Headlight switch position!

[Floyd]

If we spent most of our time in darkness we would just use our headlights! Lol. Most of us have the same amount of daylight as everyone else.
DRL’s are there to make vehicles even more visible, making vehicles safer and reducing accidents.

Ostensibly.

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[Floyd]

I've been driving with drls for a long time, haven't had trouble remembering the real lights. Even easier in the ranger. I'd rather be rear ended again than have a head on (at a much higher combined speed).

I'm sure you don't have that trouble, but many others do, I'm certain you have seen that fact many times in the rain or early evening.

 

[AzScorpion]

I'm sure you don't have that trouble, but many others do, I'm certain you have seen that fact many times in the rain or early evening.

Mornings too. Now that it's getting darker in the mornings I can't believe the amount of people here who drive with no lights on. Makes it really hard pulling onto a surface street when a dark vehicle is coming towards you with no light on.

 

[VAMike]

I'm sure you don't have that trouble, but many others do, I'm certain you have seen that fact many times in the rain or early evening.

I see more people driving around with no lights at all, which can hardly be blamed on drls. At least if they had drls it would be easier to see them coming.

 

[FULLSCALE]

I see more people driving around with no lights at all, which can hardly be blamed on drls. At least if they had drls it would be easier to see them coming.

Exactly why it’s safer to have them. Most here will use their lights during bad weather but not all, sometimes you’ll meet someone in the middle of a whiteout with nothing at all. I always leave my headlights on auto, but if my wipers are required I turn the headlights on too.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

I just leave it on automatic, since it then remembers to run the driving lights on its own.
The only downside is, that setting activates the DRLs.

Okay Folks,

Here is another aspect of the Auto on headlights. My daughter has a Ford Escape and she was pulled over for not driving with her headlights on and fined for the offense. She was confounded by the ticket. So we discussed and it turned out that she had taken it a car wash, and they turned off the autolamp as it is the key the car wash used to apply how wax. No lights on, no hot wax...lights on, hot wax. This was a wake up for me. Our car wash, here has a better system for this "hot wax" crap... They leave the light controls alone... Thank goodness! Take away is beware of car washes.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[Floyd]

I see more people driving around with no lights at all, which can hardly be blamed on drls. At least if they had drls it would be easier to see them coming.

That is true, what can be blamed on DRLs though, is that they provide a splash pattern, and along with a lit dash they tend not to inform the driver early enough of the need for lights.

So could you explain why when headlights are needed for visibility that tail lights are not?

My TC does not have DRLs but I can choose to turn the lights on and even leave them in the "on" position as the lights go off when the key is off. They then come on automatically when the vehicle is started.

Which do you think provides more safety? Lights front and rear or only front?

Have you noticed that many new car makers believe that DRLs obscure turn signals?
The DRL turns off when the turn signal is activated to allow oncoming traffic to see the signal.

To be clear, I am not opposed to DRLs, but I must say that the Chevy guys should be opposed to making them mandatory... I almost never see a Chevy truck without at least one DRL burned out!



Just as a facetious tangent.... Is the need for DRLs really due to the fact that almost all new vehicles are black white or gray..., more or less the color of pavement?
Also why not wigwags?

 

[Floyd]

Exactly why it’s safer to have them. Most here will use their lights during bad weather but not all, sometimes you’ll meet someone in the middle of a whiteout with nothing at all. I always leave my headlights on auto, but if my wipers are required I turn the headlights on too.

That's the law in most states.... and a standard feature on the new Ranger.

Still... why not at least a matching taillight? ( not advocating, just asking)

I don't know of anybody using high visibility lights on a bicycle for safety who only use a front light.
Some do use only the rear though.

 

[Roly]

About the "Headlights left on," dinging.......I think it does not happen for parking lights, or I'd have noticed and not had a problem. I'll test that.

Roly

 

[Deleted member 1634]

About the "Headlights left on," dinging.......I think it does not happen for parking lights, or I'd have noticed and not had a problem. I'll test that.

Roly

I'm pretty sure it does ding for the parking lights as well. I usually drive with the parking lights on when it's less than sunny and I'm pretty sure it'll ding at me when I get out. Either that, or I somehow am good at remembering to turn them off irregardless of ding, which somehow I doubt I am.

 

[AzScorpion]

I'm pretty sure it does ding for the parking lights as well. I usually drive with the parking lights on when it's less than sunny and I'm pretty sure it'll ding at me when I get out. Either that, or I somehow am good at remembering to turn them off irregardless of ding, which somehow I doubt I am.

It does ding for just the parking lights. Like you I use my parking lights all the time when it's early and I leave for work. By the time I get there it's now sunny and the ding is what reminded me they were on.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

The reason I don't like DRLs is similar to a few things already mentioned.

1) They give a false sense of lighting for the driver. There have been countless times I've been driving in the twilight of evening or morning, in bad weather, or even in the pitch of night in some cases and there are drivers all over the place with just their DRLs on. Sure it helps a bit when coming at them or them coming at me, but not at all when coming from the side or the rear. But the driver either thinks its fine because they have their DRLs on and "people can see me just fine, that's what their made for" or they can see fine since they have headlights (DRLs) on and don't even realize their real lights aren't on.

2) I've always been confused by the fact that there are only front DRLs and not rears as well. If I'm no a divided highway in bad weather or twilight, I don't care what's going on on the other side of the median. They could be running completely dark, it has no bearing on me. But someone driving slow on my side without any rear lighting is dangerous to me. DRLs don't solve that.

So what I do is if it's less than sunny out but not dark, I'll run with my parking lights on. That way people can see me from the front, the rear, and the sides. Once it gets dark enough, or bad weather, I'll either put the headlights (or one of the sets of lights I have whether it's the low beams, fog lights, or my off-road lights) on manually or put it into auto mode. If the DRLs were basically the parking lights, then I'd definitely have them engaged all the time. But they're not, so I don't use them, and instead go one step further and light the whole truck when it would be dark enough for DRLs to be of any use.

 

[VAMike]

So could you explain why when headlights are needed for visibility that tail lights are not?

If you're actually curious, then sure. First, because they're intended to mitigate the most serious, hear on collisions. In a rear end collision the impact speed is typically going to be under 30mph. (Talking about surface streets here: if completely you're stopped your brake lights will be on so no added lights are needed; if you're going really slow on a highway you should put in your hazards.) DRLs help when someone's coming at you and the combined speed will be well over 50, maybe 100mph. Next, they help especially in glare situations. Having taillights on might help a bit in that case, but they are much dimmer so probably not as much. Brightening taillights is an issue because you don't want to blind people following you, and because at some point it'll be hard to distinguish the brakes if you made multi brightness tail lights. There are places that require an extra high visibility tail light in certain conditions but these seen to confuse Americans. So anyway, those are the factors that led to DRLs being implemented in the front, and why they traditionally use the high (wide angle) beams on low power rather than the regular headlights.

Which do you think provides more safety? Lights front and rear or only front?

It depends on what specific thing you're mitigating. In some cases the broader beam pattern from DRLs would be more visible than a headlight designed not to glare at night.

 

[VAMike]

So what I do is if it's less than sunny out but not dark, I'll run with my parking lights on

I hate when people do that--I've seen it, but they aren't very visible. I wish they'd either turn on their lights or use DRLs. I'd mostly assumed they did it by mistake, although I have driven some cars where it may be self defense against really bad design where turning the lights on dims the interior to the point that you can't see the dash (while parking lights don't dim the interior). I'd rather see better designs that encourage people to use lights that can be seen outside the car.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

I hate when people do that--I've seen it, but they aren't very visible. I wish they'd either turn on their lights or use DRLs. I'd mostly assumed they did it by mistake, although I have driven some cars where it may be self defense against really bad design where turning the lights on dims the interior to the point that you can't see the dash (while parking lights don't dim the interior). I'd rather see better designs that encourage people to use lights that can be seen outside the car.

It works on mine since I've changed to LED parking/turn signals and LED 4-light Raptor-style lights, so it's actually quite bright and noticeable when looking from the front. And that way it does illuminate the rear and sides too. If it's really cloudy then I will turn on some sort of headlight, usually my off-road lights (which are as bright as low beams) or fog lights. But if it's nice and sunny, or even partly to mostly cloudy, I don't have a problem seeing other people on the road, whether they have DRLs on or not. And like I said, if the design and styling was better, like a separate set of lights for DRLs that also included tail and side markers on as well, then I would run them all the time. But I don't, so I compensate in other ways to make myself, in my eyes, more visible to those around me.

Once again, I appear to be in the minority when it comes to "safety" norms. And that's fine. you do you, and I'll do me.

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