Welcome to the generation of drivers that have never switched their headlights on or off ever. They'll drive in inclement weather with no lights because it's still bright enough to not trigger the dusk sensor. They'll sit on the side of their road with headlights shining fully for no reason. They basically don't know the lights are there. Why would they? Never used the road outside of a car. Never known any different.
Despite all the innovation in the headlights themselves, it seems that a significant portion of drivers these days can’t seem to remember to turn them on. I am constantly trying to get cars in front of me on the highways near NYC to realize their lights are off at night. It’s an interesting study in UX, I think: https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/heres-why-so-many-cars-d...
Someone flashed their lights at me this very morning at around 5:00 am. At first I thought it was because my lights were off, then realized they thought my brights were on. They weren't, it's just that my new car has LEDs that are - apparently - quite bright.
Yeah I’m astonished at how often people drive with headlights off. Why is it even an option for lights to be off when in drive? I can understand wanting to turn them off sometimes, but not while moving.
What typically happens around me seems to be that someone installs aftermarket headlights — often obnoxiously bright — and then fail to actually adjust them correctly. And we (in this American state) don’t have those types of safety inspections.
Or they just drive around with their high beams on all the time. That happens, too.
I think a lot of people don't understand the lights are not only for you to see, but so others can see your car.
Once someone from the family turned of my headlights from auto to off. I don't know for how many time I drove at night going to the squash club and back, grocery shopping, until the day I was stopped by police. Thankfully, got no ticket, but I got unease thinking about how many intersections I had driven at night with headlights off, being essentialy invisible for other drivers until too late.
Now I make a point of checking the lights are on auto every time I drive.
I flash my headlights at cars whose lights are too blinding, under the assumption that the driver accidentally left their brights on.
If I’m wrong and their lights are always like that, my assumption is that they would appreciate someone letting them know anyway. If it happens a lot, maybe they’ll figure it out and correct their embarrassing problem.
And if they’ve jerks who know they’re blinding others but just don’t care (or savor it) oh well they should still hear about it.
Eh, you get drivers like that without or without your high-beams on. I've had that happen to me and definitely didn't have my high beams on and there is absolutely no way the other driver thought they were. Some people are just assholes, esp. when you overtake them.
Sure I can, I can turn on the high beam just as they overtake me, not always in bad faith, but maybe they just forgot theirs accidentally and need a reminder; just as I will flash and then completely turn off my headlights when I see a car running without headlights at night in the city, sometimes people just forget.
I once turned off my headlights in a hill traffic jam while completely stopped as I was blinding the guy in front of me on my lowest setting and to my surprise everyone did the same in a domino-fashion.
Tit for tat is pretty good.
I did know someone who didn't know that that you are supposed to dip your headlights when other people could see them. They thought all the people flashing their headlights at them were just being friendly!
In my experience, people still regularly flash high beams to indicate that someone has left their high beams on. I have found this to be just as true now as it was 20 years ago, when started driving.
I would be curious to know if others have different experiences. Seems to me that people still know what this signal means, and typically turn off their high beams immediately.
For context, most of my driving has been in northern California, but I've also lived in LA and the east coast.
Or like the dashes that light at night even when your headlights aren’t but your DRLs are, so you are completely unaware you have no taillights and it’s very difficult to discover otherwise.
What I find annoying is the people whose cars DO have headlights that are automatically "on", yet all the OTHER lighst on the car are off.
It's common to come across one of these cars at night from behind - no visible tail lights, but when you pull up next to them, their headlights are on, yet dim (daytime running lights?).
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