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It's time to mandate automatic headlights, imo (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Sometimes I have to drive after dark in my city, and it never fails that if I drive any appreciable distance that I always see at least one person (often more) driving with their lights off. I do not need to tell y'all why this is dangerous. We're a community of enthusiasts. We know. Plenty of us are driving older cars that predate the tech.

It's not like they don't mandate lots of shit already. Seatbelts, head restraints, airbags, and backup cameras are some of the most sensible things ever required for cars to have. Why are automatic headlights not on this list? There also needs to exist a mandate whereby the lights turn on if the driver turns on the wipers. Because if you need your wipers, you need your lights too. It's common freaking sense.

Your headlights aren't just for seeing, but for being seen. Ambient light sensors are so cheap that they end up in midrange TVs all the time. I blame the backlit gauges and myriad other interior lights. Ergo, it's time to mandate automatic headlights. There's no reason not to.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Canada has had it mandatory since 1989, It is a good thing to have multi-ton objects whizzing around you clearly marked.

It's like the third last thing you'd ever want to sneak up and catch you off guard.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I love that we have this but they are not at full brightness and I still see people driving with only these daytime headlights at night with no parking or rear lights.

I'm assuming they have digital cluster on these newer cars which are on all the time, unlike older cars where the instrument cluster is dark when only the daytimes are on and it kind of says hey dummy your lights are off, let's turn them all on and at full brightness too!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I daily a '97 Prelude. If I can't see my gauges, it's a pretty good indicator that my lights should be on. Like I said in the post, it's the backlit gauges and other interior lights. I don't blame the drivers. I blame the half dozen screens the manufacturers seem to think we just cannot live without these days. And that's one reason why I daily a 90s car.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Love the vintage. I drive a 97 Volvo 850 and 2000 F150. They have nice analog turn controls and guages.

I agree with you. I love most tech but I do not think screens are the way to go in a vehicle. They look nice on Star Trek NG or in a video game but they aren't safe in a car especially as we expect older generations that aren't use to the tech to scroll and punch through menus while driving to turn off their heated seats or adjust the temperature.

I don't know for how long I can buy older cars without screen or too many push buttons. Even after 12 years I still need to look down at the buttons on my 11 Ford Fusion to figure out which is the defrost or the heater selection controls.

I'm thankful to read the manufacturers are starting to realize they have gone too far with some of these things and are planning to dial it back some in the future. I suspect they still see it as another change they can sell

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

For some reason, I love the irregular ti-tick, ti-tick, ti-tick of analog turn signals.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Same here. I still recall falling half asleep as a child in the back seat of older cars and that sound being apart of it as your parents drove home in silence.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I have a 2023 Outlander and am incredibly glad that Mitsubishi used real physical buttons and knobs for all driving, safety, and comfort controls.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That reminds me of a nice blend of knobs and tech that Dodge and Jeep were using just a few years ago. I really liked the blend they had in a couple of the rental cars I used.

What type of guages do you have?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Gauges are a fully digital 12" display, plus a heads up display for speedometer and navigation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

once square, simple, and most importantly, small cars come back, i will think about "upgrading". but until then my 02 Yaris will wait for its "historical" registration (in germany we get a "H" behind the text on our number plate when the car is 30(?) years old and is in a certain condition. this means i pay less taxes and get to go in "environmental zones" where older cars typically aren't allowed)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I still see people driving with only these daytime headlights at night with no parking or rear lights.

One of them was probably my ex.