Motorway - no lights

[mybrainhurts]

How the hell does someone manage to drive to a motorway, down the slip road and into lane two at 17.15 hours, in January, in the dark, in heavy traffic, progressing at 60-75mph...?

With no lights on...?

And why was I the only one to make an effort to catch her and flash from a nether position until she put her lights on..?

One o' them thar Gallic things, it warr...

Just like ---->

[boredofmyoldname]

I was thinking about something similar the other day, and I think it is because a lot of stuff like that has a dash that is permanently lit. So unless you are on a dark road and no other cars are around it is feasible that you could think it was all ok, in older cars not being able to see your dials should have been enough warning.

[mybrainhurts]

I'm wondering how she managed to see the road before the motorway and the slip road.

[giggity]

Yes, my mates fking st audi A3 (pre-facelift) 1998 model had the dash "always on" and I would sometimes pull away with the lights off, before realising and turning them on, confusing even more when I had my own A3 (2001) which didnt have an "always on" dash.

PITA.

ETA: AUDI's are st.

Edited by giggity on Thursday 27th January 00:30

[EDLT]

Those things have auto lights, she must have deliberately turned them off at some point.

[Acheron]

[Baryonyx]

Yes, I think auto-lit instruments in the car are part of the problem. We've not yet got to the point where cars can sense light levels and automatically turn the lights on (have we), but one day it will likely come through an integrated computer which monitors the date, time and weather conditions.

The other part of the problem is lazy drivers, ending up on the motorway where light is flooding out of every other vehicle and making them think they've got their lights on!

[mybrainhurts]

Baryonyx said:

We've not yet got to the point where cars can sense light levels and automatically turn the lights on (have we),

Yes, my 2004 Mondeo can do that...

[Acheron]

Baryonyx said:

Yes, I think auto-lit instruments in the car are part of the problem. We've not yet got to the point where cars can sense light levels and automatically turn the lights on (have we), but one day it will likely come through an integrated computer which monitors the date, time and weather conditions.

The other part of the problem is lazy drivers, ending up on the motorway where light is flooding out of every other vehicle and making them think they've got their lights on!

My 6 year old Mondeo has lights that come on when it's dark.

In fact, they come on when it rains or goes a bit gloomy too.

In terms of instruments being lit, its a total pointless waste of time, and i feel it first came about through vauxhall (i first saw it on the astra in 2004/2005).

[BlueMR2]

mybrainhurts said:

Baryonyx said:

We've not yet got to the point where cars can sense light levels and automatically turn the lights on (have we),

Yes, my 2004 Mondeo can do that...

My old 1991 Toyota did that as well.

[thinfourth2]

Wife's bloody Honda has a permanently lite dashboard.

I regularly end up travelling along with no exterior lights in built up areas as the dash is visible therefore to old people the lights must be on outside the car.

[tr7v8]

Yup the wife's corolla had the same thing, once drove around 10 miles one evening without realising I had no headlights on Made worse by the Jag being auto headlights anyway.

[3sixty]

Had a guy in a Honda pass me in Lane 3 around 6pm on the M602 with no lights on. I pulled in behind, gave him a flash and he pulled into lane 2 thinking I was bullying him out the way.

Another few flashes and he got the idea, turned them on and a nice flash of the hazards and a thank you hand.

My good deed for 2011.

[Roo]

BlueMR2 said:

mybrainhurts said:

Baryonyx said:

We've not yet got to the point where cars can sense light levels and automatically turn the lights on (have we),

Yes, my 2004 Mondeo can do that...

My old 1991 Toyota did that as well.

So does my 2001 Crown Victoria.

[Arun_D]

Yes, I would suggest lit dials too. The mother's A4 cab she used to have had inset dials which were lit during the day....however they were connected to an exterior light sensor so that as the ambient light faded in the evening, the instrument illumination would diminish as an effort to remind you to light up. Still...you've got to be a wally to do what the person in the first post did.


And as for auto-lights, I never bothered using them in any of my cars that was equipped with them. Much preffered to manual switch them on and off when I deemed it appropriate.

[Mars]

If this isn't an argument for permanently on headlights when the car's in operation, I don't know what is.

This is separate from LED DRLs - this is simply leaving the headlights on.

[HellDiver]

I've seen a lot of idiots who have newer cars with DLRs, driving on those alone. Front lit up, rear unlit, just where it's actually needed.