NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/rec/autos/driving/7625

Text File | 1993-01-25 | 2.8 KB | 54 lines

Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!torn!newshost.uwo.ca!gaul.csd.uwo.ca!morton
From: [e-mail] (Brent Morton)
Subject: Re: Carlights in Norway
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 05:00:29 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Petri A Karonen) writes:
>>>    In my (and many others) opinion, driving with the lights on all day
>>>and night, summer and winter is the best solution. It helps a lot if you
>>>for example meet a car, and you have the sun right into your eyes, and as
>>>usual, a very dirty and scratched front-screen. I guess you know how it's
>>>like. The same rules are in practise in Sweden and a lot of other North-
>>>European contries. I don't know how things are in USA, but I guess there are
>>>different rules in different states.
>>
>>We have the same system in Canada, and you're right, it really is the best
>>solution. All new cars have had to have daytime running lights since November,
>>1989, and when I drive a car that doesn't have automatic lights, I turn them
>>on myself.
>>
>In the German autobahns it is strictly forbidden to use headlights
>during daylight. I think one reason for this is to make braking lights
>more visible. When driving 250kph it is very useful to see as quickly
>as possible if somebody is braking in front of you!

I live part of the year in Wiesbaden (near Frankfurt aM) and have driven in
Europe for quite a while. Never once have I heard that lights during the day
are forbidden on autobahns. The problem with driving with headlights in
Germany is that drivers ahead of you think you're being purposely annoying in
order to get them to pull over faster, instead of following tradition, which
is to flash lights, or turn on the left turn signal. Very rarely will you see
someone driving 250 km/h, or get up to anything over 200, because of traffic.
I don't think having your headlights on affects visibility of brake lights,
especially on cars with a brake light in the rear window as all North American
cars and many new European cars do.

>Using headlights in daylight is useful only on two-lane roads where the
>lights help to see the oncoming traffic, on multi-lane freeways they are
>useless and even dangerous.

Not dangerous. Perhaps not as useful, especially on a sunny day, but when it
clouds over, you stand a much better chance of being seen in somebody's mirror
before they pull out to pass, if you've got lights on.

-- Brent
[e-mail]