and sadly they often cause accidents that cause great harm and even death to others because of their antics. All you can do is control what you can by driving defensively and anticipating these fools to keep doing what fools do. Anyway that is my theory and observations and I am sticking to it.
 
I was driving home yesterday in a really heavy snowstorm, about 5PM, still daylight but vision maybe 50 yards. Out of the gloom comes a nearly invisible Sheriffs dept truck, no lights!
 
Those white trash diesel led light bars are actually illegal here in Tx. Highway patrol will ticket those who have them on while on the public roads.
 
The best part of the headlight argument is that there's several ways to fix this at the OEM level, but they just won't. Some is also due to ancient DOT laws that will probably never be fixed.

The feds decided that back up cameras (useless) must be standard, TPMS systems (also useless) must be standard, etc etc, but a simple photonic sensor and a permenant "Auto" setting a la GM cars to turn the lights on when necessary isn't important. It's also super easy to program the lights to come on any time the wipers were used. For God's sake my '03 Mercury had all these things. Engineers need to think these things out and so do the feds.
 
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It seems like all the new Ford vehicles have extremely bright LED lights. The F150s are terrible because they don't seem to be adjusted downward on the packages that have taller tires.

But my gripe is how many cars have ONE headlight that is all conk-eyed and usually aimed right at my face. I don't understand how it can be like this! And these aren't just older cars that aren't maintained. It seems like certain FCA vehicles are like this from the factory.

I think I'm going to join their game and just drive with my highbeams on at night. The cops don't seem to do anything about it so we should just go around blinding each other.
 
A big factor in the proliferation of people driving with DRLs on at night is the fact that manufacturers have, for some unknown reason, begun illuminating the gauge cluster without the vehicle's headlights being on. Drivers see the gauge cluster lit up, as well as a bit of light coming from the headlights, and assume all is well.
 
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