[Greg Reid]

Just curious if it's just a local thing or not. Every week, I see at least one car driving at night with no lights on except the daytime driving lights. No tails and no markers.
I think the daytime lights are actually dangerous for this reason. I don't think that these people even realize they are doing it because their dash lights are on. I think they should disable the dash lights when the headlights are not on.
Has anyone else noticed it? I mean at least once I week I see this, sometimes more.

[dataway]

See if there is a trend in manufacturer ... I haven't touched my headlight switch in 16 years, both my previous GMC and my current GMC the lights are all automatic. Running lights always during the day, lights come on automatically at night, go off automatically a few seconds after leaving the vehicle.

I'd say trend could be more stoned people driving. Drunk drivers do the same thing ... but their numbers have been pretty consistent.

[RocktimusPryme]

I know my switch in my Ram is in an area I can touch it with my knee accidentally and knock it off auto. I’ve done it several times. Honestly I have pretty decent eyes so I have to get in an area with no lights before I even notice. I’ve driven around town for long periods with no headlights before I noticed or someone flashed their lights at me.

Maybe you are seeing others who accidentally don’t have their switch in auto

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by RocktimusPryme

Maybe you are seeing others who accidentally don’t have their switch in auto

That's exactly what I think it is. If I meet them, I can flash my lights at them and no one seems to pay attention to that any more.

[Sirrotica]

They heard that there's an energy shortage, and they don't turn their lights on to save money on their electric bill...……………

There used to be a slogan for drivers that was "Be safe, be seen". There are too many dumbasses that just don't seem to get it through their heads that it's a defensive driving tactic to be easily seen by other drivers. It's state law in Ohio if your wipers are on your headlights must also be on, NO ONE including the cops pays any attention to that law.

I'd guess the same offenders that don't bother to use turn signals are the ones that don't turn their lights on during twilight or during inclement weather, too much effort involved...………………..

[67GTONUT]

I agree...... its all because of today's dash gauges that are illuminated all the time.....

[Flynbye]

Every time I get my oil changed on my company car, they turn the switch to off. Don’t know why, but they do.

[RocktimusPryme]

In an offshoot relation story, I had a Prius as a rental car once for a week. The illuminated gauges on it weren't in front of you like normal but instead are centered in the dash. No kidding at least 3 times I was driving down the interstate at night, glanced in front of me where I expected the gauges to be and saw only black. I had a mini panic attack every time.

Oddly enough I had a big speeding problem in that car, it doesn't make any noise so I kept finding myself doing like 95 without realizing it.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by dataway

See if there is a trend in manufacturer ... I haven't touched my headlight switch in 16 years, both my previous GMC and my current GMC the lights are all automatic. Running lights always during the day, lights come on automatically at night, go off automatically a few seconds after leaving the vehicle.

This

On a similar topic - another thing I've noticed in snowstorms - drivers of vehicles that don't have automatic daytime running lights fail to turn their lights on.

So as I'm driving down the road in near whiteout conditions - all of a sudden some idiot suddenly appears driving down the center of the road right at me. I live in cornfield country where there are a lot of pickup trucks - invariably the majority of the offenders have a blue oval in the center of the grille.

[lugnutx2]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Just curious if it's just a local thing or not. Every week, I see at least one car driving at night with no lights on except the daytime driving lights. No tails and no markers.
I think the daytime lights are actually dangerous for this reason. I don't think that these people even realize they are doing it because their dash lights are on. I think they should disable the dash lights when the headlights are not on.
Has anyone else noticed it? I mean at least once I week I see this, sometimes more.

I see it every night on I-70, they may not be aware that their lights are not on, but you can bet that cell phone is!

[TAKerry]

I have seen quite a few driving that way too. I had a 97 z 28 and would run the small driving lights all of the time. Coming home one night I thought the headlights seemed a bit dim. Then I realized I forgot to turn them on

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by dataway

See if there is a trend in manufacturer ...

Yep - almost exclusively Chrysler products around here.

Although that data might be skewed since I drive past the Chrysler headquarters every day twice a day.

K

[tigergto]

I’ve said for some time I would like to see new vehicles made so that as soon as the car is started the lights go on (front and rear) and stay on as long as the car is running. Same as a motorcycle. I’ve been in situations during poor visibility and out of nowhere a car appears because the driver doesn’t have enough brains to turn the lights on.

[dataway]

With the advent of LED lighting there is no real reason not to have the lights on all the time. The power draw is tiny compared to incandescent, and the life of the bulbs would more than likely be longer than the life of the vehicles.

[Lemans64]

Yes I see it quite a bit up here, bad enough that law makers have noticed and are changing the laws so this can't happen to newer vehicles.
Dash it lit up so everyone thinks the headlights are on. On cars that are brought into a shop and auto is being turned off, It's quite common
and I even do it, if trying to scan the car, the headlamps come on because it's dark enough in the shop to trigger the sensors so techs turn them off.
especially if doing a reprogram, if the voltage drops to much you can wipe out the ecm.

[400 4spd.]

I think another contributor is much better street lighting than we used to have. People who don't pay attention to dash lights are on well lit streets and can see ahead fine (to them).
I have two GM trucks that have the automatic lighting and I hate it. My Ford trucks of the same age are manually operated.

[Fullsize455]

I don't need the government telling me that I have to have my headlights on all the time. I'll turn my headlights on at night myself, thank you. I don't need to waste the lifespan of the bulbs and turn my headlight lenses yellow even faster just because someone else thinks headlights in bright sunlight help any damn thing. Hint: they don't.

I have never in all my years of driving seen a car on the road during the day without its headlights on and thought it would have been easier to see them if their lights were on. If you can't see a large object like a car from plenty of damn distance away so as to prevent any kind of accident, the problem is your eyesight and you should have it checked. I think it's smart to use headlights if it's raining hard or severely overcast/stormy dark, but in bright sunlight? What a joke. I've driven many a road that said to turn your headlights on for the next some such miles, and it's just a joke, as most of these kinds of roads offer the most visibility you're ever going to see on the road! Long straight sections of road where you can see a car coming from literally a mile away! What a joke. If you need someone to have their lights on in order to see them from a reasonable distance away, your eyesight is causing you problems that light on won't solve.

I'm quite sure I'll get blasted for this, and that's fine. I have great eyesight, and though that allows me to see the road ahead of me even when it's somewhat dark, it also allows me to tell if my headlights aren't on. The fact that lots of people drive with their headlights off at night is due to inattentive drivers, nothing more. Whether your eyesight is poor or great, there's no excuse for not noticing that your headlights are off, regardless of whether or not you can see the road. Even if your knee knocks the switch(very unlikely in the majority of cars), you should still absolutely be able to tell by looking at the road in front of you that your lights are off. So let's be real and call it what it is: Inattentive driving, nothing more.

My daily driver has automatic headlights that can't be defeated, but thankfully they don't come on too early like some cars I've driven. It still drives me nuts though, because once they come on, they don't turn back off again without shutting it off and restarting. And yes, there are plenty of legitimate circumstances where I would want to be in my car at night with the headlights off. I do NOT like not having that choice.

[Fullsize455]

Originally Posted by dataway

With the advent of LED lighting there is no real reason not to have the lights on all the time. The power draw is tiny compared to incandescent, and the life of the bulbs would more than likely be longer than the life of the vehicles.

There are plenty of reasons why I would want my headlights off in a dark setting that have nothing to do with bulb life or power usage. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to make that choice in my own car.

[Chris65LeMans]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

That's exactly what I think it is. If I meet them, I can flash my lights at them and no one seems to pay attention to that any more.

This. I notice that it's mostly black or dark colored cars, too.

Maybe drivers today just like surprising people. I go through an intersection every morning where most drivers don't bother to signal their left turn before they pull in front of traffic going straight. Then they get upset when I almost drill them with my truck. Am I supposed to be a mind reader?

As for daytime running lights; there's a reason that motorcycles run them. In my cars, I've driven with my headlights on at all hours for close to the last 30 years.

[unruhjonny]

(I skimmed the replies... hope fully I didn't miss anything important.)

I am chiming in because daytime running lights have been mandatory for vehicles in Canada starting with hte 1991 model year - for a spell I could actually pick out hte cops at a distance because they were (more often than not) the only ones with lights on during the day!

Anywho, I imported my Grand AM (a 1991 model year car) back in 2007, then again in early 2010 I was looking at importing another car;
It appears as though (at least up to 2010) cars with functional daytime running lights were wholly dependent on the state or region where they were originally sold;
So if I was importing a late model car, I need ed to see if it was from a region where local laws required DRL on new cars - then look into what modifications would have been required to make it work after importing the car into Canada;

The shop that did my out of country on the Grand Am, let me slide without worrying about DRL - because it was sixteen years old, and no one would notice or care...
I eneded up buying (my Cobalt) new, and after driving my car for a day I to realize that I too HATEd the GM system of autolights - but apparently unlike state-side cars, which have a (functional) disable-DRL feature on the the light switch, Canadian cars are programmed so the the disable, is disabled... arrrg...
It only functions when the car is stopped with the parking brake on - which left me in many situations where the light monitor was percieving a low light condition, turning my exterior lights on, and dimming my dash lights (especially some key gauges which were left virtually unreadable unless i took my eyes off the road for too long to focus on the gauge);
I had to wire in a switched resistor to COMPLETELY disable the light sensor, and have the car thinking that it was bright out ALL the time... unless I flicked my switch...

Best modification ever... well that and adding somewhere north of 50hp over stock

But back to the original topic;

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Just curious if it's just a local thing or not. Every week, I see at least one car driving at night with no lights on except the daytime driving lights. No tails and no markers.
...

I have noticed that up here, for some reason the Toyota version of DRL doesn't incorporate a light sensor, and this leaves owners (with lit up dashboards) thinking that their lights are on - when in fact they are not...
I think that if cars these days didn't have lit up dash's (like how they were in the past) owners would be more incline to turn on lights when driving because they would be completely unable to read their dashboard...