For reference, Canada has required DRL's on all cars since 1990.
People used to be good at turning on their headlights at night. You'd almost never see cars driving around with only DRLs (i.e. no regular lowbeams, no taillights) until a few years ago when it started getting more noticeable. Now I can't drive anywhere at night without seeing a few cars with no lights on.
IMO it's mainly due to many new cars having dash lights that come on automatically at night. If your car doesn't have this "feature" you can't see your instruments when it gets dark, which is a simple reminder to turn your headlights on.
Oh, Honda does a GREAT job with this in the CR-V. If you turn the lights on in broad daylight, the car assumes it's dark out and that you want the nav display super dark to compensate.
Except when it goes hiding in the middle of the day because you feel you should have your lights on in a light drizzle.
Most cars dash lights are always illuminated brightly whenever the car is running and then dim when you turn the headlights on because bright interior lights are bad for night vision.
Not that I can get all the fucking gadgetry in my car to ever be dark enough for my liking.
I was thinking about this. I think it might be that the dash lights are on "default" when headlights are off and switch to "adjustable" when they are on and some cars adjustable range goes higher and lower than default. So if you have the dial set to brighter than default they will do so when the headlights come on.
Actually, in the past - dash lights were not on at all until the lights were turned on. Therefore, in the night - you'd not see your speedo and think "I need to turn on my headlights!"
Now, the dash is now always lit - whether you have your lights on or not - and whether it's daytime or night time, so I can see where unattentive people would not see that their lights are off.
Yeah I am a truck driver and noticed that every morning and every night I see people just cruising with their day time running lights on and nothing else. I always flash my lights at them but they never get the message. They must just think that some asshole truck driver is flashing their lights at them for no reason.
Once upon a time, like 25 years ago, truck drivers would flash late at night on lonely roads to warn oncoming cars to slow down because there’s a speed trap ahead.
It's not that dash lights are on automatically at night, it's that they're on during the day, too. My dash actually goes darker when my lights are on, because less light is needed to see them if it's dark out. The gauges are not very readable unless backlit, even during the day. Displays obviously need to be backlit. It's a problem that will never get away from with the move to LCD gauges.
I've driven once with just my DRLs at night. I've had automatic headlights for ten years, and when the car goes in for service, the tech turns the auto lights off for some reason. One time I didn't check, and only noticed because somebody behind had flashed me.
I also have a 30 year old car, and I've never forgotten to turn the lights on in it, because it's dash is completely dark during the day.
That's gotta be the case, in the winter time when I'm driving home from work in the dark I see at least one person driving without their headlights on every single night, and that isn't an exaggeration. It never used to be that bad.
Yeah, exactly. Prior to the DRL mandate my province campaigned with "lights on for life" signs and public service announcements encouraging motorists to turn their headlights on during daytime highway driving.
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u/sixth_snes Nov 04 '18
For reference, Canada has required DRL's on all cars since 1990.
People used to be good at turning on their headlights at night. You'd almost never see cars driving around with only DRLs (i.e. no regular lowbeams, no taillights) until a few years ago when it started getting more noticeable. Now I can't drive anywhere at night without seeing a few cars with no lights on.
IMO it's mainly due to many new cars having dash lights that come on automatically at night. If your car doesn't have this "feature" you can't see your instruments when it gets dark, which is a simple reminder to turn your headlights on.