I 100% agree.

"The purpose of daytime running lights is to increase the visibility of your car, so that other drivers can see you on the road. At night, your headlights and tail lights are illuminated, which means that it's easy for other drivers to spot you."

And in hazardous conditions it should be common sense to make yourself as visible as possible.... but, humanity is flawed and we are a funny mix of self-possession, ignorance and lack of education.

Seriously though, ya halfwits: turn on your lights.

I get tired of the idiots running light bars and not turning them off when near other motorist. I don’t care that you use them but remember when you got it on and are blinding everybody.

I agree that it's poor design. This happens to me sometimes when driving my mom's car. It has a DRL mode that is right next to "Auto" on the dial, and at twilight or in the rain it's hard to tell that your full headlights aren't on.

I once had an Audi that had fog lights - I believe it was a 2000 something... anyway - a friend saw me drive away and said one of my lights was out.... turns out this model (European) had rear facing red lights that were on when the fogs were on.

Anyway -yes high output DRIs do seem to be the norm and cause a lot of headlights to remain off.

if you left them on Auto, you wouldn't have that problem

Thanks asshole. The point is that it's an unfamiliar vehicle, and it's easy not to notice that the lights are 1 click off where they should be. It's poor design.

Way too common. We all have our moments where we might forget once, but I swear I see the same cars with only the DRLs on every morning, even if it's cloudy/dark, raining, snowing, whatever, they NEVER turn their actual headlights on. Drives me absolutely mad.

you drive a vehicle, "not knowing how to use it" is not a good enough excuse for unsafe operation.

I've seen it too. Cars should just have the tail lights on all the time as basically rear daytime running lights. I can't really see a reason not to do that.

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It's happened to me a few times in rental cars. I haven't owned a car without auto lights in 15 years. When it gets dark and I can still see the instruments and road ahead is lit it never occurs to me that the lights aren't on.

My problem is when I put my lights on auto they don’t usually switch on in twilight or on an especially overcast or low visibility day. So maybe he would have that problem with the auto setting.

a few of the more savvy brands have a threshold setting which allows more or less darkness to trigger them. each one hides it somewhere different and calls it something else in the UI. Fords used to make it easy and had a sensor, low down in the center of the dash by the windscreen, and you could just put small pieces of black electrical tape on it to make it trigger earlier. sensor was black anyway so if you were careful, you couldn't tell it was applied.

Rear fog lights are the best.

My Saab used to have them, and Volvos have them as well.

Someone tailgates you? Turn the rear fog light on and they’ll either think you’re brake checking them, or it’s so bright they back off cause it’s annoying to look at, either way, you get the space you need.

Interesting! Thanks! Going to look into this more.

Similar issue with always illuminated dash boards. If you look down and can’t see your gages you realize pretty quick you don’t have your lights on

I think it's a combination problem, I have a hrv. At night even with thr headlights off the instrument cluster lights up. There were more than a few times we got out the driveway and went oh..

> Is this relativity common for others, or am I just being overly dickish about it?

It’s way too common.

I travel a two-lane road very often between 8-10pm and in my 4 mile trip i usually count half a dozen cars with no lights on and don’t know it because their DRL make them think lights are on.

Why don’t people put lights on auto? I turned my lights to auto when I bought the car and haven’t touched the switch since.

Why don’t you have them on auto?

What’s worse is people don’t realize you can buy SAE DOT approved LED lights so you CAN drive with them on, legally. The lens typically has a different diffusing pattern to allow for on road use, but people don’t know any better and run the off-road only version instead.

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I have a Ford Escape, if I have the lights on Automatic during the day on my front headlights go on, no tail.

Even during the day?

It doesn't have it or I would

IMO the bigger issue is the fact that the instrument cluster (and other interior backlighting) is always illuminated.

You used to know your headlights weren’t on because none of the lights inside the car were on. Now, the dash is lit up all the time. So regardless of exterior light status, you have no obvious indication as a driver that your lights aren’t on.

Alternatively, cars with DRLs and always-on interior illumination should have automatic headlights so that this isn’t even an issue. Many already do, but it seems like people take them out of “auto” mode.

Relatively common. I was taught in drivers Ed to just run with headlights on all the time. I’d say 90% of the time my headlights are on, rain or shine

OOH LOOK AT ME WITH MY AUTO HEADLIGHTS AND POWER WINDOWS (Yes my truck is outdated asf lmao)

I'm so used to people having no lights on in their 90's shitbox (no disrespect to the 90s shitbox community, love you guys), that I just take what I can get.

When your expectations are as low as mine, life is great! Constant pleasant surprises!

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What bothers me more are the regular (non high beam) headlights that are usually on pick-up trucks, that reenact the Eye of Sauron on the slopes of Mount Doom. My retinas are sufficiently fried. How are those legal?

Precisely.

I just drive with my normal headlights on all the time. I can see, I know people can see me. I fail to see any downsides to this plan.

Either people drive with no lights, or they drive with blinding bright ones. No gray area whatsoever.

I very very rarely notice this. Our biggest issues are people following too closely, and even worse speeding up when they are getting passed.

This! I got pulled over on 95 once driving my bosses Subaru Outback home from Boston. Had not driven it before and assumed that since the headlights came on automatically, that all the lights were on. I explained this to the trooper and he let me go, but I was totally pissed that anybody would design a car like that. So unsafe!

Driving down route 1, and here cometh an ANGEL OF THE LORD?!

Nope, just a European luxury sedan turning night into day.

I have been a driver in the US, Canada and Europe. Some countries require lights on while driving, no matter the weather. I believe Canada is one of those,but have not been there for years.

Lights on makes a difference to safety, especially in norther locations, and during cloudy, snowy weather. It is much safer when others can see you.

And cars with gray or silver paint are much harder to see. So if this is your car color, turn your lights on long before you need them. Just look at the pavement and background on those days.

And don't tell me 'I can see just fine'. You are not me, and it might be my car that rams into you, because, I might not see you. Or, it might be my grandparents, who both drive past age 90. My grandfather thinks he will still be driving after age 100. Turn your lights on.

Yup. I used to have a roommate who couldn’t understand why she kept getting tickets for driving at night with her daytime running lights on. My reply: “Well, is it DAYTIME?!”

I think only one car in my family has auto as an option. Not everyone buys expensive cars.

My son’s older, inexpensive Honda civic had it.

It’s not just a feature on expensive cars.

In my VW I activated what’s called Scandinavian Daylight Running Lights. They turn the taillights on whenever the car is on along with the front running lights.

If it’s raining, dark, or snowing they are required to have the lights on.

Totally agree with you. Isn’t it a law in most states (it was where I came from) to have your lights on anytime there’s precipitation?

Exactly this. Many people pay little to no attention when they operate a vehicle. When you get a car serviced, for instance, the lights are always shut off. People never notice it was done, and their interior has lights, so... Canada has legislation introduced that would make lights default to auto to prevent this, but I'm not sure where that is at the moment. If it passes there, I suspect many manufacturers will adopt it to keep all North American market stuff the same.

Finding yourself almost rear ending vehicles numerous times during daylight hours means you drive too damn fast for conditions. Overly dickish!

By the way, lights on when wipers are is a good rule.

I'm talking about at night in a snowstorm, at night in a rainstorm, and when it's dark. Daylight hours I don't mind either way

One of the big problems is Adaptive Headlights haven't been legal in the US until recently, so while the European version of these cars have had the technology for decades to shine brightly without blinding oncoming traffic, we haven't been allowed to use them.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/adaptive-headlights-legal-us-biden-infrastructure-bill-law/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/18/business/us-approves-smart-headlights.html

I agree! I just experienced it for the first time recently. It was early morning so not quite dark and not quite light which - morning or evening - is when I think visibility is always the worst and I came right up behind someone on 295 before I saw them. They are dangerous!

I've noticed it's either all or nothing. You either get high-beamed or surprised.

I’ve never nearly rear ended anyone, or come close, but agreed. Either that or they need to have a sensor for automatic full headlight/rear lights.

Ralph Nader is too old and he's the only person who cares.

Over dickish. Shit happens. Regulate the fuck out of people and see what happens

I must admit that I assumed running lights did light up the equivalent of running lines in the back.

My excuse: I use my headlights virtually always; never just running lights.

Personally I think turning on your drls and tail lights should be just something that happens as part of starting your car a non-optional feature. Shit I'd even go so far as to say turning on your headlights in general should be something that happens just by turning on your car and the only way to turn them off is to turn off your car.

Finally a post I can commiserate with. I HATE seeing cars that I know have automatic lights with their lights off in the evening why would anyone turn off their auto lights?

I have an 09 Malibu and a 2014 Focus, both have auto lights. It’s certainly not a luxury vehicle thing.

The amount of people who drive around with no lights on at all in inclement weather astounds me.

Which would also fix the issue where people don't turn on their lights for rain.

I saw two cars with just the DRLs and no running lights on 295 on my way from Scarborough to Brunswick Thursday night. Tried flashing my lights behind them to let them know but they were both completely oblivious.

Technology is making idiots more idiotic. Soon cars are gonna be self driving…oh wait.

Fucking assholes would probably set them to manual just to turn them off in the rain.

The only time I have really seen this. But when I was working in PA for a couple years. When there was heavy fog or rain. Every single car put on hazards on the highway. I was like whoa that is crazy and makes total sense, but I'm from MO.

Oh yuht....I've seen it quite a bit even at night. People driving down the road in the pitch black and it's dark ship on the stern.