Broken or bad dipped lights and brake lights

wreckless

Question for the Gardai here,

how come so many cars are on the road these days allowed to drive around with front dipped beams not working on one side, sometimes both, fog lights on when theres no fog, brake lights not working or rear driving lights not working at all.

When there are checkpoints for drinking, tax etc. especially at night time, which is now after 5pm!!! Do you or are you allowed to check the cars for working lights? do you? have any of you ever issued on the spot fines or would a warning be the first thing, to bring it to the motorists attention. Even a checkpoint specifically for it would make sense, because about 1 in 5 cars on the road has a defective light. Is there a set fine for bad lights?

Im just asking, as now the evenings are shot, its well wet and dark, almost lights needed all days some days, definitely by 4pm. And now the RSA are even advertising the fact about driving with dipped beams all day, which I feel should be law anyway. Why didn't the RSA go that one sentence further and tell people to check the condition of their lights too.

when did you last check your lights?

No on the spot fine unfortunately otherwise I'd be flying through the FCPS books. It's a summons.

wreckless

a summons? So, a motorist would have to go court over it? which is obviously dearer in the long run for a number of reasons, but why waste courts time with these kind of driving violations? not saying that they should be seen as lesser offences, its just surely an on the spot fine is quicker, gets the point across and people would soon get the message about it.

do they get checked at checkpoints as a matter of interest? or can only one thing eg. tax be checked at any one time

JustAddWater

I've noticed this for ages, really really common to see it, i'd say it's as high as 1 in 3 to 1 in 4 cars have either a missing light or a barely visible light

Quite lazy on the drivers part where they wouldn't spend the measly €10 on a headlight. If your light does not work, you should not be driving it!

Absolute disgraceful! And if a driver puts on his full beams to compensate for the fact his dipped light doesn't work, on more time i'll stop the car, take my headlight out of my car, walk down to his car, knock on his window and, when he rolls the window down, WHACK him across the head with my lightbulb and say "how do you like them apples?"

Drives me MAD :mad: when arrogant ignorant idiots put on their full beams cos the dipped lights dont work. If you know your light doesn't work get it fixed you tigh b*stard!

It should be a 1 penanlty point on the spot offence for driving a car with dodgy lights

wreckless

its 4.48, drizzly wet evening, almost dark here in town and fook me, drivers have barley switched on their parking lights to drive with, let alone dipped beams!!! :rolleyes:

I would love this to be an FCPS offence. Really. It pisses me off too. And muppets with their full beams on in traffic. I've been blinded walking the beat by them, never mind the poor driver in front of them.

Delancey

Yeah and what about the eejits driving with rear fog lamps on ? Almost impossible to see their brake lights :mad:

CarMuppet

Make it law to carry a spare kit of bulbs in car?

wreckless

not that I recommend it but driving behind someone with rear fogs on, a few taps of the headlights and maybe switching on and off the front fog lights works, they get the message. But its dangerous enough to be distracting the car in front of you.

maybe on of these would help



TURN OFF YOU FOOKEN FOG LIGHTS!!!

:D
does it come down to education again? drivers not knowing the symbols on the dashboard and what each axillary control is for? Is there anything in the new exams about vehicle checks when it comes to lights and correct use of them?

Odysseus

Something that p!sses me off too. I think cars should have dipped on all the time. I'm on a bike and a visor will never be as clear as a windscreen. In this gray weather it can be difficult to see an oncoming car when it's p!ssing down and the light conditions are poor.

When it's coming up to last light it is amazing to see how many cars do not have their lights on.

wreckless

have you heard the latest RSA radio advert? not sure if its on TV, but yeah, it mentions this exactly. Checking your vehicle, common sense?

As a DM in the fire brigade, we do vehicle checks every week. I will post a copy of the check we carry out.



here is a similar public campaign too

http://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Road-Safety/Campaigns/Current-road-safety-campaigns/Daytime-running-lights/

sh1tstirrer

CarMuppet wrote: »

Make it law to carry a spare kit of bulbs in car?

Also have a mechanic in the car with you to change them :rolleyes: A lot of drivers have trouble dipping their headlights in lit up areas never mind being able to change a light bulb

Actual Paramedic

One of the biggest issues now a days with modern cars is the headlight levelling switch. People have them all set to high and with a full car the beams shine alot higher than they should.

Fog lights, front and back people think they are fairy lights and use them for Christmas

Corcioch

wreckless wrote: »

Question for the Gardai here,

how come so many cars are on the road these days allowed to drive around with front dipped beams not working on one side, sometimes both, fog lights on when theres no fog, brake lights not working or rear driving lights not working at all.

When there are checkpoints for drinking, tax etc. especially at night time, which is now after 5pm!!! Do you or are you allowed to check the cars for working lights? do you? have any of you ever issued on the spot fines or would a warning be the first thing, to bring it to the motorists attention. Even a checkpoint specifically for it would make sense, because about 1 in 5 cars on the road has a defective light. Is there a set fine for bad lights?

Im just asking, as now the evenings are shot, its well wet and dark, almost lights needed all days some days, definitely by 4pm. And now the RSA are even advertising the fact about driving with dipped beams all day, which I feel should be law anyway. Why didn't the RSA go that one sentence further and tell people to check the condition of their lights too.

when did you last check your lights?

No Fixed Charge Penalty for it . . . . . . .fixed charge penalty system is extremely limited . . . .due to poor, outdated IT technology and IT hardware.

So it has to be a summons to court . . . . .a huge waste of time for a broken bulb.

A word in the drivers ear is the best option.

Fey!

Would it be possible to give the driver a producer, much the same as showing a license oor insurance at their local station, to make them bring the vehicle to their local station to show that the dead bulbs have been replaced?

As for driving with foglights (front and back) dazzling other drivers, I thought that that was now a points offence. If not, would it not fall under "not displaying due care and consideration for other road users", seeing as they can be blinding to oncoming traffic?

I know that people reckon that their front "foglights" are really "driving lights"; the distinction is that driving lights only come on with high beams, wheras foglights stay on with dipped beams. Also, foglights will have a switch and light on the dash marked by a headlight with 3 downward inclined lines, where driving lights, if attached to high beams only, do not necessarily have to have an independent switch.

Del2005

wreckless wrote: »

have you heard the latest RSA radio advert? not sure if its on TV, but yeah, it mentions this exactly. Checking your vehicle, common sense?

About time too, heard it this morning. Was getting p!ssed off with all the ads for something that's not law and not telling people to obey the laws we already have.

As a DM in the fire brigade, we do vehicle checks every week. I will post a copy of the check we carry out.

Lights are part of the daily checks for all vehicles. HGV's should have a daily check list signed off by each driver, so the RSA told me on my CPC. Are the emergency services exempt from driver CPC?

The amount of Dublin Buses with dodgy lighting is atrocious for a large semi state.

Tango Alpha 51

Yes, the ES are exempt from the driver cpc & we have a vehicle preshift check list which incorporates lighting checks at the start of every shift

hobochris

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Also have a mechanic in the car with you to change them :rolleyes: A lot of drivers have trouble dipping their headlights in lit up areas never mind being able to change a light bulb

Its not that hard, and instructions can be found in the owners manual of all cars these days.

If they can read the rules of the road(which all drivers are required to know),They can read the very simple instructions in the owners manual.

wreckless

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20101125.p.Replacement_Headlight_Bulb_or_Fuse_Set



7 quid, bargin

sdanseo

Just noticed a lamp gone on the nearside on my car, was gonna fix it tonight but it was lashing and I didn't have cash on me to buy a bulb. Of course if it was mandatory to have a kit in the car, this wouldn't be an issue. :P

What I do think is fantastic, and what I've only noticed recently on my new car, is the massive warning that comes up if I'm missing a bulb. Normal stuff nowadays but not a standard thing on all cars it seems, should be mandatory. I could have been driving round for the next month otherwise without noticing.