If you don't drive with your lights on, why not?

People in Australia don't seem to use their headlights during the day. In fact some people don't use them when it is rainy, misty, dusk, dawn or other times of low visibility. If you drive a white car in the mist without your fog lights on you are almost invisible. If you drive a grey or black car in low light you are almost invisible. If the person driving in the opposite direction has the sun in their eyes you are far more visible with your lights on.

Lights on increases your visibility and hence your safety no matter what the conditions so why don't people put them on?

This ****s me! I get so angry at people who don't use lights when it's overcast or really sunny (sunrise/sunset)...

It WILL NOT KILL YOUR BATTERY!

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This ****s me! I get so angry at people who don't use lights when it's overcast or really sunny (sunrise/sunset)...

It WILL NOT KILL YOUR BATTERY!

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:clap:

It's not about whether or not you can see. It's about whether or not people can see YOU.


OH! And don't forget in underground/undercover carparks!!!!! Bloody hell, you're driving in the dark, how in the heck am I supposed to see you???

Honestly never thought about it like that


Cat xox

yes! This annoys me too. I don't put my lights on in the middle of the day if it is clear and sunny because I will probably forget to switch them off again, but the number of times I see white cars driving in low light and mist with no lights on just amazes me!

I would say this comes down to driver education. When you go for your license, it's all about road rules and yes driver safety. Nothing comes up about driving conditions and when to use your lights and not, or has this changed? Correct me if I am wrong. Unless you have been driving a long time or have been explained the reasons for using your lights in certain conditions, then most people would not have any idea other than to use them at night.

I had no idea about using lights on a particularly sunny day. Other times I do, just from experience, now I know about sunny days.

I was once told you turn your lights on when the street lights come on, that was the rule of thumb apparently.

Maybe this a new TAC advertisement in the making.

ETA: I know about the so many hours for L platers to drive in certain conditions and record them before they are eligible to go for their P's. So, I suppose it comes down to who is driving with them and explaining the conditions they are driving in and what to use.

Lights come on at 4-5pm for me all year round. On overcast, raining, misty etc days lights are always on. I drive a dark car.

Heather72 I remember being educated about this when on learner's.

I have an old car. My lights only turn on and off if I turn them on and off. If I turn them on in the middle of a bright day, I don't remember they are on, and then i park and go about my day and get back to my car and BAM, lights on all day...and yes..no battery =(

Newer cars these days with alarms, and lights that actually turn off by themselves, even some you can set a timer on so at a certain time they will come on, or they come on themselves when they detect the light changes are great...but a luxury I will never have.

My mum made a point of letting me know headlights weren't only for night time before I was on the road myself. I still occasionally would forget, but I've never used them every time I'm in the car until now either. I used them depending on the conditions. Or if I was travelling long distances.

In WA though, there are signs every where that basically tell you to use your lights when ever you're driving. I have auto headlights, so I just leave them on all the time. They turn themselves off. I used to use the auto setting... They'd turn on themselves when it was dark enough, but it had to be darker than I was comfortable with for them to switch on, so now I just keep them on.

The car I have now has auto headlights, so whenever it's running the lights are on. The car I had before was older so I had to turn them on. Then I'd only turn them on if it was foggy or dusk/dark, because otherwise id just forget they were on and probably always have a flat battery! It was a white car though, do more easily visible than some other colours.

I don't drive with my lights on during the day. I do put them on during winter when the weather is bad/overcast/fog etc, when i'm driving on country road and of course at night time. To be honest if its a normal sunny day and someone has their lights on it distracts me. Especially the moron driving behind me this morning with their high beams on, it hurt my eyes looking in the rear view mirror they were so bright! My dad was a policeman for 23 years and even he doesn't drive with them on during the day unless weather permits.

This is something that bugs both myself and my DH. We have a dark green car and a black car. The amount of times people have gone to pull out in front of our green car - which is a van! - simply because they didn't see it is unbelievable and this is on a bright, sunny day! As soon as it hit a certain time in the afternoon - which is about 4:15-4:30pm now - our headlights come on. I really wish other drivers would realise how invisible they are at times.

I do depending on the conditions. When our drive lights were still working they would be on all the time (they joy of auto-lights)

I did get flashed the other day when I had them on one morning due to it being a bit misty, it surprised me as I thought many drivers were getting used to the idea of using lights during the day. I do remember growing up how we would make fun of volvo drivers for having their lights on and it was seen as a common courtesy to flash other drivers who had their lights on during the day.

i tend to but often forget in good conditions. it worries me when people don't use them when it's ****ing down with rain, though. can't see a bloody thing!

Mine never go off but then I don't have to remember to turn them off either so Im not sure I would use them in daytime all the time if I couldn't just be lazy and leave them on all the time!

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Honestly never thought about it like that


Cat xox

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Me neither! I do in fog, dusk and dark..... One of our cars has an automatic feature that turns the lights on when it is overcast etc...

Mine are auto but sometimes they don't come on when I think they need to... So I put them on. The amount of times someone has pulled out in front of my light gold 4wd is crazy.

And car parks drive me insane as well - put your lights on!!!

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Mine are auto but sometimes they don't come on when I think they need to... So I put them on. The amount of times someone has pulled out in front of my light gold 4wd is crazy.

And car parks drive me insane as well - put your lights on!!!

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This, minus the light gold 4wd :p