Automatic 'indicators' on vans & cars

[alastairq]

Those auto dipping headlights!!
A total pain in the butt for oncoming drivers. [which both govts and makers don't seem to care two hoots about?]
Simply because they only dip, once an oncoming headlight is detected..thus the oncoming driver gets a very brief , blinding flash of a full beam!
Whereas, with an alert driver, one can often see the loom of oncoming headlamps around bends or brows, before they actually come into view, thus dipping their headlights before the oncoming driver actually sees them.

Then there's those who park at night in urban areas, facing the 'wrong' way..with their headlights lit on dip beam, totally unaware that dip beam points down, & to the left [in the UK]....which, if facing the wrong way, is right into the eyeline of any drivers approaching..Very lacking in thoughtfulness.

 

[alastairq]

I have often posted on my local town's facebook pages, asking drivers to cease forthwith, thanking me for giving them priority, by flashing their main beam headlights, not 15 feet right in front of my eyes.
It ruddy well hurts...but they don't care, or don't realise....I would rather they didn't thank me at all...after all, I usually only give priority if it eventually will assist me! [Good old hairy backsided bus driver coming out again]


So, if you lot of wealthy-to-do fellows and folks have a habit of flashing your main beam headlamp flashers right in front of folks saying 'thank you' would in fact, cease & desist forthwith, the practice..which has zero legal standing anyway.....I, for one, would be pleasantly grateful....

 

[Osgood]

Can we change the title of this thread to "The Waldorf and Staedler Thread"?

Well ok if you insist - Mr. Statler is henceforth gone:

 

[alastairq]

Citroen swivelling-loon headlights?

I recall, the Citroen rally drivers disabling those systems, as they were totally useless,pointing in entirely the wrong direction when opposite-locking around bends...

 

[Heather Kay]

habit of flashing your main beam headlamp flashers

I do it when I’m too far away for a hand signal. (There’s one residential street a short way away that’s also a bus route and has a GP surgery with tons of cars parked willynilly. So often one needs to give way to oncoming traffic as it squeezes by.)

When I have headlights on, I dip to sidelights as a signal rather than full beam.

I'm not looking forward to replacing my 2008 jalopey with anything more modern. I’ve got ABS, electronic stability, tiptronic automatic box, power steering, a dumb stereo and air conditioning. I wish I had cruise control, but the original owner failed to specify that. I don’t want lane assist, braking assist, not-looking-where-I’m-going assist… my word, we are a bunch of grumblies, aren’t we!

 

[alastairq]

When I have headlights on, I dip to sidelights as a signal rather than full beam.

Thank you, so very very much!
It's something I do, and it confuses the 'ell out of the average numbskull drivers out there.

Perhaps there's a case for headlamp flashers to NOT use main beam, but..if dipped beam headlamps are already lit, then why didn't they go to make use of the once required dim/dip device, and simply flash teh dipped headlamps at a reduced voltage?
Of course, that would not suit the Audibmwobbly drivers who like to flash their headlamps t get one out of their more terribly important way, would it.

 

[Osgood]

Me too, dip to sidelights - and saves sometimes inadvertently washing the screen....(different vehicles, different sides )

 

[alastairq]

Top tip to ancient pensioneer in Lidls the other day.....She was bemoaning the 'price' of a can of screen wash fluid....to me, of all people....
I suggested the odd splash of flash general cleaner, watter and a goodly splash of purple meths to keep things fluid.
She liked that idea immensely. Apparently she had a good stock of purple meths at home...
I found it works splendidly, and if timed correctly, deters others from tailgating my daily dwivver..

Nothing like the strong smell of meths creeping through their ventilation inlets...to make them drop back a good deal.....Almost as good as following too close behind a tank full of 10 tonnes of pig shyte? [Even better, if it has a dripping tail pipe?]

 

[Heather Kay]

As I said, I drive an automatic. I've been driving auto since the mid-1990s. I make a point of learning how my vehicle behaves, and how to get the best from the auto box under many conditions.

Consequently, I can give tailgaters a hard time, simply because I anticipate, read the road ahead, mind-read other road users, and know how and when to lift off the gas to allow the car to slow down. Brakes? What are they?

My favourite is the journey from the local supermarket back to base. It has very tiny roundabouts, and an ascent up a steep hill. I can drive the whole journey without once touching my brakes. It's quite amazing how quickly a safe stopping distance opens up behind me.

 

[Eastsidepilot]

As I said, I drive an automatic. I've been driving auto since the mid-1990s. I make a point of learning how my vehicle behaves, and how to get the best from the auto box under many conditions.

Consequently, I can give tailgaters a hard time, simply because I anticipate, read the road ahead, mind-read other road users, and know how and when to lift off the gas to allow the car to slow down. Brakes? What are they?

My favourite is the journey from the local supermarket back to base. It has very tiny roundabouts, and an ascent up a steep hill. I can drive the whole journey without once touching my brakes. It's quite amazing how quickly a safe stopping distance opens up behind me.

Steve McQueen was asked by his mechanic after finishing a race "how's the brakes" McQueen answered " Dunno, never used 'em".

Like you Heather I hardly use them until you need to stop, I had new discs and pads at 38,000 on the Jeep and I've just had new front discs and pads fitted at 112,000. I think that's value for money !

Col.

 

[KHC2442]

Well my latest car has auto dipping led lights. When I first got it I was flashed constantly. But no I get very few flashes. What did I do I used the beam leveller on the dash board set the lights slightly lower no problems. Mind you I have a few other items I do look a lot the HUD is great. But the real plus is the heated and cooled front seats and the heated steering wheel.

Keith also has a motorbike licence.

 

[alastairq]

What did I do I used the beam leveller on the dash board

OOH, yet another beeeef...remembered because it affected me last night.

Namely, people who tow caravans, which will bear down on their car's rear suspension. They fail to account for this by adjusting their headlights accordingly [often an easy matter of finding the switch, and moving it?]
When they get flashed by all the oncoming vehicles, they cannot understand why! After all, they're on dip beams, what more do others need?
Will they get pulled? Will they eckersloike...

 

[alastairq]

Keith also has a motorbike licence.

So does Alastair...but he can't get his leg over one anymore...Not without the aid of one of those horse mounting stones? Also, nowhere to secure a small step ladder on most bikes these days...

 

[alastairq]

heated steering wheel.

Hope it has a thermostat.....