Protocol for driving with lights on
 

With the days getting shorter, and the sun taking its own sweet time to show its sleepy face to us mortals up here in the north, the time spent driving in the dark with lights on is increasing every day. I usually start my day at 5am....till about a month or so ago, it used to be dawn, but now it's pitch dark till about 7am.

In view of the above, I'd like to ask you good folks about the correct and legal way of driving in the dark with the headlights on....should I turn on all the lights, including the fog lamps, or just the basic head lamps & running lights ?

I'll kick you in the nuts if you use your high beams while I'm on the road. No, seriously, I'll do it.

Apparently someone gave Skywalker the ole bright lights recently.

Fog lights are fine if you want them but please make sure they are aimed correctly. They should pointed at the road and aimed closer to the truck than normal headlights.

I drive with my headlamps on at all times. Both my cars have daytime running lights (DRL). When I was OTR, I drove with my headlamps on, per company policy. I would have done so anyways. I'm a firm believer in daytime headlamp usage.

I found my Blazer, which has automatic headlamps/DRL, has a nifty feature which comes in handy for courtesy flashes. Pushing the dome override button near the headlamp switch 4 times disables the automatic headlamps and DRL. When I drive on the highway at night, I disable the auto headlamps and run the light switch manually, that way if I give a courtesy flash to a trucker to change lanes, I can do it without the high beams. 8)

No such luck with my VW Jetta, though it's been relegated to beater status and I never take it on the highway so it really doesn't matter. :wink:

if it is dark turn lights on, if it is day you can turn them off. if it is raining or snowing, turn them on. most states have wipers on lights on laws. and i think most states are 30 min before sunset and 30 min after sunrise.

And for petes sake turn the spotlight off going down the road! I see too many drivers with it on there should be a speed sensor 25mph and spotlight goes off.

It happens all the time.... and whats worse is that some of the people are doing it intentionally. Whats even worse than that is that some truck drivers do it as well. :x Makes me wish I had a laser cannon.... :lol:

They may be fine....but they need to be aimed properly. Plus, when a truck is passing someone....if they are aimed wrong, as in way too high....then what happens is the driver being passed ends up blinded, and that "sucks". And yes it happened to me recently.....and what made it even worse.... it was an independent owner operator or his lackey driver who did it.

Swift drivers can't seem to find the off switch for the fog lights.....but an O/O should at least have a clue.

But...to me, there is precious little reason to have fog lights on, unless they are "actually needed" in fog.... 8)

...and for Gods sake, don't run with just your parking lights on, you don't look cool and it's illegal. :evil:

A fairly good indicator if you need your headlights on, other than in bad weather, is if you need your dash lights on to easily read your gauges, or if you can see you dash lights when they are turned all the way up. If you can then you should have your headlights on.