Winter driving

[etcallhome]

Most of the country of the last couple of weeks have had bad, bad weather.

If not major snow storm, hard rains, fog

We were talking last evening at the Church Program ,saying,wonder who will show up tonight. Roads are so bad. Someone else said 30-40 yrs ago 15-18" was nothing and all would have showed up somehow , very few had 4 x4, AWD, trucks ,Suv or cars.
But we did have Chains, and Winter tires not All Season tires.
That is why They are called Winter tires for driving in the SNOW and Ice
One other thing that needs to done for every ones safety!!!

PLEASE TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS DRL YOU DO NOT HAVE TAIL LIGHTS WITH DRL.....(daytime driving lights) Follow someone in a major snow storm,fog or heavy downspour that only have there DRL....Autolights DO NOT TURN YOUR HEADLIGHTS AT TIMES WHEN THEY ARE REALLY NEEDED,
and please Do Not Text or send,read,messages while driving down the highway!

Merry Christmas to all !!

Happy New Year
Have fun and be safe !!!!!!!!!!

 

[dave1949]

Most of the country of the last couple of weeks have had bad, bad weather.

If not major snow storm, hard rains, fog

We were talking last evening at the Church Program ,saying,wonder who will show up tonight. Roads are so bad. Someone else said 30-40 yrs ago 15-18" was nothing and all would have showed up somehow , very few had 4 x4, AWD, trucks ,Suv or cars.
But we did have Chains, and Winter tires not All Season tires.
That is why They are called Winter tires for driving in the SNOW and Ice
One other thing that needs to done for every ones safety!!!

PLEASE TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS DRL YOU DO NOT HAVE TAIL LIGHTS WITH DRL.....(daytime driving lights) Follow someone in a major snow storm,fog or heavy downspour that only have there DRL....Autolights DO NOT TURN YOUR HEADLIGHTS AT TIMES WHEN THEY ARE REALLY NEEDED,
and please Do Not Text or send,read,messages while driving down the highway!

Merry Christmas to all !!

Happy New Year
Have fun and be safe !!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to you too!
Good tip on the lights. I like the Euro-style extra bright tail lamp that can be switched on for foggy, heavy rain or snow times. Wish they would make those standard on cars here.

Also, for younger TBN'ers, after 50 or so, people start losing their night vision gradually. We just don't see as well as we used to in low light conditions. Beware of the old fa*ts behind you

Dave.

 

[etcallhome]

I agree with the Euro-style very good idea.....Sorry for this next commit but I think it was because of the Canadian Gov. and GM cars being sold and made in Canada and Someone at GM thought DRL was such a great safety item.
I told Honda when I bought mine in 06 I didn't want DRL turned on ,and there reply was it is safety feature..I asked the salesman if I had to and he said no. I replied I'm not dumb enough to have them connected. He wanted to know why I didn't want to keep my family safer.....I asked him to think back the last time he was driving on the interstate or a 4 or more lane highway and it was raining ,snowing or foggy.... Now then how many cars could you see coming up behind him either in passing or slow lane .and then that car went by him. How many cars or trucks did not have tail lights on the back of there vehicle. Each one that had some kind of lights on front of car and none on rear was DRL...... Auto lights do not turn them on I would say 2 out of 10 cars when the above conditions exist. Honda's turn headlights on turn the switch off remove keys from switch lights go out...Why do you need DRL ???

All GM and all the others would have to do is like Dave1949 was saying if they would have The Euro type light at least one light Drivers side on rear of car is on brighter than the regular tail light not as bright as the brake light. Plus you know if you come up behind this car in really bad driving conditions you know that is the drivers side of the car. Simple fix for all car companies, but it would cost maybe $.50 per car.....As far as I'm concerned every car made since DRL was first installed need to corrected .

Just my 2 cents
Have fun and be safe !!! At least try

 

[gerard]

Merry Christmas to you too!
Good tip on the lights. I like the Euro-style extra bright tail lamp that can be switched on for foggy, heavy rain or snow times. Wish they would make those standard on cars here.

Also, for younger TBN'ers, after 50 or so, people start losing their night vision gradually. We just don't see as well as we used to in low light conditions. Beware of the old fa*ts behind you

Dave.

My volvo has those

 

[irvingj]

Yes! Speaking of lights and safety.... I agree 100% about the DRL with no taillights- really a potentially dangerous situaton.

Then there are drivers with "camougflaged" cars --silver, dark colors-- that drive in low-light conditions with NO lights on! I think people just don't realize how well a silver car blends in with a wet road on a foggy morning. 40 years ago in Scandinavia, it was a law that if you had your wipers on you had to have headlights on as well.... I see NY now has a similar law; why not the rest of the country?

And my favorite peeve.... (sorry!) the "fog" lights that many newer cars come with- folks never turn 'em off!! They switch to low beam, and you're suddenly faced with a wall of light. I also suspect no one ever checks the aim of those fog lights. When someone's behind me and it's bright enough to cast a strong shadow of my head on my car's ceiling.... ARRGH! Too bad there couldn't be a fairly bright indicator light on the dash when the fog lights are on....

Apologies-- I just had to rant!

Oh- my daughter's Volvo has that "rear fog light"-- I agree, a great idea!

 

[dave1949]

Maine has the 'wipers on - lights on' law too. It's a good and sensible idea.

I think the switchable bright tail light is required in Europe. I know in Sweden headlights were required to be always on back in the '80's and '90's. Northern Europe gets a lot of rainy and foggy weather.

IMO the traffic police spend a lot of time enforcing the wrong things. Speeding tickets are a money maker, but when do you ever hear of a traffic stop for poorly aimed lights or using the wrong lights for the conditions?

A lot of little things that lead to driver fatigue and irritation contributes to accidents I think.

Another hot debate topic in the lights area - it would help a lot if all headlights were at the same height above the pavement. If you drive a small car you know what I mean. There is an absolute loss of rear vision at night and low light conditions with high mounted headlights behind a lower vehicle.

Ever been tailgated down a freeway entrance ramp by someone with poorly aimed or high lights? You have no idea if it is safe to merge into the traffic. The idiots behind you can't seem to figure out they are blinding you. Ever heard of a ticket given for that? It wouldn't be hard to enforce some sensible behavior, but that's not how it works.

Dave.

 

[horse7]

<snip>
PLEASE TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS DRL YOU DO NOT HAVE TAIL LIGHTS WITH DRL.....(daytime driving lights)
...

I have the DRL parts for my truck, but I did not like the fact that the tail lights do not come on with the DRLs-- I agree this seems like a flaw in the thinking of the safety police. Not sure why this is, the delta cost would be small for current production cars. I just always turn on the headlights...

Also, if you look at your insurance policy it could be same as mine-- factory DRLs get a discount, but for my vintage truck DRLs are only factory in Canada or for fleet orders, but not for everyone else.... my truck isn't fleet or Canadian... can't even order DRLs as a factory option, have to buy the parts and install, but then is not factory so no discount!

Hadn't known about the brighter tail lights in Europe for certain conditions. Seems like a good idea, but an aftermarket add on could be too much of a magnet for packs of miscegenated starving lawyers... would need to be factory...

 

[Bird]

it was a law that if you had your wipers on you had to have headlights on as well.... I see NY now has a similar law; why not the rest of the country?

I think most, if not all, states do have such a law. We have a 2002 Ford Crown Victoria and, even with the light switch turned off, the lights come on if you turn on the wipers.

 

[bp fick]

In driving home yesterday, in some rather low light, snowy conditions, my wife and I had this same conversation. It was scary to have some "invisible" cars come up on you, especially while driving in a three or four lane roadway.

Sure we pass laws that mandate drivers turn on their lights, but it simply doesn't work, because it doesn't eliminate the human element; driver error or forgetfulness.

For the life of me, I cannot understand the push for three point seat belts, dual air bags, mandatory side air bags and all the rest, which are all fine safety things, but we neglect the simplest, safety thing we COULD do and that is mandate the DRL. I didn't used to care one way or the other about DRL, but the longer I live, the more I see their value and don't understand why we focus so much on expensive after crash safety of the occupants when we should also be focusing on simple, cost effective prevention in the first place. There, got that out of my system.

 

[archerm3]

Most of the country of the last couple of weeks have had bad, bad weather.

If not major snow storm, hard rains, fog

We were talking last evening at the Church Program ,saying,wonder who will show up tonight. Roads are so bad. Someone else said 30-40 yrs ago 15-18" was nothing and all would have showed up somehow , very few had 4 x4, AWD, trucks ,Suv or cars.
But we did have Chains, and Winter tires not All Season tires.
That is why They are called Winter tires for driving in the SNOW and Ice
One other thing that needs to done for every ones safety!!!

PLEASE TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS DRL YOU DO NOT HAVE TAIL LIGHTS WITH DRL.....(daytime driving lights) Follow someone in a major snow storm,fog or heavy downspour that only have there DRL....Autolights DO NOT TURN YOUR HEADLIGHTS AT TIMES WHEN THEY ARE REALLY NEEDED,
and please Do Not Text or send,read,messages while driving down the highway!

Merry Christmas to all !!

Happy New Year
Have fun and be safe !!!!!!!!!!

Excellent!