Why Won't People Use Their Headlights on Rainy Days?

[rte66man]

This is addressed to those who don't/won't use their headlights when it is raining. Applies equally to those who don't use them in dim light. I cannot come up with a rational explanation as to why you don't use your headlights in poor lighting conditions. Almost hit a silver car with no lights yesterday. He/she was almost invisible. With automatic lights being fairly standard these days, I don't get it. Do you not care or are you just lazy? I know Tennessee has a law requiring the use of headlights whenever windshield wipers are in use. We need that here.

[Ginkasa]

I imagine a lot of it has to do with the perception that headlights are more about enabling the driver to see what's in front him. The driver has no issues seeing the road or his surroundings, so why flip them on? Of course, the reality is headlights are as much (or even more, in the case of an urban center) about ensuring other people can see you.

[ljbab728]

This is interesting because it's something that I never worry about. My headlights are always on automatically when I'm driving and the light conditions are low. I never have to turn my lights on.

[jompster]

Mine automatically come on when the sunlight dims or when my wipers are engaged, so I never think of this. But on my last car, I almost always had them on. I agree that people need to be more proactive in using them in low-light situations. I'm not aware of any laws here, but I did get preached at by an officer friend of mine for having my fog lights on when there was no fog. Apparently that's an issue lol.

[Brett]

This is addressed to those who don't/won't use their headlights when it is raining. Applies equally to those who don't use them in dim light. I cannot come up with a rational explanation as to why you don't use your headlights in poor lighting conditions. Almost hit a silver car with no lights yesterday. He/she was almost invisible. With automatic lights being fairly standard these days, I don't get it. Do you not care or are you just lazy? I know Tennessee has a law requiring the use of headlights whenever windshield wipers are in use. We need that here.

I agree with your frustration. What most people do not know is that the automatic headlight turn on feature that is installed in most vehicles does not apply to tail lights. People are only half-way in compliance with having their lights on when they rely on the automatic headlight feature during daylight hours. What good is having your headlights on when the idiot behind you plows into you because they could not see you because your tail lights were not on?

[baralheia]

I have literally never heard of automatic headlights /not/ turning on exterior marker lamps. I know for a fact that in GM vehicles, Twilight Sentinel (the automatic headlight feature) does indeed turn on exterior marker lights when it commands the headlights on - exactly the same as if you had manually turned them on. Twilight Sentinel does not take into account the current time, only that conditions observed by the sensor on the dashboard require exterior lighting to be commanded on. I would be extremely surprised if other manufacturers allowed their automatic headlight feature to selectively control exterior marker lights independently from the headlights.

I too absolutely hate it when people drive around with fog lights on when there's zero fog. It's like driving past someone with their high beams on.

[Jersey Boss]

I believe there is some cross talk going on here between DRL's (Daytime Running Lights) and the auto on feature of headlights when daylight recedes. The tail lights do not illuminate when DRL's are on, but do when the auto headlight feature kicks in. Not all manufactures equip their products with DRL's. GM does, Ford doesn't.

[bchris02]

This is addressed to those who don't/won't use their headlights when it is raining. Applies equally to those who don't use them in dim light. I cannot come up with a rational explanation as to why you don't use your headlights in poor lighting conditions. Almost hit a silver car with no lights yesterday. He/she was almost invisible. With automatic lights being fairly standard these days, I don't get it. Do you not care or are you just lazy? I know Tennessee has a law requiring the use of headlights whenever windshield wipers are in use. We need that here.

I agree.

Oklahoma City is also the only place that I regularly see people driving at night with no headlights. It's dangerous. Do the police here not enforce it?

[Urbanized]

My last five vehicles (four Fords, one Nissan) all had auto-lamps, and every one of them had tail/marker lamps come on when activated. I think as mentioned above the previous poster was confusing always-on DRLs with auto-lamps. It's perfectly appropriate for DRLs not to include tails because ostensibly they should only be on during the day, in bright conditions.

[rezman]

My GM pickup's headlights come on automatically when the ignition is turned on no matter what the lighting conditions. However, the lights can be manually overridden during the daytime if desired.

Canada has had a mandatory daytime headlight use law for years. Long before automatic lighting systems.

[Jersey Boss]

Canada has mandatory DRL's, like your GM. DRL's are not as bright as the headlights. Your headlights and DRL's have different intensities.

[Urbanized]

My GM pickup's headlights come on automatically when the ignition is turned on no matter what the lighting conditions...

When I said DRLs are only on in bright conditions I mean that in non-bright conditions they would be superseded by auto lamps.

[TexanOkie]

I find myself having to physically turn my lights on sometimes, even though they're usually set on the automatic setting--especially when it's raining in mid-afternoon. I think the light sensor that turns my lights on needs it to be darker than gray skies and rain.

[u50254082]

I think you're all assuming that everyone who drives isn't blind.

[rezman]

Canada has mandatory DRL's, like your GM. DRL's are not as bright as the headlights. Your headlights and DRL's have different intensities.

I'm not sure about Canada's laws in relation to DRL's, but long before automatic headlights and DRL's, headlights had to be switched on at all times on that side of the border, which would still apply today. So automatic DRL's and headlights in later model vehicles would make sense.

Edited: correction... This truck may in fact have DRL's. But there is very little difference, if any, in intensity when switched off and over to headlight position. This is what made me think otherwise, but I may stand corrected.

[Anonymous.]

The law in Oklahoma says you don't have to use headlights 30 minutes before official sunrise, and 30 minutes after official sunset.

However, I have never heard of anyone getting a citation for this. It is usually only used as an excuse to pull someone over to fish for other crimes.

[Just the facts]

I have a FIAT 500L and the tail lights come on when my DRL's are on. I also have the ability to deactivate the DRL's completely.

[ctchandler]

JTF,
My Mercury has DRL's that I have to enable. It's a little bit of a pain, so I have never done it. As to the subject of this thread, my headlights come on in the rain unless the sun is shining brightly and I'm getting some "on the edge of the storm" rain. Also, when my lights come on automatically, day or night, the rear lights and park lights are on as well.
C. T.

[Just the facts]

C.T. - My DRL's are controlled by a setting in the car's computer. I can set them to on - and they will come on every time I start the car. If I set them to off they will never come on. I only found this setting (they came from the dealer enabled) because when I drove for Uber I would sometimes leave my car running while I sat in a parking space. Even with my headlights off, the DRL and tail lights were still on. I turned the setting to off because people would stop behind me thinking I was getting ready to back out.

As for the main topic, using headlights in the rain - I don't get why people don't do it either. To me it is just part of my internal self-preservation mechanism. I can't figure out why people walk at night in dark clothes either, but I see joggers doing it all the time - and no telling how many I don't see doing it.

[PhiAlpha]

I imagine that in a lot of cases, drivers with automatic headlights have gotten so used to the sensors turning the headlights on for them that they forget to turn them on in situations where visibility is low but it Isnt dark enough for the sensors to activated them. I've caught myself in this situation a few times.

[Uptowner]

The real question is why don't people use their turn signals?????? AAAaaAHGGghh!

[Just the facts]

The real question is why don't people use their turn signals?????? AAAaaAHGGghh!

Because the other drivers like to keep you guessing.

[Martin]

Because the other drivers like to keep you guessing.

[MagzOK]

I believe there is some cross talk going on here between DRL's (Daytime Running Lights) and the auto on feature of headlights when daylight recedes. The tail lights do not illuminate when DRL's are on, but do when the auto headlight feature kicks in. Not all manufactures equip their products with DRL's. GM does, Ford doesn't.

Ford actually does equip their vehicles with them. You have to have the shop activate them. Believe it or not, there are Ford service departments that don't even know their vehicles come equipped with them. When we switched from our Tahoe to our Flex one of the things I liked was the safety the DRLs provided to my wife when tooling around town with the kids. I read that in Canada DRLs are required by law and it is because of this that Ford does so on all cars manufactured on North America. When they're delivered to Canada the dealers activate them. Not sure why Ford doesn't automatically do that here. Anyhow, the service department where we bought the vehicle was adamant that the Flex (or their other cars) didn't have them. At the direction of someone on another forum I took it to another Ford service department in town who indeed knew exactly what to do and activated them in no time for free.

[rezman]

^^^ On my Silverado, unlike older models where you can physically see the separate DRL's in the headlight assemblies, ( picture the many famous one eyed DRL GM trucks running around town in the early 2000's) there are none on my truck. It acts like it either has dual element bulbs or it's the actual low beam headlights.. Being somewhat of a car guy you'd think I would know about this on my own truck, but I honestly never paid much attention to it till now.