do what, the light thing! a few do. just not all of us like driving modern cars, and some just cant afford modern
craigsmith,
May 17, 2:54pm
Park lights and side lights frequently double as the same thing. On my Ford the park lights and the side lights are the same, but with two dash positions. The "park" position does not work when the ignition is on and deactivates the internal dash and rear license plate illumination.
So the criticism of "park lights" is probably a bit off.
Side lights are smart. They illuminate your car's corners in less than perfect conditions.
However driving around with only them at night is just retarded.
Driving around with fogs (including the daytime) when there's no fog is equally stupid. That includes you # 10.
pandai,
May 17, 8:38pm
Now is this the "blinding all road users" type of foglight or the "my cutoff is one foot high and I don't blind anyone" type of foglight, or both!
tuttyclan,
May 17, 9:16pm
Driving around Auckland Airport at night, so many people driving around with no lights.Even taxis with no lights-imagine being a passenger driving accoss Auckland with no lights!.
modie61,
May 17, 9:26pm
What are the park lights for anyway !
unbeatabull,
May 17, 9:47pm
Ive noticed mainly its older folk and and women and men in their business suits busy talking away on their phones that generally don't turn their lights on. Also the same people who indicate right when going straight through a roundabout and not indicating when merging lanes on the other side!
pandai,
May 17, 9:53pm
Park lights used to be left on overnight by people parking their cars in narrow streets, so that other cars saw them.Some European cars will have a function where you can turn the park lights on and leaving the indicator stalk to say, turn left, will leave only the left park lights on.
Man, in today's atrocious Christchurch weather there are heaps of knobs without their lights on, hard to see them, though even with my lights on I still had to thump the brakes twice, for a cyclist that turned in front of me and a car that pulled out in front of me.
fordcrzy,
May 17, 11:34pm
what cracks me up is that these morons dont even think "hey all the cars coming towards me have thier lights on, maybe i should put mine on too" how THICK do you have to be to not notice that.imagine if everyone on the street was wearing a pink hat.would you think "i wonder why they are wearing those"
gadgetman,
May 18, 12:44am
Road code is not clear enough on using of the lights, so there is so much confusion and different practices by drivers. They are park lights, which means if you are parked with them your vehicle is more visible on the roadside. Just see for yourself which one you see first on the distance! The vehicle or the lights first! In case of those dim parking lights you see the vehicle first and then when it comes about 15 meters on front of you, you see it has those dim sidemarker or parking lights on.
gadgetman,
May 18, 12:55am
The reason I am so aware of this is because my dad hit a train which had dimmed lights and luckily survived. The other 3 officers he chauffeured were killed. It was during WWII in Finland when everybody including trains had to drive with dimmed lights to avoid enemy air planes spotting them. It was a snowstorm and he was part of a convoy crossing the tracks. So other thing he told us kids is alwayslook both ways twice before crossing railway tracks.
myates,
May 18, 1:11am
Yeah that would be my first thought, then I would come to the conclusion that it was a gay parade or just a whole lot of ford crazy people in one place, at which point I would gap it.
craigsmith,
May 18, 3:42am
Both, fog lights create glare on the road regardless of their high cut off, and in the right scenario can properly blind someone. That's why it's illegal to use them without cause.
Just wish someone would tell the cops.
studio1,
May 18, 8:47am
People who drive with their park lights on during daylight or reduced visibility hours annoy the sh*t out of me. Now I am not normally one for cussin', but whenever I see a dickhead coming towards me with their park lights on (and I usually don't see them til the last second) I almost always say out loud "turn ya farkin lights on!"I fail to understand what the aversion is that so many people have to actually using their headlights during these conditions. The park lights get turned on early, then by the time it's really dark they've forgotten that they haven't actually turned their headlights on and they're driving around in the dark with just their park lights. It's just lunacy. Ok, they may be referred to as 'marker lamps' but their primary purpose is showing the dimensions/presence of the vehicle when it is STATIONARY, especially at night. They are not designed to highlight the presence of the vehicle while it is moving, even during low light conditions. They're just not bright enough for that.
henderson_guy,
May 18, 9:03am
Please, can you explain tome how low washing fog lights can cause a problem for other motorists! I put fog lights on my last car, and they were brilliant at night as they illuminated the road directly in front of me and improved my peripheral vision, whereas the headlights were focused more up the road. Never have I had an issue with cars with foglights coming towards me. Just curious as to your thoughts
pandai,
May 18, 9:21am
I am still not convinced.
The fogs on our cars have a sharp cutoff that sits about a foot high.
The dipped headlights will blind people to the left of my car (that is, everyone at the other side of a large sweeping corner)
I am more often blinded by headlights (usually badly focused) than other lamps.
If I'm ever hassled about it by a police officer I will play ignorance, as they're factory wired to the park/headlights anyway
flockton55,
May 18, 12:14pm
After some years of driving in UK, where low visibility and bad weather are (really) more common than in NZ, I like their practice: Wipers on! Lights ON! So I always put my lights on during rain, or when light is low or visibility limited. I agree with all the above posters about those in grey cars without lights being dangerously invisible.Note that it's illegal to use fog lights when there is no fog. This was important in UK because cars there have rear fog lights too, which are like permanently on super bright brake lights.If not in fog they are really blinding.
craigsmith,
May 18, 2:00pm
The legality of fog lights has nothing to do with the rears, although that's probably stupid enough that it will get you pulled over by the cops even in NZ. Most cars with rear fogs have two settings, front only or front + rear. Really if you legitimately need fog lights on, then it's probably wise to put the rears on too to improve your rearward visibility particularly on higher speed roads where you're likely to get some dildo come up behind you too fast.
To above. It creates a diffuse glare on the road with a wide flood, unlike a thin focused forward pointing beam (dipped headlights). The reflected light is multi-directional and this glare in the right conditions, particularly with a bit of water on the road surface, is dangerous. You don't want to be some poor bastard on a motorbike with a wet visor coming into a corner and around the bend the other way comes some twat with their super bright look-at-me-I-have-foglights-on- -but-there's-no-fog lamps bouncing off the tarmac. The road can disappear in a haze of glare. The only thing worse is the same situation but the twat in question has gone super-twat with chav blue fog lights (or even HIDs).
It's the law. For a reason, whether you buy it or not. So please start obeying it.
The purpose of day time running lights is to make the car more visible to other road users. The lights should 'highlight' the vehicle and shouldn't cause a distraction to other motorists. Normal headlights can cause a problem if they are not aligned correctly causing unwanted glare in the eyes of oncoming drivers. When it is wet, it is even worse, with the bright lights reflecting off the wet road surface can easily hide cyclists and pedestrian, as they disappear into the shadows. Add to that street lights as well all adding to the mix. Fog lights are designed to light up the side and centre line of the road. Any light is better than no light. but there is also those who may benefit from an eye test as well.
gadgetman,
Aug 23, 6:33am
The conventional parking lights or sidemarker lights if you prefer, do not highlight a moving vehicle. To avoid glare at night keep your eyes peeled to the left looking at the white line on left. I have fog lights on my van but do not use them much as I find I see without them. I do use rear fog light occasionally when the tailgaters come too close.
gadgetman,
Aug 23, 6:38am
I have observed that majority, perhaps 2/3 of the drivers driving with parking lights on are women. Why is that! Don't call me sexist or anything as you can check this yourself. Someone needs to do a proper survey perhaps!
mugenb20b,
Aug 23, 6:57am
Why are you responding to a three month old thread!
gbbrot,
Aug 23, 10:16am
What's it like to be so much better than the other drivers that don't switch their lights on when they DON'T HAVE TO! Does it make you feel so much superior that you know better than them!
ashwattau,
Aug 24, 6:04am
crikey. if you can't see another car in plain daylight then how on earth are you going to pay attention to a cyclist, a pedestrian, or anything else on the road that isn't lit up like a christmas tree!
gadgetman,
Aug 24, 10:37am
When I was a kid in Finland, we had small reflectors looking like Xmas tree or a snow flake. Those made pedestrians walking in the dark much easier to spot in darkness. Cyclists have nowadays good flashing lights so they can be seen half a kilometre away. For fast moving vehicle like cars you need good lights to be seen. Particularly important for those gray coloured small cars which at a short glance blend in to the road like chameleon.
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