Mine are always on while driving on two-lane roads.

I think the high beam deal came about due to more traffic, and
a higher chance of beaming eyeballs.. IE: if I tried to use brights
on many highways, I'd have to shut em off nearly as fast as I turned
them on.. But I still use em out on the 2 lane highways when there
is no traffic. That's more like 1950's driving, when the use of high
beams on the highways was a lot more common than it is now.
I remember way back, my dad would run with the brights on, more
than they were off. And the car we had then "1954 Pontiac" had one
of those electric eyes for the brights. I remember if the moon was low
in the sky, it would trip that thing when you topped hills and the
moon popped out. :/
The brights in my toy car are almost like landing lights.. Probably
the brightest high beams I've had on a car so far.

Daytime nice sunny day never have them on, raining, cloudy day, I always have them on.

When I owned a motorcycle, they were always on.

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Doesn't hasta call me Johnson

i can see better with my low beams. it has nothing to do with being too much trouble.
i live in a rural area, there are lots of bends and not a lot of oncoming traffic. i've lowered the aim point and still have not liked them. i can see much better with the low beam/driving light combo.

as far as the auto lights coming on too late, they usually come on before i would at night and are on in time in adverse conditions. the sensor is very sensitive.

When I bought my S-10 in '04 I was talking to some co-workers around the break table and we were talking about the windshield wiper law here in Missouri. I told them that I was glad to find out that my truck had an override for the automatic head/running lights because I kept wearing my wipers out because the lights were always on and figgered I'd need to run them to be within the law. I hate it when you try to make a joke like that and the jokees actually think you are serious. One of the ladies told me that I only had to run the wipers IF it was raining. I told her it was alright because if I push the dome override 4 times in 6 seconds, the lights go off. A friend of mine used to run his truck with the emergency brake pedal pushed down a click or two to shut off his running lights. I wonder if he had to replace his brake shoes as often as I, (allegedly), had to replace my wiper blades?
Peace,
gordon

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better have that checked

Why on earth would someone find a hoop to jump through to avoid using daytime running lights?

To actually run the ebrakes full time to avoid people maybe seeing you a little better seems kind of, well, odd. Is it simply devotion to function following form (like the large wheels and narrow profile tires that have become so popular)?

Having spent a good portion of my life in a police car and aboard a HD motor unit.....I like lights, the more lights the better.....big bass air horn is helpful also......it is amazing how many people are totally oblivious to what is going on around them as they drive.....I have run up on many "distracted" motorists when running lightbar, wig wags, grill flashers and wailer and hit the air horn time after time to get them to yield.....It get's much more interesting when on a motor unit.
Lights are great...but attentive driver's are even better.

I have a Japanese SUV with four light positions. "Off" does not mean off. It means secondary front lights on (but not the halogen bulbs) but no rear lights. There is also an "Auto" position that handles front lights the same way but turns on rear lights as well. There is a photosensor circuit that overrides any manual setting. You would never use one of these cars for discreet surveillance.

A previous Toyota sedan had most of the same functions. You could not turn off the big burners. I used to go out to Joshua Tree for comets and meteor showers, and I just hated the people who wouldn't turn their headlights off when they crawled their cars through popular observing spots. Now I know they were prisoners of design. They couldn't turn their lights off even if they wanted to!

The question of additional safety is not just a matter of personal opinion. There are statistical studies -- and were 40 years ago -- showing that daytime headlight use was associated with reduced fatalities and injuries in construction zones (remember when this country was still building roads?) and stretches of undivided highway. Canada has had mandatory daytime headlights for 30 years or more. I had to remember to keep mine on (and more importantly, turn them off when I stopped!) in a VW camper that I drove on my 1983 Yukon and NW Territories trip. Has anybody else here ever taken the narrow road to the deep north that terminates in Inuvik in the summer and Tuktoyaktuk in the winter?

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David Wilson

Hell, I just wish people would ride with their lights on at night.

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Forum consigliere

I have daytime running lights on my Chevy Silverado. Hate them. I turn the off everytime I get in the car. Daytime lights are silly and even a little dangerous. I had them on my 1996 Saturn years ago and you couldn't turn them off. Everytime I was behind somebody the reflection off the car in front of me would make it look like the person was hitting their brakes. Couldn't turn them off when you parked the car on a country road at night to see the stars.

These "safety concious" idiots are ruining and handicapping the country (seatbelts, knee pads, helmets, don't play outside in the sun, etc.). Back in the 50s and 60s it wasn't that they were ignorant and stupid they just weren't scared of life like our society is now. (the good old days weren't as "bad" as the "progressives" that think they're smarter than their parents and grandparents say)

The first part about thinking folks were on their brakes just tells me you were driving way too close. As for the second, they go off when you shut off the engine or usually when the parking brake is on. Not seeing any problems here except operator error.

I was working a large territory that included 4 western Canadian provinces in the late 80's.

I observed the daylight running lights than and recognized it for the nanny state **** that it is.

IMO, you may not agree, if you can't see 2 ~ 3 tons of steel moving, you best not be driving.

Driving isn't right for everybody and those that aren't up to it cause a lot of tragedy.

It's yet another example of the lowest common denominator solutions of the nanny state.

My wife was driving, it was pitch dark and she pulled onto our frontage road. The car was halfway into it's turn onto the road when a motorcycle with NO lights screamed past us like a fighter jet. He had nowhere to go because the side of the road is nothing but trees right up to the road. If we had been just a little more in the road, his name would be mud and he was going so fast I'm sure it would have badly damaged and injured us.