lights *a rant*

jimmycrackcorm

Sully wrote: »

Hope im not breaking the charter by asking, but I have rarley came across a car with fog lights on that have bothered me. Very rarley, to me they are just like the dipped head lights. Full beams - that bothers me. Rear foglights - that bothers me. Why? Its much brighter.

I find a huge difference when driving with my fog lights on on dark roads. I can see it much better. Its why I use them. Didnt realise so many were bothered by it!

I agree with this. Fogs don't bother me and I find mine help me in dark rural roads. I also never get flashed if I have my fogs on so I can only conclude that people who get irritated by fogs being on will whine at anything that's not by the book.

L1011

Can we add "learn that recent Fiats and Alfas and some other cars have quite bright dips, so don't flash every Fiat you pass as if they've got the beams on" to those rules-of-lights? Actually stopped my car to make sure nothing was amiss on the way back from Waterford there as people constantly mistook my dips for beams if I didn't wait until they could see me before dropping them.

Tomas_V

Park on the left at night.

People parking on (their) right, i.e. on the wrong side of the road, are treating oncoming traffic to a heavy dose of headlamp, blinding oncoming drivers.

BrianD3

Saw a good one yesterday - Nissan Primera on the Mullingar bypass at 6:30 pm (ie fully dark) He was driving on parking lights and one front fog light :rolleyes: Also breaking the 100 km/h speed limit by a fair margin. I wonder could he stop in the distance he could see to be clear as illuminated by his dipped headlights, oh wait he didn't have his dipped headlights on :rolleyes:

Tomas_V

gar32 wrote: »

a lot of people sit in traffic with the foot on the brake with 3 bright red light blasting in peoples face behind them.

Even with the parking brake on, I always keep my foot on the brake pedal (to keep the stop lights on), if I'm the last vehicle in a queue.

stepbar

Doodee wrote: »

Had a blond lady in a Ford Puma, on the motorway, sit behind me with her full beams on

This behaviour annoys the fcuk out of me. Its just plain rude :mad:

daedalus2097

blackbox wrote: »

Front foglights are harmless decoration - never blinding - better than eejits driving on parking lights.

Hmmm... You must be thinking of front DRLs (Daytime Running Lights) which are little more than side lights. A lot of newer cars have these instead of fog lights or in addition to fog lights, and they do look fine on the car. They don't glare off the road when wet and they don't dazzle you, regardless of their adjustment. Fogs do - it's their reason for being that they create an intense pool of light in front of the car, and they have to be aligned just like headlights (although the NCT rarely check them - my NCT just says they weren't operational)

E92

Foglights were given the name for a very good reason, they are to be used in fog and in fog only.

Saruman

gar32 wrote: »

a lot of people sit in traffic with the foot on the brake with 3 bright red light blasting in peoples face behind them. If your waiting for the green light please please please use hand brake for the 1 to few minutes your waiting.

Some of these people might be driving an automatic. You have to have your foot on the brake. You "can" put it in park but its a little more hassle than on a manual.. as in an extra second or so.

Sully wrote: »

Hope im not breaking the charter by asking, but I have rarley came across a car with fog lights on that have bothered me. Very rarley, to me they are just like the dipped head lights.

And i find it rare to see someone with front fog lights that does not blind me (usually because they are dirty). Depends on your vision i suppose, its very blinding at night. I think the "i can see better" thing is an illusion, i have tested this myself and all they do as add more light on the ground right in front of my car, what good is that? By the time you notice something in that tiny patch of light its too late and you have hit it.

Oh and @MYOB I agree, i sometimes get flashed during the day (i drive with dips on all the time) by drivers. I think its the angle, from a certain angle it must look like i have full beams on. I saw this on another car once, i was convinced he had full beams on and was about to flash him when he changed angle and they were just dipped.
Some Lights, particularly those manufactured by Hella are designed to throw light to each side, making taking corners much safer. These are probably the lights that look like high beams at certain angles.

_Kaiser_

Saruman wrote: »

Some of these people might be driving an automatic. You have to have your foot on the brake. You "can" put it in park but its a little more hassle than on a manual.. as in an extra second or so.

Or just put it in N and lift the handbrake. Besides, with my auto Passat, I'm a lot quicker off the line than almost all of the manual drivers around me.

Saruman

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Or just put it in N and lift the handbrake. Besides, with my auto Passat, I'm a lot quicker off the line than almost all of the manual drivers around me.

Me too in my auto scenic, until of course the other cars get to 2nd gear and can tear past me
No my point is, auto drivers are a little lazier than manual drivers. So the extra few seconds in pressing the button and moving the stick down to D is way too much work when we can just take our foot off the brake, car moves forward itself, then hit the gas and away we go

Besides Automatics aside.. its safer to have your foot on the brake as well as the hand brake. A car can still move with the handbrake on so its not going to help too much. It cant move with your foot on the brake (apart from momentum). In fact im sure that's how i was taught by my instructors and that's what i did in my test and passed it first time.

_Kaiser_

Saruman wrote: »

Me too in my auto scenic, until of course the other cars get to 2nd gear and can tear past me

Not me!

No my point is, auto drivers are a little lazier than manual drivers. So the extra few seconds in pressing the button and moving the stick down to D is way too much work when we can just take our foot off the brake, car moves forward itself, then hit the gas and away we go

It's a big plus on hills too

Saruman

And in bumper to bumper traffic.. no more dead left foot from all the clutch work. Just lift off the brake, car moves forward and apply brake again