Torrential Downpour and No Lights On

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gathermewool

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Saturday I was driving from Newport, RI to south Boston, when it began to rain very heavily. It was around 5pm, gloomy, and lightly raining already, so my lights were on, including my fog lights. IMO, a vehicle's lights are just as important in helping others see you as they are to improve your field of vision, sometimes more so, such as during a downpour.

While most people had their lights on while it rained, there were many who didn't. Worse, the percentage didn't change when the light rain turned to a torrential downpour! I'm not talking about a slightly or moderately heavy rain; I'm talking about rain so heavy that a car more than a 4-5 car lengths away becomes hard to see, even with their lights on.

In one instance I went to pass some one in the travel lane who was going much slower than I felt was safe, and I didn't see the car next to me until that last look over my shoulder. Black car + ZERO lights (not even DRL) = DANGEROUS! When finally got over I gave a quick few flashes of my high beams, hoping to jog his common sense - nothing. I then turned my lights off and on twice - nothing. I wonder if he knew what I was trying to convey and didn't care or if he simply thought I was out of my mind, which leads me to my question:

Are people who drive like this:

A. Oblivious: "I've got super vision and can see just fine - why would I need to turn my lights on?"

B. Dumb: "Why for it's so dark all a'sudden?"

C. Spiteful: "My car looks cool in stealth mode, forget every one else!"

I did see a few half-hearted attempts by people who though turning on the parking lights would do the trick, and one vehicle with only the fog lights on - you know, the kind who purposefully wire the fogs to come on without having to turn the headlights on because it looks mad cool.

There are many things that other drivers do that bothers me, but this is just plain dangerous, IMO What do you all think? Feel free to ignore the question and provide your own rant.
 
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I have the same exact pet peeve. It is flat out dangerous in those scenarios. I will flash people as a friendly reminder, and at times turn my lights completely on and off so they hopefully understand what I'm doing. I'd say a good 70% are oblivious.

Same thing occurs with drivers on long trips when the sun goes down and becomes dark... I'll see people at 8:30-9PM with no lights on whatsoever.
 
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Saturday I was driving from Newport, RI to south Boston, when it began to rain very heavily. It was around 5pm, gloomy, and lightly raining already, so my lights were on, including my fog lights. IMO, a vehicle's lights are just as important in helping others see you as they are to improve your field of vision, sometimes more so, such as during a downpour.

I agree 100%
 
Don't forget....some of these drivers are drunk, high on drugs, on the phone or else distracted by a ball game, girl friend or others. It just pays to be safe and drive defensively....at all times and especially in bad weather.
 
In my state if you're using windshield wipers it's against the law not to turn the lights on. Seems like half the drivers around here either don't know this or don't care though.


Edit: Found a slightly old list of states that have wipers on lights on laws:

As of April 2010, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia have wipers on, lights on laws.
 
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Originally Posted By: oilboy123
I guess they want to conserve energy, or want all the lights to last forever........ Lot of good that does if you are killed, or their vehicle is totaled.


My parents are the same way. They think if there's a slightest chance that they can be seen, they will not turn on their lights.
 
In my part of the world you will often see people driving in near darkness without lights. They must think it saves them gas. Cops are almost never on patrol either, so no one learns.

However, ref OP, I'm not a big fan of people using fog lights when it's not foggy. The widely directed light causes unnecessary glare to oncoming drivers. Low beams do the job.
 
Lately, I've come to believe most people don't know how to properly operate the stuff on their cars. I've encountered so many people who have their highs on while traveling on a main road or people who are completely oblivious to the fact that their lights aren't on.

I never did it when I first started driving, but after driving through a few downpours a few years ago where people turned on their hazards when you couldn't see more than a few car lengths in front of you, I picked up on that and started doing it.
 
We have fogs, sometimes fairly heavy, along the coast here and people don't turn on their headlight either. Sometimes the fogs were so heavy I barely saw cars with headlight on only when it was approaching less than 80-100 ft away, without headlight on I could not see it until it was less than 50 ft, and more than 50% don't have their headlight on.
 
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I grew up in very foggy parts. When I read about mass pileups during fog season, i figure that a good chunk of those people are the same Einstein's that dont put on their lights when visibility drops.

People always learn the hard way.
 
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Lately, I've come to believe most people don't know how to properly operate the stuff on their cars. I've encountered so many people who have their highs on while traveling on a main road or people who are completely oblivious to the fact that their lights aren't on.

I have to agree. I flashed my brights at some older woman last night while I was sitting in the left turn lane because her brights were on. I took the opportunity to watch what she did as she went by and I saw her leaned up against the steering wheel looking down at the cluster presumably trying to figure out how to operate it.
This is why I dont like DRLs without automatic headlights. I find many people think they are in fact automatic headlights and drive around with only their DRLs.
 
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I am waiting for the day when ALL motorized vehicles that move on public roads will not have any way for a human to be in actual control of the vehicle.

Along with head light and the other things already listed add bald tires, tires not fit for the weather, tires not fit for the speed, tires too old, vehicle not mechanical maintained, and the endless list of reasons people make mistakes.

One of the latest years that data is available on Wikipedia is 2009 when 33808 people died for some reason related to vehicles, and that does not show how many were injured with problems they will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Those of us old enough to remember the protest to end the Vietnam war remember the protest and the concern for the loss of human lives. The Vietnam War was from 1955 to 1975 costing 58209 American lives.

Not to take anything away from the brave men and women who served and sacrificed for the United States during the Vietnam War, but if the American public were truly aware of the number of American lives now being lost due to vehicle accidents there should be protest and demonstrations on a scale several times the amount that occurred during the Vietnam war.

Hopefully when automation of vehicles reaches the point that vehicles can operate without a human in control the number of lives being lost each year will be a good driving force to force laws requiring automated control of ALL vehicle on all public roads. More than likely the freeing up of time so people can play video games, compute, communicate, and even sleep, along with no requirement for insurance, no requirement for air bags, no requirement for traffic lights, and the higher gas mileage that automated vehicles will achieve will be the driving force for getting all vehicles to have automated control.
 
Thing is if you've priced H3 bulbs (for fog lights) and checked their expected service life in hours regular old low beams win on the money front. Plus the bulbs have frosted tips so they aren't glary.

To sidetrack your rant, I think when you shut the car off the headlights should then default to low beams. There are those clueless types who park with highs on then the switch is in that position later when they use them in daytime.
 
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When finally got over I gave a quick few flashes of my high beams, hoping to jog his common sense - nothing. I then turned my lights off and on twice - nothing

Flashing your lights and making a nuisance of yourself just might get you into a dust up with some fruit cake at the next light in South Boston.
I had the rear window of my Caddy shot out down there.
 
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