Why do drivers have headlights on during the day?

Maybe all those studies showing the reduction in accidents are just part of a conspiracy by the oil companies to get us to waste more energy and burn more oil...

It is also quite common here in the South of France to drive with the lights on aswell.

As someone who pointed it before, statistics do however prove the benefits of driving with those lights on.

It's only for safety measure afterall

reply to post by Okonomiyaki3000


what energy? your cars electrical runs on a generator and voltage regulator, battery

how is that burning more oil?

[edit on 8-6-2008 by MurderCityDevil]

reply to post by MurderCityDevil


Well you would use slightly more fuel with the lights on - you can't get free energy (yet )

But the amount is so small it would be very hard to measure, to varying degrees the same would be true for the radio and the air conditioning, think the air con would suck the most juice.

I know when I'm riding motorbikes I always have the headlight on dipped - the very fact people mention that I've got my light on is what I'm after, it means they've seen me and I am less likely to become another statistic, in the past few years though more and more traffic has lights on at all times - I personally feel that it should be the more vulnerable road users (push bikes / motorcycles / learner drivers) that have headlights on constantly - the more drivers use this tactic the less effective it becomes - the whole point is to make your self stand out from the background of gormless car drivers in their ultra safe and comfortable coma machines.

Originally posted by Symer
In some European countries it is illegal to drive without your headlights on. They must be on at all times, even during the day. As others above me have stated visibility is the main argument. Motorists will judge oncoming vehicles to be closer if they have their lights on, decreasing the risk of an ill-timed overtaking manoeuvre and resulting head-on collisions. I believe this is the reason for London buses to do so. They're visible enough as is, but the psychological effect of judging an oncoming bus to be closer than it really is might prevent accidents.

I have lived in one of those countries and it is a safety feature (and a good one). It also quickly became very easy to tell whether a car was moving or parked by the headlights which may not always be so easy to tell on narrow city streets.

DRL are especially useful when you are driving into the sun - it makes oncoming traffic much more visible.


reply to post by Heronumber0


As for the video shown here, the entire road isn't visible, but it seems perfectly normal traffic patterns for a "rotary" ( or traffic circle, or roundabout). People aren't really making U-turns; they're simply entering and exiting the rotary at different points.

Originally posted by MurderCityDevil
reply to post by Okonomiyaki3000

 

what energy? your cars electrical runs on a generator and voltage regulator, battery

how is that burning more oil?

[edit on 8-6-2008 by MurderCityDevil]

Please learn more about cars.

I'm driving with headlights on during night and day, too. It's for security reasons in general on the one hand, and as my car has got dark colour, it will improve its visibility on the other.

reply to post by Heronumber0


I have my foggies on and park lights? Why? read in the insurance news letter reduces accident by 30%..as adds to visibility. Its not a full headlight, no wear as blinding either, just allows people to see me more, esp being a darker car.

I know (in this country at least) motorcycles and scooters such as mine have the lights hardwired on so that we are more visible to oncoming traffic.

That doesn't go to explain the people in cars doing it but I'm just mentioning it.

Maybe they're like an old friend of mine (who I've since cut ties with) who said that it made his car look "aggressive and intimidating". I guess you're tough if your car looks aggressive.

My 2000 Corolla does this and I wish I knew of an easy way to make it stop. I feel like a conspicuous idiot.

Originally posted by styxxz

But seriously, I think it's meant to make you more visible for safety reasons. The downside is you lose some economy and in this day in age I'd rather save fuel even at the cost of a few pedestrians

[edit on 7/6/08 by styxxz]

are you serious?

On both counts... but really.. "lose some economy"? From headlights? Are you so misinformed that you believe switching off headlights would save you any even remotely significant factor?

I get completely flustered everytime I come to ATS, I am not sure why I do anymore, maybe it's that accident mentality.. I need to look at train wreck, I can't look away.

The ignorance turned into conspiracy is just mind boggling here.

I drive a 2000 Chevy S-10, I actually got really lucky with it. I bought it about 4 months ago for 6600 out the door. It's immaculate and only had about 42,500 miles on it. Now it has about 44,200. Anyway, the lights automatically come on when you release the e-brake and start the truck.

I doesn't really bother me or waste fuel of course. Mabye a little battery life. I think they need this feature standard. I can't count the number of a$$hats that I see with no lights on well after sunset.

reply to post by Heronumber0


Yes this is Organized Stalking (OS). I observed in this video that many of the cars, trucks and SUVs circled the block more than once.
Here n Canada all vehicles are equipped with DRLs and thus the stalkers in my part of the country identify themselves with support ribbons such as support our troops or other such ribbon decals. Some of them even are so bold as to have a bumper sticker for 'Crime stoppers' on their vehicle.
Here in my city the 'Citizens on Patrol' or "Crime stoppers" are all a part of this covert harassment...I am an activist for the exposure of this crap and we have found people who joined the likes of "crime stoppers" only to discover that they were stalkers and quit the organization.
These people who partake in Organized Stalking are delusional and they believe what they are doing is a good thing for society. Most targets are slandered in the community and the stalkers believe the lies told about us.
If one of the lies happens to be that you are a pedophile or a drug dealer, then these delusional spies do not stop at just 'watching' targets they take it upon themselves to mess with your life. The slander is spread widely in the community and if you are looking for work you can have your chances of landing a job decreased greatly because of the slander.
Fortunately I am self employed and the delusional spies have not been able to do much damage to my business. However, these delusional spies have taken it upon themselves to run me off the road while driving at high speeds on the highway. After the third attempt to run me off the road, I fought back by placing signs on my car and that was the start of becoming an activist.
The signs on my car caused quite the ruckus with the stalkers and they did try to sabotage my car (unsuccessful as I caught them), but not one of them tried to run me off the road again.
Because of my activism efforts which include signs on my car and 2 appearances on local radio, I have found more people who have become targeted individuals here in my area...in fact I have found 12 of us.
If the masses do not start taking us seriously and believing our claims the same thing could happen to them. These stalking groups are no different than the "Brown shirts" in Germany, except it is far more covert.
I believe that ATS has many members who are aware that they are targets. I also believe that many members on ATS have no idea they are targets. I took me twelve years before I figured out this ever growing phenomenon and put a name to it. I just assumed that I had the worst luck in the world.
The most recent secret meeting of the US House of Representatives has great impact on the masses. They admitted one of the topics was the surveillance of all citizens.

In Finland and in other scandic country's you have to put your headlights ON always when you are driving. It's written in the law and everybody obeys it...

reply to post by iamcanadian2

I meant to include this link with my post above


dprogram.wordpress.com...

because a lot of cars have auto lights that you either can't turn off (like subarus) or that you have to turn off every time you start the car.

reply to post by Darth Logan


Daytime lights are the height of stupidity!

Correct me if I'm wrong but the generator that recharges the car's battery is constantly running regardless of whether your lights are on or not.

It's not like you're turning fuel into electricity at a rate consistant with the electricity use in the car... If that were the case then calls for fuel consumption conspiracies would be founded, but as far as I can see they aren't.

Believe it or not sometimes car manufacturers do actually do things just to increase the safety of the vehicle. Whether that is to in turn increase the price or percieved value to customers is another issue. This really doesn't seem worth worrying about at all.

Edit: I'm with Gormly, on all counts. The efficiency comments plus the comments about ATS becoming an ordeal. This site seems to have problems nowdays...

[edit on 8/6/08 by Duality]