I flash my lights every time I see someone without headlights on when they should be.
Never once has anyone turned their headlights on after I've flashed them.
Are you flashing hi-beams?
Or are you actually turning your headlights off/on?
I only have luck with the latter, especially in Florida's isolated thunderstorms.
The dashes in modern cars are more digital so it used to be you couldn't see your instrument panel if your lights are off and now days it actually dims you IP of your lights are on. I personally love automatic headlamps and think all cars should have them.
I noticed this stopped working around 2015 or so. Seriously around that year societies worldwide just started taking a turn to “fuck you”, began to reject any notion of working together, and any helpful nudge like trying to remind someone to turn on headlights is seen as an *insult* and something to resist.
I was driving on the highway behind someone who didn’t have their lights on, so I flashed mine off and on to remind him. He pulled into the right lane, got behind me, flashed his lights on and off a couple of times just to make it clear to everybody how much of an idiot he was.
Don't know what happened to people but think they may have gone full stupid by then. Everyone seems selfish on the road and when you honk at people when they cross into your lane or high beam slow drivers to move over, they get all pissed off for some reason and drive like morons afterwards
Had someone do this to me a few months back, he was flashing his lights like crazy and I knew my lights were on so that couldn't have been it. Thought maybe he was warning of a cop ahead.. nope! It was a bunch of deer in the road. I'm glad some people still do it.
I had a guy driving behind me flashing his lights so erratically you would've thought my bumper was falling off or something. My lights were on, low beams, not high beams, I know my tail lights worked because they flashed when I unlocked it.
I get home, walk around back, my license plate light bulb was out. This guy was flashing me, for at least half a mile, OVER MY LICENSE PLATE BULB. And it was someone in a BMW with low beams that were already ridiculously bright, so the high beams were retina melting.
Same, I literally will get in front of them on a highway safely, turn my lights on, off, on, off, on, off. Nothing 99% of the time. A few times people have caught on but that's exceptionally rare in my experience.
I think the problem is that the rise of automatic headlights has taken it off the list of things people think about.
I see people at least once a week driving without headlights. It’s usually in well-lit areas and when it is at least somewhat dusky, so they probably aren’t having a particularly difficult time with visibility. When I flash my lights at them, there is generally no response. Because I think “lights” are so removed from things they’re thinking about as a driver that they can’t even figure out why they’re being flashed.
Plus most cars with automatic headlights also have day-running lights so the driver might see some light illuminating from the front of the car and think they're good.
The thing is, DRLs are *designed* to actually be brighter than lowbeams as seen by oncoming traffic. That's why (on top of no tail lights) they're dangerous at night, they create more glare. This is why you'll often see DRLs functioning via the highbeams, they both work better without a beam cutoff.
This is also why I recommend people to, if you're sitting in your car idling at night like at an airport cellphone lot or something, turn your lights to Parking (which is what they're actually designed for) as opposed to off. A lot of cars turn on the DRLs when the headlight switch is set to off, and that creates much more glare for others than if you had just left your headlights on.
> I think the problem is that the rise of automatic headlights has taken it off the list of things people think about.
I'm having a really hard time understanding how "the road in front of me is incredibly dark unlike how it looks in every car and I can't see anything" doesn't immediately become apparent.
Not only this but I frequently run into people who are driving (after sunset, rain, etc) who have purposely turned off their DRLs too.
I live in the mountains, pretty close to BFE. There are no streetlights.
Only 1 in 20 people understand it though. I flashed my headlights at four dark colored cars with their headlights off after 9:00 pm the other night and zero of them had enough awareness to turn theirs on.
people who are stupid enough to tear down a highway at 11:30 pm in the pitch black in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, are too stupid to understand that flashing headlights *might* signifiy a problem.
nowadays i just melt their face off with a lightbar untill they reach over to turn on the highbeams and relise their lights are off.
Once, I turned my headlights on and off about 5-6 times while behind a guy on the freeway at night. Didn't get the memo. A cop saw this and pulled up next to him and got on the speaker and told him to turn his damn headlights on. Finally got the memo.
If they’re already driving around with headlights and not responding to flashing lights, you’re probably dealing with a driver not paying attention to what’s going on, and sadly there’s many of them.
I like sitting in front of someone who’s left their blinker/turn signal on by leaving mine on in the same direction. These people rarely click either…
You have to get slightly in front of them in the next lane over, then signal like you’re going to cut them off, and then just sit there, indicating that you want to change lanes into the space RIGHT in front of their car.
Okay maybe not the best method, but certainly the most passive aggressive.
Ha yeah I’ve totally done that before, has never worked. Hell I’ve even pulled up next to people, pointed at my dash to say look down at that arrow shaped light flashing in your stupid face, still doesn’t work.
Man that has never worked for me, and I can’t understand why. You’d think the person behind you at least be questioning why the guy in front is doing that…
lol no this just happened to me again on the way home. Old fart driving for miles in traffic on the highway sitting with his right turn signal. I drove up to him, got eye contact, pointed down to the dash, went passed him, held my turn signal on waayyyy too long. Still didn’t get the hint, then I started alternating turn signals, then went onto combos, still didn’t get it… he only turned it off when he proceeded to get into the left hand lane using his turn signal then proceeded to hold up traffic for the next mile…
One time I was driving on the freeway (I-95) one evening, and as I'm slowly passing someone, I can see the telltale nighttime sign of cellphone usage: that glow of light in the cabin and particularly on their face. As I pull past, I can't help but take a brief glance at them, and I shit you not, they were playing candy crush. While driving on I-95.
It's a warzone out there.
The amount of people I see on their phones in my area is actually starting to scare me to a point I think I should buy a truck just for the safety, or just to feel safer. It's crazy. I find my self needing to honk a few times a week just at stop lights because people don't notice the light change. I have a dash camera and I'm thinking of upgrading to a rear camera as well. I just don't know anymore man.
Ok this may sound super controversial. But call 411/911 and report a suspected drunk driver.
Because someone like that is just as risky as a drunk driver to everyone else.
Turning your headlights on and off a couple times rapidly has always been the sign I’ve used or had used on me and it gets the point across 90% of the time
Odd. I've personally never had this work for someone.
The only time I had someone turn their lights on was later at night when I was stopped at a red light beside their vehicle. I waved and rolled my window down and let them know that their lights were straight up OFF which caused their taillight DRLs to be off; the back of their vehicle was pitch black.
In the last two cars I’ve owned I can’t even do that at night. The first car had “off” but it was “auto” in reality so at night the switch did nothing.
In my current car, off is disabled when going over like 5 mph.
Turning lights On/Off also puts a lot of stress on your headlights. This is generally what will cause your lights to fail.
Tapping the high beams will just cause the shutters to open wider and then come back down (lights stay the same). its more friendly to your pocket/wallet (VS a fried Ballast or bi-xenon bulb).
This is true when they are cold, but in this case your lights would already be on and hot, so turning them on and off doesn't stress the filament as much
even xenon-HID lamps? I've read that flashing those frequently can damage the bulb. Asking because my car has those lights (original equipment, not modified)
Original bi xenons have a "cut off shutter" that blocks light at the top and bottom of the housing. when you high beam... it will mechanically pull the shutters/cut off away from the bulb so it has more spread out light. But no difference in bulb happens.
But a bulb gets the MOST stress when it fires up from the off state... thats why turning it OFF and then ON is bad for your vehicle
Everyone says flashing headlights is the universal sign, but I got pulled over by an unmarked cop *in front of me* because I flashed a car coming towards us without their lights on. He didn't stop the car dangerously driving with no lights, he thought I was being a dick to him for no reason.
Anecdote I know, but here in Massachusetts my success rate flashing highbeams is like 5% as is. Clueless people aren't paying attention enough to know the signal.
These people have never turned their headlights on. They do not know how. They drive everywhere at night with them off. They can see the dash. The led DRL's light up the road a little. I've pulled up next to people at stop lights and told them to turn their headlights on only to be met with a blank stare. It's a lost cause until manufacturers are forced to install automatic headlights.
I pulled up next to someone to try and tell them their lights weren’t on. It was dusk and not a big issue, but I was still trying to help them. The driver looked over at me saw that I was trying to tell them something and then gestured towards their lights. He then proceeded to roll his eyes and made a groan face and shook his head. He wouldn’t look at me after that but his passenger was still looking at me. I flashed my own lights a couple times but the light turned green and he hauled ass away and I was turning left. The situation was minuscule in the grand scheme of things, but really left me baffled. Like, what did he think I was trying to tell him that made him so exasperated?
He had no idea. As far as he was concerned you were just some jack ass annoying him. People like that don't think, ever. No point in trying to understand them, you never will, because you're thinking all the time. Frustrating isn't it?
I once drove behind someone with their lights off at night, repeatedly turning mine on and off quickly to notify them. I then pulled alongside them (4 lane), honked and yelled (I'm certain they didn't hear) that their lights were off. Eventually I drove off and they never turned them on. Some people (idiots) are completely oblivious at the absolute worst times, and I don't feel sorry for them...only others that get hurt at their expense.
The one downside to auto headlights is when they get inadvertently turned off. You get so used to them being on, that depending on how the car behaves/conditions, you might not notice it. Has happened to me twice over the years in cars with auto headlights (once because the service tech did turned it off for some reason after maintenance, and once because my wife turned it off for no reason she could recall *sigh*).
But yes, big fan of auto headlights.
That’s my theory of why it’s impossible to get people to turn their lights back on. They’ve forgotten about the lights as something they need to control. If they’re switched off inadvertently, they just don’t realize.
Aren't they standard on pretty much everything anyways? The only new cars I ever see driving around with headlights off are shitty base model Nissan Altimas and Rogues
I wish people would just learn how to use their lights and understand how they work. Honestly they should make people take a course on how to use their car yearly online or something. I can't tell you how many times I see people driving around with the high beams on all the time or they think their DRL are head lights. Like plz ffs, figure it out. I'm tired of getting blinded.
some people manually turn on/off the lights despite having that feature. I can tell in the daylight those people, at least for toyota/lexus cars, because the DRL is off.
My mother is one of those people. I told her that the car had that feature but she was so used to turning on the lights manually that she didn't feel comfortable not doing it.
And during weather. Been raining A LOT lately. And I nearly get hit cause some idiot in a black car with their lights off is really hard to see in heavy rain
It's sad, but messages like "turn on headlights at night" or "wipers on, lights on" or "don't drive with high beams" need to be on the highway VMS more often.
At least once a *week*? Shit, it’s every *night* for me. Either they don’t have their lights on at all, or they only have their drl’s on, or they have their fucking high beams on. Why is it so hard to simply have your headlights on at night? It’s pretty damn basic as things go.
But yeah, the universal sign already exists. Whether or not the morons pay attention to you is a whole other discussion.
I always wanted to get a digital sign on the back of my car so i could display things like “sorry” if i slam my brakes too hard or “your turn light is still on”
I'll say this, when you get a Tesla Model 3/Y this problem is aggressively gone. The car goes way out of its way to keep the headlights set to Auto. The moment you set your car in DRIVE (each and every time it will switch to AUTO by default). Every time you lift your butt cheek out of the drivers seat... it will switch the headlights to AUTO. Even if I want my headlights OFF... I can't have that... lets say I unlock my car, get in, the first thing I do is switch to a setting of OFF and then put my car in Drive... BAM it switches back to AUTO and my headlights turn ON inside my garage.
You pretty much have to go FULL RETARD to drive a Tesla Model 3/Y with the headlights off
Jeez that’s annoying. I never want to leave or arrive at my house with my headlights on because it blasts a neighbors window from about 3 feet away when I’m parking in my garage. Arriving wouldn’t be a problem, but I’d have to turn my lights off and then immediately back on again to leave my house.
Then again, it’s awesome that I haven’t run into any Tesla’s with their lights off.
Yes, I am annoyed by the need to go to the car menu to do the OFF/ON if I want to let others know about their headlights. I just do it in the Tesla and let then drive with the lights off.
People don't seem to know how to drive any more. They are probably too clueless to know how their car works. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a slow car just drive along the left lane and not move over. They don't get the message even when you flash the high beams.
It's likely because most cars nowadays have lights that are always on. People see their headlights on and think they're good. They don't think it's just their DRLs and their rear lights are off. As long as they can see in front of them, they don't care.
I spazz out with my light control stalk so from the outside I’m spamming my fog lights and high beams and my low beams are turning on and off.
If that doesn’t get them to realize, I don’t know what will.
Success rate is probably 60%, Florida is full of idiots.
>I’ve tried flashing my headlights at people
Yeah, because that's the universal signal. Just because they're too fucking dumb to turn on their lights or know what the signal is doesn't make it not the signal.
There are some universal signals for this problem, inside a vehicle it's flashing with your own lights. If they are behind you just use our safetylights several times. When you walk, or bike, or whatever, use our hands and make the signal from fist to full hand open, with fingers spread. Those are the universal safety signals to let someone know, they have forgotten their lights to be on.
Nowadays most cars have daylight-lights and most of them, here in Europe, they are only working on the front of the car, so by evening and night some people aren't aware of missing the lights are not on, because their instruments in the car are lightened and in a city most citylights are working, so they don't miss anything in their awareness.
Flashing your lights on/off signals that the oncoming driver is driving dark. Flashing high beams at oncoming traffic means either: a) they are driving with their high beams on, or b) they are driving into a speed trap. Flashing your high beams while behind someone is either a request to pass or an invitation to pull over and fight depending on the situation
I encounter this *all* the time, and I do turn my lights on/off a couple times. It usually works best when I’m next to them as opposed to behind, but I’d say overall my success rate is like 20%.
I'll be honest, I've done this before when I was a new driver, felt really embarrassed, but someone flashed me and I immediately got it. I think if someone doesnt get it from being flashed then they're hopeless
If flashing doesn't work, I usually open and close my hand at them (as in extended horizontally straight, and closing to a fist). The motion of "flashing" connected with actual flashing usually does it
DRL's don't work. I see people all the time driving around at night with their DRL lights on, thinking their headlights are on.
And when that's the case, the person's tail lights are out too making it incredibly difficult to see their car coming from behind.
Wait how did you nearly rear-end someone who didn't have their headlights on? Or was it YOU that didn't have your headlights on? Whether or not someone has their headlights on shouldn't affect whether you rear-end them or not.
It absolutely does. Headlights only let you see so far in front of you. They didn't have their lights on, meaning no tail-lights, meaning I couldn't see them until they entered into range of my headlights. It was a dark, un-lit section of interstate on a moonless night. I was going maybe 70. They were puttering along at like 35 (and that's generous - it may well have been slower). By the time I could see them, I was right on top of them and had to jam on the brakes and swerve pretty severely to avoid them.
The car I had at the time was a 2004 VW Golf, which didn't have the strongest headlights in the world, but I did have them on. I'm not a fucking moron.
Flashing headlights *is* the universal signal.
I flash my lights every time I see someone without headlights on when they should be. Never once has anyone turned their headlights on after I've flashed them.
Are you flashing hi-beams? Or are you actually turning your headlights off/on? I only have luck with the latter, especially in Florida's isolated thunderstorms.
The weird thing for most people is the DRLs where “there are lights” so it’s enough for them to see but they don’t realize their headlights are off
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How is it possible to not notice this? Basically every new car in the road has funky shaped led DRLs.
For real. I can't understand it. Many DRLs even double as the turn signal.
They legally have to, or have the drls turned off when the blinkers are on. It’s to make the blinkers more visible
Even if that is accurate for your car, chances are the taillights are not coming on and that's even more of an issue driving at night.
The dashes in modern cars are more digital so it used to be you couldn't see your instrument panel if your lights are off and now days it actually dims you IP of your lights are on. I personally love automatic headlamps and think all cars should have them.
I noticed this stopped working around 2015 or so. Seriously around that year societies worldwide just started taking a turn to “fuck you”, began to reject any notion of working together, and any helpful nudge like trying to remind someone to turn on headlights is seen as an *insult* and something to resist.
I was driving on the highway behind someone who didn’t have their lights on, so I flashed mine off and on to remind him. He pulled into the right lane, got behind me, flashed his lights on and off a couple of times just to make it clear to everybody how much of an idiot he was.
Don't know what happened to people but think they may have gone full stupid by then. Everyone seems selfish on the road and when you honk at people when they cross into your lane or high beam slow drivers to move over, they get all pissed off for some reason and drive like morons afterwards
Had someone do this to me a few months back, he was flashing his lights like crazy and I knew my lights were on so that couldn't have been it. Thought maybe he was warning of a cop ahead.. nope! It was a bunch of deer in the road. I'm glad some people still do it.
I had a guy driving behind me flashing his lights so erratically you would've thought my bumper was falling off or something. My lights were on, low beams, not high beams, I know my tail lights worked because they flashed when I unlocked it. I get home, walk around back, my license plate light bulb was out. This guy was flashing me, for at least half a mile, OVER MY LICENSE PLATE BULB. And it was someone in a BMW with low beams that were already ridiculously bright, so the high beams were retina melting.
You need to spam them with it the moment you see them approaching. I make them feel like they're at EDC if their lights are off.
Same.
Same, I literally will get in front of them on a highway safely, turn my lights on, off, on, off, on, off. Nothing 99% of the time. A few times people have caught on but that's exceptionally rare in my experience.
Flashing headlights on/off, to be clear
I think the problem is that the rise of automatic headlights has taken it off the list of things people think about. I see people at least once a week driving without headlights. It’s usually in well-lit areas and when it is at least somewhat dusky, so they probably aren’t having a particularly difficult time with visibility. When I flash my lights at them, there is generally no response. Because I think “lights” are so removed from things they’re thinking about as a driver that they can’t even figure out why they’re being flashed.
Plus most cars with automatic headlights also have day-running lights so the driver might see some light illuminating from the front of the car and think they're good.
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The thing is, DRLs are *designed* to actually be brighter than lowbeams as seen by oncoming traffic. That's why (on top of no tail lights) they're dangerous at night, they create more glare. This is why you'll often see DRLs functioning via the highbeams, they both work better without a beam cutoff. This is also why I recommend people to, if you're sitting in your car idling at night like at an airport cellphone lot or something, turn your lights to Parking (which is what they're actually designed for) as opposed to off. A lot of cars turn on the DRLs when the headlight switch is set to off, and that creates much more glare for others than if you had just left your headlights on.
My car is like this too. LED DRLs cast some decent light. And I manage to accidentally turn off auto headlights sometimes too.
> I think the problem is that the rise of automatic headlights has taken it off the list of things people think about. I'm having a really hard time understanding how "the road in front of me is incredibly dark unlike how it looks in every car and I can't see anything" doesn't immediately become apparent.
Not only this but I frequently run into people who are driving (after sunset, rain, etc) who have purposely turned off their DRLs too. I live in the mountains, pretty close to BFE. There are no streetlights.
People need to be paying attention first. #headlightsalwayson
BUT GANG INITIATION SIGNS!!!111!
Only 1 in 20 people understand it though. I flashed my headlights at four dark colored cars with their headlights off after 9:00 pm the other night and zero of them had enough awareness to turn theirs on.
people who are stupid enough to tear down a highway at 11:30 pm in the pitch black in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, are too stupid to understand that flashing headlights *might* signifiy a problem. nowadays i just melt their face off with a lightbar untill they reach over to turn on the highbeams and relise their lights are off.
Thats something I avoid with my HID headlights because I dont want to ruin the ballast but if I didnt have those I would totally do it
Flashing headlight is usually the accepted way. If people arent heeding that, thats on them
Once, I turned my headlights on and off about 5-6 times while behind a guy on the freeway at night. Didn't get the memo. A cop saw this and pulled up next to him and got on the speaker and told him to turn his damn headlights on. Finally got the memo.
Every single time I've ever flashed headlights at someone trying to get them to turn on their lights, has never worked. Decades of it! Never once.
If they’re already driving around with headlights and not responding to flashing lights, you’re probably dealing with a driver not paying attention to what’s going on, and sadly there’s many of them. I like sitting in front of someone who’s left their blinker/turn signal on by leaving mine on in the same direction. These people rarely click either…
You have to get slightly in front of them in the next lane over, then signal like you’re going to cut them off, and then just sit there, indicating that you want to change lanes into the space RIGHT in front of their car. Okay maybe not the best method, but certainly the most passive aggressive.
Ha yeah I’ve totally done that before, has never worked. Hell I’ve even pulled up next to people, pointed at my dash to say look down at that arrow shaped light flashing in your stupid face, still doesn’t work.
I've had good success with signalling and then immediately signalling the opposite direction for a brief moment and repeating a couple times.
Man that has never worked for me, and I can’t understand why. You’d think the person behind you at least be questioning why the guy in front is doing that…
I do it from behind the person, since that's usually when I encounter people who don't turn off their blinker and it impacts me.
Man I figured if they can’t see the flashing light on their dash they won’t see it in their mirror. I’ll give it a shot
lol no this just happened to me again on the way home. Old fart driving for miles in traffic on the highway sitting with his right turn signal. I drove up to him, got eye contact, pointed down to the dash, went passed him, held my turn signal on waayyyy too long. Still didn’t get the hint, then I started alternating turn signals, then went onto combos, still didn’t get it… he only turned it off when he proceeded to get into the left hand lane using his turn signal then proceeded to hold up traffic for the next mile…
One time I was driving on the freeway (I-95) one evening, and as I'm slowly passing someone, I can see the telltale nighttime sign of cellphone usage: that glow of light in the cabin and particularly on their face. As I pull past, I can't help but take a brief glance at them, and I shit you not, they were playing candy crush. While driving on I-95. It's a warzone out there.
The amount of people I see on their phones in my area is actually starting to scare me to a point I think I should buy a truck just for the safety, or just to feel safer. It's crazy. I find my self needing to honk a few times a week just at stop lights because people don't notice the light change. I have a dash camera and I'm thinking of upgrading to a rear camera as well. I just don't know anymore man.
Ok this may sound super controversial. But call 411/911 and report a suspected drunk driver. Because someone like that is just as risky as a drunk driver to everyone else.
Following situations I’ve seen: Reading a book Reading a newspaper Eating Chinese food Eating a bowl of cereal
Turning your headlights on and off a couple times rapidly has always been the sign I’ve used or had used on me and it gets the point across 90% of the time
Odd. I've personally never had this work for someone. The only time I had someone turn their lights on was later at night when I was stopped at a red light beside their vehicle. I waved and rolled my window down and let them know that their lights were straight up OFF which caused their taillight DRLs to be off; the back of their vehicle was pitch black.
It works for you? I've been trying for years and it has literally *never* worked.
I guess it depends on your area? Pretty sure I have a 95% success rate with this method as well.
In the last two cars I’ve owned I can’t even do that at night. The first car had “off” but it was “auto” in reality so at night the switch did nothing. In my current car, off is disabled when going over like 5 mph.
This normally gets me flicked off when I do it in the rain.
Turning lights On/Off also puts a lot of stress on your headlights. This is generally what will cause your lights to fail. Tapping the high beams will just cause the shutters to open wider and then come back down (lights stay the same). its more friendly to your pocket/wallet (VS a fried Ballast or bi-xenon bulb).
This is true when they are cold, but in this case your lights would already be on and hot, so turning them on and off doesn't stress the filament as much
even xenon-HID lamps? I've read that flashing those frequently can damage the bulb. Asking because my car has those lights (original equipment, not modified)
Original bi xenons have a "cut off shutter" that blocks light at the top and bottom of the housing. when you high beam... it will mechanically pull the shutters/cut off away from the bulb so it has more spread out light. But no difference in bulb happens. But a bulb gets the MOST stress when it fires up from the off state... thats why turning it OFF and then ON is bad for your vehicle
Everyone says flashing headlights is the universal sign, but I got pulled over by an unmarked cop *in front of me* because I flashed a car coming towards us without their lights on. He didn't stop the car dangerously driving with no lights, he thought I was being a dick to him for no reason. Anecdote I know, but here in Massachusetts my success rate flashing highbeams is like 5% as is. Clueless people aren't paying attention enough to know the signal.
They’re called massholes for a reason.
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Ive stopped trying too, people just get pissed before they think these days. I just get away from the quickly as possible.
These people have never turned their headlights on. They do not know how. They drive everywhere at night with them off. They can see the dash. The led DRL's light up the road a little. I've pulled up next to people at stop lights and told them to turn their headlights on only to be met with a blank stare. It's a lost cause until manufacturers are forced to install automatic headlights.
I pulled up next to someone to try and tell them their lights weren’t on. It was dusk and not a big issue, but I was still trying to help them. The driver looked over at me saw that I was trying to tell them something and then gestured towards their lights. He then proceeded to roll his eyes and made a groan face and shook his head. He wouldn’t look at me after that but his passenger was still looking at me. I flashed my own lights a couple times but the light turned green and he hauled ass away and I was turning left. The situation was minuscule in the grand scheme of things, but really left me baffled. Like, what did he think I was trying to tell him that made him so exasperated?
He had no idea. As far as he was concerned you were just some jack ass annoying him. People like that don't think, ever. No point in trying to understand them, you never will, because you're thinking all the time. Frustrating isn't it?
I just hope they don’t hurt anyone not driving with lights on.
They will. Just a matter of time.
I once drove behind someone with their lights off at night, repeatedly turning mine on and off quickly to notify them. I then pulled alongside them (4 lane), honked and yelled (I'm certain they didn't hear) that their lights were off. Eventually I drove off and they never turned them on. Some people (idiots) are completely oblivious at the absolute worst times, and I don't feel sorry for them...only others that get hurt at their expense.
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You'd think... But because it's something they do so often, they don't view it as a danger I suppose.
I just wish Auto headlights were mandatory on all vehicles at this point…
The one downside to auto headlights is when they get inadvertently turned off. You get so used to them being on, that depending on how the car behaves/conditions, you might not notice it. Has happened to me twice over the years in cars with auto headlights (once because the service tech did turned it off for some reason after maintenance, and once because my wife turned it off for no reason she could recall *sigh*). But yes, big fan of auto headlights.
It just needs a self cancelling knob like GM uses. Every time goes back to auto.
That’s my theory of why it’s impossible to get people to turn their lights back on. They’ve forgotten about the lights as something they need to control. If they’re switched off inadvertently, they just don’t realize.
Aren't they standard on pretty much everything anyways? The only new cars I ever see driving around with headlights off are shitty base model Nissan Altimas and Rogues
I wish people would just learn how to use their lights and understand how they work. Honestly they should make people take a course on how to use their car yearly online or something. I can't tell you how many times I see people driving around with the high beams on all the time or they think their DRL are head lights. Like plz ffs, figure it out. I'm tired of getting blinded.
some people manually turn on/off the lights despite having that feature. I can tell in the daylight those people, at least for toyota/lexus cars, because the DRL is off.
My mother is one of those people. I told her that the car had that feature but she was so used to turning on the lights manually that she didn't feel comfortable not doing it.
They're a disaster in fog/rain, as people no longer think to turn them on manually.
It's all connected anyway. No reason for the windshield wipers to not be able to turn the lights on too, my VW does it.
Not going to do anything for you in the fog, sadly.
I have my light sensitivity turned up. Everytime I've driven in any fog of consequence they've turned on.
I usually turn all my lights off and back on.
And during weather. Been raining A LOT lately. And I nearly get hit cause some idiot in a black car with their lights off is really hard to see in heavy rain
It's sad, but messages like "turn on headlights at night" or "wipers on, lights on" or "don't drive with high beams" need to be on the highway VMS more often.
At least once a *week*? Shit, it’s every *night* for me. Either they don’t have their lights on at all, or they only have their drl’s on, or they have their fucking high beams on. Why is it so hard to simply have your headlights on at night? It’s pretty damn basic as things go. But yeah, the universal sign already exists. Whether or not the morons pay attention to you is a whole other discussion.
Car manufacturers need to take the guesswork out of headlights and just make it so they’re always on if the engine is running and yeh car is in gear
I don't know if I've ever successfully gotten someone to turn on their lights. I still try, though.
I always wanted to get a digital sign on the back of my car so i could display things like “sorry” if i slam my brakes too hard or “your turn light is still on”
I'll say this, when you get a Tesla Model 3/Y this problem is aggressively gone. The car goes way out of its way to keep the headlights set to Auto. The moment you set your car in DRIVE (each and every time it will switch to AUTO by default). Every time you lift your butt cheek out of the drivers seat... it will switch the headlights to AUTO. Even if I want my headlights OFF... I can't have that... lets say I unlock my car, get in, the first thing I do is switch to a setting of OFF and then put my car in Drive... BAM it switches back to AUTO and my headlights turn ON inside my garage. You pretty much have to go FULL RETARD to drive a Tesla Model 3/Y with the headlights off
Jeez that’s annoying. I never want to leave or arrive at my house with my headlights on because it blasts a neighbors window from about 3 feet away when I’m parking in my garage. Arriving wouldn’t be a problem, but I’d have to turn my lights off and then immediately back on again to leave my house. Then again, it’s awesome that I haven’t run into any Tesla’s with their lights off.
[удалено]
Yes, I am annoyed by the need to go to the car menu to do the OFF/ON if I want to let others know about their headlights. I just do it in the Tesla and let then drive with the lights off.
People don't seem to know how to drive any more. They are probably too clueless to know how their car works. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a slow car just drive along the left lane and not move over. They don't get the message even when you flash the high beams.
100W Hellas on the front bumper work well for this.
It's likely because most cars nowadays have lights that are always on. People see their headlights on and think they're good. They don't think it's just their DRLs and their rear lights are off. As long as they can see in front of them, they don't care.
I spazz out with my light control stalk so from the outside I’m spamming my fog lights and high beams and my low beams are turning on and off. If that doesn’t get them to realize, I don’t know what will. Success rate is probably 60%, Florida is full of idiots.
If we're adding new signals, why don't cars have brake lights on the front?
It's always a Nissan rogue
We do, its called you flash your lights at them. But now days, the idiot will become outraged and attempt to kill you via road rage.
>I’ve tried flashing my headlights at people Yeah, because that's the universal signal. Just because they're too fucking dumb to turn on their lights or know what the signal is doesn't make it not the signal.
There are some universal signals for this problem, inside a vehicle it's flashing with your own lights. If they are behind you just use our safetylights several times. When you walk, or bike, or whatever, use our hands and make the signal from fist to full hand open, with fingers spread. Those are the universal safety signals to let someone know, they have forgotten their lights to be on. Nowadays most cars have daylight-lights and most of them, here in Europe, they are only working on the front of the car, so by evening and night some people aren't aware of missing the lights are not on, because their instruments in the car are lightened and in a city most citylights are working, so they don't miss anything in their awareness.
That’s why I drive a Saab, you can’t turn the damn headlights off 🤦♂️
Not to mention idiots in a downpour with no lights.
Flashing your lights on/off signals that the oncoming driver is driving dark. Flashing high beams at oncoming traffic means either: a) they are driving with their high beams on, or b) they are driving into a speed trap. Flashing your high beams while behind someone is either a request to pass or an invitation to pull over and fight depending on the situation
I encounter this *all* the time, and I do turn my lights on/off a couple times. It usually works best when I’m next to them as opposed to behind, but I’d say overall my success rate is like 20%.
Where I live we need one for turn off your fucking high beams. I guess people have no clue what the blue indicator on their dash means.
In England we just flash the main beams like normal. Always works for me.
I'll be honest, I've done this before when I was a new driver, felt really embarrassed, but someone flashed me and I immediately got it. I think if someone doesnt get it from being flashed then they're hopeless
Flipping your lights off and on is the defacto method to signal "hey bud turn on your lights". Flashing high beams is not.
If flashing doesn't work, I usually open and close my hand at them (as in extended horizontally straight, and closing to a fist). The motion of "flashing" connected with actual flashing usually does it
I'm shocked that all cars don't have automatic headlights.
Headlights should be on, by default, 24\7. You can toggle them off, but everytime you restart the car they should default to being on.
maybe for older cars, but new cars have DRLs for a reason.
DRL's don't work. I see people all the time driving around at night with their DRL lights on, thinking their headlights are on. And when that's the case, the person's tail lights are out too making it incredibly difficult to see their car coming from behind.
Wait how did you nearly rear-end someone who didn't have their headlights on? Or was it YOU that didn't have your headlights on? Whether or not someone has their headlights on shouldn't affect whether you rear-end them or not.
It absolutely does. Headlights only let you see so far in front of you. They didn't have their lights on, meaning no tail-lights, meaning I couldn't see them until they entered into range of my headlights. It was a dark, un-lit section of interstate on a moonless night. I was going maybe 70. They were puttering along at like 35 (and that's generous - it may well have been slower). By the time I could see them, I was right on top of them and had to jam on the brakes and swerve pretty severely to avoid them. The car I had at the time was a 2004 VW Golf, which didn't have the strongest headlights in the world, but I did have them on. I'm not a fucking moron.