Driving in the dark...
Discussion
been bugging me for a while now, in recent years, more and more people seem unable to drive competently in the dark.
ie. in the winter months, I keep coming up behind people on single carriageway roads doing 30-35Mph when the road conditions are plenty good enough for NSL, this then means that you end up with a train of cars doing this, as none of them will ever overtake, but will sit close enough to make it impossible for somebody at the back being able to without pushing it.
If you do manage to make an over-talking manoeuvre, you then have a 50/50 chance that you will then get the disco lights from behind!
Is it just me?
ie. in the winter months, I keep coming up behind people on single carriageway roads doing 30-35Mph when the road conditions are plenty good enough for NSL, this then means that you end up with a train of cars doing this, as none of them will ever overtake, but will sit close enough to make it impossible for somebody at the back being able to without pushing it.
If you do manage to make an over-talking manoeuvre, you then have a 50/50 chance that you will then get the disco lights from behind!
Is it just me?
Edited by Scuffers on Sunday 23 January 12:36
Scuffers said:
been bugging me for a while now, in recent years, more and more people seem unable to drive compendantly in the dark.
ie. in the winter months, I keep coming up behind people on single carriageway roads doing 30-35Mph when the road conditions are plenty good enough for NSL, this then means that you end up with a train of cars doing this, as none of them will ever overtake, but will sit close enough to make it impossible for somebody at the back being able to without pushing it.
If you do manage to make an over-talking manoeuvre, you then have a 50/50 chance that you will then get the disco lights from behind!
Is it just me?
....possibly it's because fuel is so expensive now that some people are driving in the most economical way....i.e. slowly....just a thought.ie. in the winter months, I keep coming up behind people on single carriageway roads doing 30-35Mph when the road conditions are plenty good enough for NSL, this then means that you end up with a train of cars doing this, as none of them will ever overtake, but will sit close enough to make it impossible for somebody at the back being able to without pushing it.
If you do manage to make an over-talking manoeuvre, you then have a 50/50 chance that you will then get the disco lights from behind!
Is it just me?
Edited by madala on Sunday 23 January 09:45
g3org3y said:
I very rarely see the use of high beams nowadays. Do most average drivers (the kind that rely on auto lights etc) even know they exist?
I've noticed this, maybe headlights are just better?I've also noticed that it seems to be more and more common for cars to have headlights out. On thursday night, the car in front of me had no brake lights and the car behind had a headlight out
More elderly people about these days (as opposed to 20 years ago, thanks to medical progress).
The older a cornea gets, the more tiny imperfections, tears, distortions it picks up. As the light coming in through the front of the eye hit these imperfections, it refracts off at different angles. This isn't a big problem during the day, because the pupil is at a fairly narrow diameter, due to there being plenty of light about. During the night however the pupil expands to make the most of every bit of light available. The light being 'used' by the eye has therefore had to travel through a larger proportion of the damaged (in the elderly) corneal tissue, hence more random refractions and less ability to focus the light to where it really needs to go (the fovea). Result - piss poor night vision.
ETA - I've noticed recently that people can't spell 'competently' ;-)
The older a cornea gets, the more tiny imperfections, tears, distortions it picks up. As the light coming in through the front of the eye hit these imperfections, it refracts off at different angles. This isn't a big problem during the day, because the pupil is at a fairly narrow diameter, due to there being plenty of light about. During the night however the pupil expands to make the most of every bit of light available. The light being 'used' by the eye has therefore had to travel through a larger proportion of the damaged (in the elderly) corneal tissue, hence more random refractions and less ability to focus the light to where it really needs to go (the fovea). Result - piss poor night vision.
ETA - I've noticed recently that people can't spell 'competently' ;-)
Edited by mrtwisty on Sunday 23 January 11:19
davepoth said:
The main beam thing drives me wild. No wonder they're only going 35mph, they can't see more than 20m ahead! Sometimes if I'm immediately behind someone doing it, I'll put MY main beam on, so I can see ahead.
I was behind one of these dimwits the other day, on a wide, sweeping NSL single carriageway the other day. I tried giving him a quick flash of the full beams to see if he would put his on, but he would not (probably had not even realised I was there) so I went to overtake, put my fullbeams on as I passed him and got on my way. Talk about people driving on autopilot!Hugo a Gogo said:
I can't remember the last time I used high beam
We get hundreds of the f
kers around here, I've got 95w bulbs in my car, if they don't dip their mains I'll flash them, they notice then.You even get them on the lit A-Roads around here, no idea why.
I know lamps are alot brighter these days and BMWs etc. are even brighter but you can usually tell if its main beam.
mrtwisty said:
More elderly people about these days (as opposed to 20 years ago, thanks to medical progress).
It's worth younger people being aware of this, if only to keep out of other drivers way, and, for "elderly" read anyone beyond about their mid-40's.I'm early 50's and can see fine in daylight, but my contrast vison is poor. So if vehicles are coming towards me in the dark the brightness of their lights means I really don't have much forward vision into the darkness at all.
My FIL is 80 and still drives and he can barely see anything at all.
Deva Link said:
mrtwisty said:
More elderly people about these days (as opposed to 20 years ago, thanks to medical progress).
It's worth younger people being aware of this, if only to keep out of other drivers way, and, for "elderly" read anyone beyond about their mid-40's.I'm early 50's and can see fine in daylight, but my contrast vison is poor. So if vehicles are coming towards me in the dark the brightness of their lights means I really don't have much forward vision into the darkness at all.
My FIL is 80 and still drives and he can barely see anything at all.
JonnyFive said:
Hugo a Gogo said:
I can't remember the last time I used high beam
We get hundreds of the fkers around here, I've got 95w bulbs in my car, if they don't dip their mains I'll flash them, they notice then.You even get them on the lit A-Roads around here, no idea why.
I know lamps are alot brighter these days and BMWs etc. are even brighter but you can usually tell if its main beam.
Scuffers said:
been bugging me for a while now, in recent years, more and more people seem unable to drive competently in the dark.
ie. in the winter months, I keep coming up behind people on single carriageway roads doing 30-35Mph when the road conditions are plenty good enough for NSL, this then means that you end up with a train of cars doing this, as none of them will ever overtake, but will sit close enough to make it impossible for somebody at the back being able to without pushing it.
If you do manage to make an over-talking manoeuvre, you then have a 50/50 chance that you will then get the disco lights from behind!
Is it just me?
this happened to me yesterday on the snake pass it wasent fully dark but some idiot in a green mondeo decided to drive at 30 on the streights and slowed down for every slight bend in the road and because about 10 cars were bunched up behind there was no chance of overtaking after a fiew miles there was a massive traffic jam behind this car, i cant stand these goons that drive like thisie. in the winter months, I keep coming up behind people on single carriageway roads doing 30-35Mph when the road conditions are plenty good enough for NSL, this then means that you end up with a train of cars doing this, as none of them will ever overtake, but will sit close enough to make it impossible for somebody at the back being able to without pushing it.
If you do manage to make an over-talking manoeuvre, you then have a 50/50 chance that you will then get the disco lights from behind!
Is it just me?
Edited by Scuffers on Sunday 23 January 12:36
Edited by wifiwupding on Sunday 23 January 16:39
Regiment said:
Drivers who can't do 60 in a 60 zone on a straight piece of road at night due to eye issues or confidence issues shouldn't be driving in such conditions at all, and anyone who can't do the same during the day needs their license cutting up and taken off the road.
Oh trust me.. We get them at work;"I can't pick the car up after 4pm because we can't drive in the dark."
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