wbjones wrote: with the computing power in a modern car it seems that it would be very simple to have the lights recycle to low beams every time they are turned off.... would solve most of the high beams during the day problem....
I know my Saturn Astra does this. Also resets the wipers, and limits the volume of the stereo.
I think DOT made the GM Ford and Dodge drop their headlight physical location on their trucks and vans, driving the hideous new front transformer grill things.
Last night I was driving on an fairly strait level interstate with just a few folks around. A car comes up behind me with fog lights and some sort of other lights besides what may or may not have been high beams blazing in brilliant harmony, it was hard to tell about the high beams or not because I was cowering under my mirrors and back seat shadow for fear of getting fried to death. The car passes at a leisurely pace and it is a Subaru Forester with a bunch of crap in the back tilting the light show a few degrees up to level or so. When he she gets 100 yards or so in front of me I give him her some high beam and a brake stabbing spazz attack occurs from the Subie pilot. I dim them after a few seconds. They did not get the hint, with lights blazing into the trees off they went. We are doomed.
Around here, inappropriate high beams are so prevalent that people seem to think that the blue lamp on the dash just indicates that their headlights are on.
I will say, though, on a divided highway, pitch dark, in a rural area where I've come across more than one deer carcass per mile marker, you're damned right I'm leaving my brights on. Sorry, oncoming traffic.
And yes, I ride my motorcycles with my brights on during the day. Used to be all you had to do was keep the headlight on, now with DRLs, they're all we have. Unless you have an auxiliary light pointed about rearview mirror-height...
TJ wrote: Am I the only one who thinks it is funny that someone from Jersey is upset that the people around the City have bad manners?
Jersey is the state that invented backing up in the right lane when you miss your exit.
aircooled wrote: Drive anywhere near the front of a modern BMW on a dark night and you will think UFO's have come to search your nether regions!!
I have an E46 with the factory xenons in it. I get flashed all the time when I have my low beams on. I flash my high beams for a moment to show they were off, and then they usually just turn their highs on and leave them.
And I know the leveling self-adjuster is working, because I can watch it relevel the lights every 3rd or 4th time I turn them on.
Fog lights are seemingly aimed poorly more often than not. Plus, they DO NOT help you to see better at normal street speeds. By the time you can see anything that they might light up, it's too late. They actually pull your focus away from where it should be (ahead of you, and not 5 feet ahead). In Europe (or at least, in England), it is illegal to drive with your fogs unless it's (you guessed it) foggy. Oh, and so many euro drivers around here also love to drive around with a rear fog light on. That's the one brake light on look.
I drive the Escort with the high beams and fogs on ALL THE TIME.
I still can't see a darn thing, and nobody flashes me. Early 90s Ford lighting is SCARY.
The Celica, with it's bone stock lighting, is quite another story. I'd be hard pressed to recall another car that i've driven that has quite that level of greatness in lighting, stock.
I concur my Town Car headlamps have been cleaned and 90/100s added and they still suck, never get flashed by oncoming cars.
My RX7 though, I picked up Hella H4s and also wired in some spotlights with 100w which are all wired to my high beams, if I flash someone they get a full 400w in their face and the point is made. I live in a rural area and headlights count when there are deer everywhere.
mistanfo wrote: Oh, and so many euro drivers around here also love to drive around with a rear fog light on. That's the one brake light on look.
That's because they drive around with the front foglights on all the time (annoying asses that they are) and don't realize that the rear fog warning comes on automatically with the fogs.
So many of the states no longer require headlight aiming in their vehicle inspections so we have a bigger percentage of people running around with mis aimed headlights.
I'd much rather have a vehicle with some of them new fangled bright lights on my bumper than someone with a truck. Them thar new fangled lights are less likely to blind me due to a much better beam pattern than the higher headlights of the sealed beams on the pick up.
Here I see a lot of vehicles that have added two more full size headlights in place of fog lights. I don't care if they're running them on low, that's still a lot of light coming my way.
In my van I can pull the lever back to the point where the high beams have engaged but the low beams have not yet gone out and I do use this for people running four full size lights.
Those new BMW lights are bright if you're right in front of them, but they look cool as hell from an angle with their "rim-lit" effect.
TJ wrote: Am I the only one who thinks it is funny that someone from Jersey is upset that the people around the City have bad manners?
I live in the nicer, less populated, southern part of the state.
That night highlighted (sorry) a lot of bad manners on the road. I liked the guy in the honda who thought that getting behind the big box truck so close he disappeared from my mirrors and repeatedly flashing his highs would make me pass faster.
Not only would the truck not pass faster (I was just into the red on the tach at 75mph) but I could not see him OR his highbeams. I only noticed them when it looked like my own lights looked brighter in front of the truck. It was one of those times I would have loved an override for the liftgate inside the cab...
I find it amusing when a newer HID car following me at a safe distance will light the road ahead of my puny lights.
aussiesmg wrote: I concur my Town Car headlamps have been cleaned and 90/100s added and they still suck, never get flashed by oncoming cars. My RX7 though, I picked up Hella H4s and also wired in some spotlights with 100w which are all wired to my high beams, if I flash someone they get a full 400w in their face and the point is made. I live in a rural area and headlights count when there are deer everywhere.
Third time I've posted this - that is childishly satisfying, but it has two problems.
I HATE bmw hids. They are too bright, and then everytime the car goes over a bump they flash in your eyes. The only time i have ever used high beams around other cars is driving on poorly lit roads coming up to a corner and a car or suv with the lights aimed too high comes the other way, i know its rude, but im not going to end up driving off the side of the road becasue i cant see where im going. My current car doesnt even have working high beams though, so I just pretty much dont drive at night anyplace without decent lighting.
Lesley wrote: I had a friend who used to turn on his Hella rally lights at people who wouldn't dim their highbeams.
I had a set of Hella "Black Magic" driving lights with 100W bulbs, aimed slightly to the left, hidden behind the grille of my truck for just that reason. I even wired in a relay so they'd fire up with "flash to pass" on the stalk.
I'm a real A-hole sometimes.
Wowak wrote: I'm a real A-hole sometimes.
Don't worry, it seems to be par for the course around here.
alex wrote: And yes, I ride my motorcycles with my brights on during the day. Used to be all you had to do was keep the headlight on, now with DRLs, they're all we have. Unless you have an auxiliary light pointed about rearview mirror-height...
On my bike, I take it 1 step further. My high beam has been replaced with an amber bulb that I run at all times. It is amazing how much more visible I am when It is on. When off, it is like my motorcycle is a giant magnet that attracts any car around. At night, the amber light is less obtrusive to the oncoming traffic. Plus I hate getting the comment that I have a headlight out.
Keith wrote:Wowak wrote: I'm a real A-hole sometimes.Don't worry, it seems to be par for the course around here.
Please take into consideration that, at the time, I lived at the end of a long, dark, windy, yet heavily traveled 2 lane road. I often came home after dark, and would ROUTINELY encounter drivers who were just too stupid or too lazy to switch off their high beams when crossing ways. I didn't use my "justice lights" on people who flashed their brights at me, only on those who would drive towards me with their high beams on. I considered turnabout fair play. Now a few years later, I kinda see your point.
alex wrote: And yes, I ride my motorcycles with my brights on during the day. Used to be all you had to do was keep the headlight on, now with DRLs, they're all we have. Unless you have an auxiliary light pointed about rearview mirror-height...
Those oscillating motorcycle headlights annoy me, and that means that I'm noticing them. I'd get that if I had a motorcycle.
Travis_K wrote: My current car doesnt even have working high beams though, so I just pretty much dont drive at night anyplace without decent lighting.
Old Alfa electrics FTL 
. Even if they worked, they'd probably still suck. At night I used to drive my Alfetta with the high beams on permanently, and didn't get flashed once.
Just another case of people paying no attention to what they are doing or what their vehicle is doing while driving. Driving has become a chore, something that is loathed and given no respect. Cars are appliances.
It's so sad 
Oh, and you're in Jersey. A place where the best drivers are TERRIBLE drivers in any other state.
Opus wrote:alex wrote: And yes, I ride my motorcycles with my brights on during the day. Used to be all you had to do was keep the headlight on, now with DRLs, they're all we have. Unless you have an auxiliary light pointed about rearview mirror-height...On my bike, I take it 1 step further. My high beam has been replaced with an amber bulb that I run at all times. It is amazing how much more visible I am when It is on. When off, it is like my motorcycle is a giant magnet that attracts any car around. At night, the amber light is less obtrusive to the oncoming traffic. Plus I hate getting the comment that I have a headlight out.
I had two bikes with highs on approaching me last night, freaked me out.
They were riding close together so I though it was one car. There was no white line left on the road so I had only the double yellow to place myself. As I'm trying to keep myself to the right of the yellow but out of the ditch (those things are bright!) the bikes angle to me shifted, one headlight was a few feet closer to me and I thought the car was turning into me as I had misjudged the road.
They were in no danger of me nailing them because they kept their super brights on but I did put two wheels in the dirt before I figured it out.
I have little problem with a bike running it's highs during the day... I quit riding because I became tired of dodging all the cars who "didn't see me"...
but I do have a problem with cars approaching me on the interstate flashing me (my brights are on) when there is 100+ ft separation between us
100 feet? Yeah I bet they are flashing you.
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