Lights Off
Posted: Wed 9 July, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Driving, Own Business, Travel, Work-related |4 Comments »Driving today was utterly horrible – particularly on the M11 – with heavy rain and spray for the entire duration, and visibility down to maybe thirty feet at some points.
What gobsmacks me in these conditions though – and I know I’ve mentioned it before – is that there are so many people who don’t put their lights on. Sure, they don’t need to be on full-beam, but even sidelights and rear lights add massively to your visibility.
Now, the car I drive is silver, and I know how silver cars just disappear into the spray, they become virtually invisible. So when the weather gets like it did today, I always put the lights on – it’s about being seen, not about seeing – but that logic has obviously avoided a lot of the drivers out there.
In fact, it seems to be primarily the drivers of white and silver cars that couldn’t be arsed to turn on their lights at all, let alone something that might mean they got seen at a decent range – you know, like foglights.
Personally, I suppose that I just don’t understand the mindset that means they allow their safety to be reliant on the observation and driving skills of other people on the road. But maybe that’s the control-freak side of my personality coming out again…
I found exactly the same on the A12 yesterday. And the offenders included big lorries and a National Express coach.
Try putting in an insurance claim if you don’t have your lights on in these sorts of conditions… Of course, in such situations most people lie anyway, because they know they should have had them on. As an aquaintance of mine learnt to her cost.
It would cost not very many pennies for manufacturers to fit rain sensors as standard to put lights on automatically in these conditions. But, fititng the latest entertainment gadgetry seems to come higher ont heir agendas than safety.
ive been finding more and mroe people having bad driving habbits these last few days, the main problems are drivig through red lights not just 1 but 3 or 4 sometimes, and through my experince of driving that when it rains it just makes drivers crazy and you seem to get more traffic on thr roads as well
… and then, of course, there’s the tonkas who put their fog lights on in heavy rain.
It’s not difficult to grasp, surely? Fog lights… er… try heavy FOG.
Dave – regarding yoor point, it’s true that there is perceptively more traffic on the roads when it is wet – this is invariably due to people driving inappropriately for the conditions, resulting in erratic braking (often caused by driving too close); or merely not knowing how to negotiate the wet conditions, and driving like a spanner. And this is in Britain, not a country known for its drought conditions.
Personally, I would disagree when it comes to fog lights – yes, they’re for dense fog, but I believe the Highway Code actually says they should be used in “poor visibility”, i.e. when you can see less than (I think) 60 feet. (Slightly less information from the official source here, specifically rules 226 and 236)
As such, I don’t have an issue with fog lights being used in piss-wet horrific conditions like the ones detailed. So long as the driver then turns the cunting things OFF when they’re no longer needed.