TOT: Modern car lights: reasoning?

[Richard]

By whom?

[David]

(snip)

I simply do not believe that they do reduce accidents significantly, from my own experiences. I must admit I do not know the 'official' statistics, nor the 'official' testing method, but, I do not think that the test were completed "real world" as there would be too many uncontrolled variables.

You know what I meant.

So the rules do not apply to you, then ?

Often seen on the TV programmes from the USA.

David

[Huge]

I think there has been a change in behaviour among drivers such that they don't believe you have dipped your headlamps unless they've seen you do it. I routinely dip my lamps *before* the oncoming driver appears from round the corner, but they wait until they see me, then flash me because they think I haven't dipped them. Then I drill holes in their retinas. And my headlamps are self-levelling. And it works.

[Adrian]

I've already linked (up this thread somewhere) to the original report from the consultation period, written by TRL.

[Nightjar]

By the local garage, using what was then state of the art headlamp adjusting equipment. That was at a time when I used to do motor rallying and it was well to ensure that everything on the car was completely correct; some Police forces had a habit of carrying out spot roadside checks on cars arriving at the start, or leaving after the end, of a rally.

[Nightjar]

I recall there was one chap who thought he could top my main beam by putting on a couple of auxiliary lights; not a good strategy against a car carrying four Cibie Oscar rally lights.

[Nightjar]

What rules require me to use a parking brake when not parked?

[Capitol]

This makes my point that the beam spread of many modern headlights is crap. ie, The peak intensity is much greater than in the past even though the cumulative lumen output is likely similar. Meticulously adjusting a crap beam spread achieves nothing. Discharge lamps I've never seen the beam spread patterns for, but given the desire to self level I guess that it's poor.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Which only means your headlamps weren't adjusted right. But of course, as always, you're dead right and never wrong.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

[David]

rule 114:

"In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again."

David

[tony sayer]

What an abortion that is for a handbrake!..

[Andy Burns]

I agree with you, you'd think that using a little button would be marginally easier than pulling a big lever, but it somehow felt quite tedious, so I tended to sit with my foot on the brake, hence my retrofitting the *other* little button ...

[Nightjar]

That is a recommendation, not a requirement. As I drive an automatic, putting it into Park serves the same purpose.

[Nightjar]

They were adjusted on the proper equipment by a qualified garage technician, so I still disagree with your assessment.

[David]

Thanks, I hadn't seen that, (on my device, the post is right at the bottom of this thread), but now I have read up to page iii or so, it seems fairly critical of the numbers claimed by the EC reports from which the implementation of EU wide DRLs were rolled out. The report (TRL) thought that the increase in CO2 emissions were a bit higher at 0.5% to 1.5%, than the report presented for the EC stated. (Personally, I am of the opinion that we should be doing our best to alter the ecology of Earth as little as possible.)

Also, there seems to be very little consistency in the positioning of DRLs on cars, some are high, some are low, this might not help in judging how distant the approaching vehicle is for those whom are vulnerable to being struck.

David

[David]

(snip)

But do you ensure that the brake lights are ext "I haven't had a hand brake in any car I've owned this century. I do have a parking brake, but that is foot operated. Not that I would normally use it when driving. If the stop is only temporary, I like the drivers coming up behind me to see very obvious brake lights. At a longer stop, such as a level crossing, I will put the car into Park once I have enough vehicles behind me to absorb an impact from somebody who can't see that the queue is stopped. "

So the RVLR 27 suggests you do not dazzle drivers behind you with your brake lights, but you do not care...

David

[Richard]

You're learning... obviously too last century.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Wrong. I know for a stone-cold fact, the recommended height settings were too low for my preference and I always set the lights a couple of degrees higher, yet never got flashed by other drivers. So, if your garage set them such that you were getting flashed, they were too bloody high. Jeez, you'd think you'd be smart enough to realise that if you were getting flased by other drivers a lot, there was something wrong.

[Nightjar]

The brake lights are there to do a job, which is to try to protect me from being hit from the rear when stopped. So long as they are needed to do that job, they will stay on, whether you like that or not. If I am satisfied they have done their job, I will put the car in Park and the brake lights go out.