I could have made 190 Euro this evening in under 10 minutes

Top Dog

tudlytops wrote: »

i don't think its about who cares, some realy just don't know the lights are gone.

Its funny you should mention this. Back last January I came across a Peugeot 306 with no rear lights. Flashed them to try get their attention so I could tell them of the fault. When she eventually pulled over I got out of my car and told her that all her rear lights were gone. Her response? "I know". Not in the slightest bit phased by this news she continued merrily on her way.

So in my own experience there are plenty of people well aware that they have a bulb or multiple bulbs blown and they're just too ignorant/cheap/lazy/irresponsible to be bothered fixing the problem. :mad:

Encoder1970

Garages should have the service of checking this and doing the work for you when you leave the car in for something, particularly now when it's getting so dark.
In US the cops stop and fine people quite often for broken lights, easy revenue.
I keep extra bulbs in the boot, but then mine go every so often (old banger)

bazz26

Encoder1970 wrote: »

Garages should have the service of checking this and doing the work for you when you leave the car in for something, particularly now when it's getting so dark.
In US the cops stop and fine people quite often for broken lights, easy revenue.
I keep extra bulbs in the boot, but then mine go every so often (old banger)

Do we really need to be held by the hand though?

My current car tells me when a bulb is gone but I still check my lights at least once every 2 or 3 weeks out of force of habbit similar to wearing a seat belt. It only takes 5 mins to check the front and back lights, have someone else stand at rear when you put your foot on the brake pedal, that is it.

I think our problem as a nation in general, is that we only see cars as a device or appliance for getting from a to b. Alot of people just turn the key and drive, that is the start and end of their association with a car. They scratch their heads then when it breaks. Things like maintenance, repair and upkeeping are not considered part of car ownership in this country, generally I think people see that done by keen enthusiasts.

Alanstrainor

bazz26 wrote: »

have someone else stand at rear when you put your foot on the brake pedal, that is it.
.

You don't even need someone to stand at the back, if you've got a camera phone, just hit record, place the phone pointing at the rear of the car and test yourself. Job done.

h3000

Alanstrainor wrote: »

You don't even need someone to stand at the back, if you've got a camera phone, just hit record, place the phone pointing at the rear of the car and test yourself. Job done.

Quite a few filling stations have a stainless steel sheets attached to some part of the shop front so you can check your lights too. If not plenty of them have large glass fronts that you could also use to reflect the lights, just look in the rear view mirrors to check the rear lighting.

adzer086

Is a bleeding disgrace watching the amount of people that pour out of Dundrum SC,heading towards the M50 with no lights on with out their headlights on. I head towards there on my way home from work and i just cant get over the amount of people driving around with no lights on.I wouldnt mind but there are two Guards standing at the exit all day ,every day for operation "Go Slow'' .....Its bad enough we only get about six hours of daylight during the winter.The law on lights on motor vehicles needs some serious sorting out!!

bladebrew

i have seen plenty of cars over the past few weeks with dodgy bulbs i think in a lot of cases people dont even notice they are gone,especially if they live in area with decent street lights,but more worrying is people driving in the dusk/dark with no lights on at all, i give them a flash of my lights to let them know but sometimes they dont even notice!!


in my car when you start up then engine with the headlights switched off the dash lights dont come on, when the headlights are switched on the dash then lights up,i assume this is different in every car???

Top Dog

bladebrew wrote: »

in my car when you start up then engine with the headlights switched off the dash lights dont come on, when the headlights are switched on the dash then lights up,i assume this is different in every car???

Its been the same in every car I've ever driven.

galwaytt

peasant wrote: »

......but seriously ...19 cars with broken or wrong lights in under 10 minutes ...

...yeah, and I bet they weren't over 10 years old, either ! :mad: Why is one reason why the annual NCT for cars over 10yrs thing really pisses me off. My 16 yr old car is better than most 6 yr old cars, around here.:mad:

Mr. Presentable

In the past week I have seen two with faulty reversing lights. The first were on all the time, the second came on when braking.

_Kaiser_

Take a spin down the N3 some evening and guaranteed you'll meet all of the following:

- Foglights/no dip lights or just sidelights
- One headlight out (often with the other on main/full beam)
- Rear brake lights not working (one or both, just the middle one, or none at all)
- Rear brake lights on continuously or otherwise faulty lights - other lights dimming/flashing when indicating etc
- No rear lights at all (often on trailers or vans)

Now although some cars aren't as easy to work on as others - my other half's Honda for example requires you to get in at the wheel arches to change the bulbs, and my own Passat is a MAJOR pain as there's very limited room to work and they clip in (awkwardly) rather than screw in to the light unit - there is NO excuse for driving around any more than a day (2 if a weekend) without getting it looked at.

As also pointed out, most modern cars come up with a warning light on the dash too so "I didn't realise" doesn't wash for me. Equally how people get into a car at night and set off without realising that they cant see the dash because they haven't turned the lights on (came across 3 of these in as many days this week) is beyond me!

Anything that changes all this is to be welcomed imo

JHMEG

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Take a spin down the N3 some evening and guaranteed you'll meet all of the following:

The N3 goes to Cavan. There's your explanation.

mumblin deaf ro

I think it's been said here a million times that a little bit of enforcement on the roads would make some sense. I get stopped twice a year I'd say. Which reminds me aren't we due a thread about about how nobody has been stopped over the xmas period because of a ban on overtime in the Gardai?

Top Dog

mumblin deaf ro wrote: »

Which reminds me aren't we due a thread about about how nobody has been stopped over the xmas period because of a ban on overtime in the Gardai?

That'll probably pop up tomorrow or Tuesday

langdang

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Now although some cars aren't as easy to work on as others - my other half's Honda for example requires you to get in at the wheel arches to change the bulbs, and my own Passat is a MAJOR pain as there's very limited room to work and they clip in (awkwardly) rather than screw in to the light unit - there is NO excuse for driving around any more than a day (2 if a weekend) without getting it looked at.

Manufacturers have to take some blame here aswell.
There's no way changing dipped bulbs should involve anything more than unclipping a cover.
I'd maybe even stretch to pulling off a bit of an air intake temporarily (although to some people that's equivalent to "taking off a part of the engine")
The same for brake/rear lights, either move to LEDs or provide easy access for bulb replacement.


Ironically enough, the gardai are forced into a similar situation these days - servicing has been centralised to get cheaper deals (not counting the time a garda will spend offline dropping cars in and out to dealers). They're not supposed to go around the corner to the local garage.
So unless they're to buy bulbs etc themselves ( aswell as propping up crap comms network with personal phones etc) they have to go dealer X even for bulbs, outfit Y for a tyre etc. That's the story as I've been told it anyway? Surely a few sets of spares would be standard issue for each station tho???
Doesn't make any sense to me for stations outside of major towns, but wouldn't be the first time a bean counter didn't consider how things work in the real world...

Alun

It's the same on my C-Max. You have to first of all remove a Torx-30 screw, then reach deep behind the light cluster to release a couple of plastic retaining clips, then completely remove the whole light cluster assembly to access and remove the rear cover to get at the bulbs. Sound easy, but the clips have a nasty habit of pinging back the moment you try and pull the cluster out, and there seems to be only one angle the thing will come out at, cue repeated attempts with lots of swearing, deep breaths, scraped knuckles and counting to 10 before it eventually comes out. It's difficult enough doing it on my driveway on a summers day, but on the side of a dark country road on a wet, windy day ... forget it.

Wertz

testicle wrote: »

Lots of people don't knwo they're gone! Rear ones especially...

Is ignorance really an excuse? I check mine at least once a week and practically more often than that when I'm parking near reflective glass.
Whilst my headlights are a bitch to get at and change, if my bulb pops, I make a point of not driving the car in poor light until I replace it. Bulbs cost little compared to the consequences poor lighting may cause.

When I lived in the States years ago it was common practice for the highway patrol to pull you up for blown bulbs (I don't know if they issued fines)...as a consequence you rarely if ever saw people with partially lit cars and trucks.
I never even see checkpoints here let alone people being pulled up for anything other than what appears to be speeding on mways...

[edit] I was working in ashbourne the other week and the amount of cars with lights out on backroads of meath was comparable to peasants figures...we also seem to have the new phenomenon of idiots with their fogs and sidelights on only, no dips/heads....wtf is that about?

Sarcasmo2005

Over the last few weeks I've seen more and more cars with badly-misaligned headlights or one light out. Most of my driving has been around the north-east, primarily around north dublin. In my experience the really bad cases were around the secondary roads around lusk or balbriggan areas.

In one case, on the road from lusk going towards balrothery, I had a car approaching me with one headlight (extra-bright bulbs, no less!). I blipped my headlights, (as he/she was making it hard to follow the line of the ditch to my left). The oncoming car, 'dipped' his last remaining headlight, where he/she went from one mis-alignted full-beam to side lights :eek:

bluezulu49

I drove from Arklow to Dun Laoghaire last evening with my son. He counted 69 cars with defective headlights. For much of the journey we could not see approaching cars due to the size of the centre reservation so it is likely that he missed some. Time for some enforcement?