Brade: "Perhaps next week they'll get around to shooting the jackasses that tailgate. Tailgating at midnight, when they're one of two or four cars in a mile or more."
-----------------------------------------------------

tailgaters are way more dangerous than your average speeder going 5-10 miles over (in daylight, on straight open highway), but unfortunately, the speeder is much more likely to be ticketed.

every car should have a rear camera, and when a tailgater comes too close (based on the speed), a couple business days later, he gets a little present in the form of a "tailgate camera" administrative "fee" (a small, 15.00 fee, just a gentle reminder, then it goes up with each infraction, in a time period).

(Oh, and every state should require front license plates)

What about all the douches that think it's perfectly safe to change lanes two feet in front of a faster moving car? I see more of those than I do garden variety tailgaters.

Girion47: What's wrong with fog lights on while driving? it widens my view of what i see on the road and they don't shine high by design. If my visibility and safety is increased, I'm going to use them.

/loves his rear fog light
//scares the shiat out of tailgaters when I turn it on without any of that dangerous braking.

If your fog lights really help you see better in non-foggy conditions then your headlights suck. (not a far-fetched assumption; e.g. Volkswagen Corrado with US-spec headlights. I assume that they were VW's punishment for the US not allowing ECE headlights.) And idiots who drive with their rear fogs on in heavy traffic should be beaten with a fire extinguisher.

Saturn5: chewd: While we're on the subject.... i would like to point out that fog-lights are meant to be used in the FOG.

The fact that your car has fog-lights doesnt mean that you get to just drive around with 4 (or 6) headlights on all the time.

And another thing, when using fog-lights in the fog, you are supposed to turn OFF your normal headlights.

The "fog" lights on most newer cars are little more than decoration. They put out a tiny amount of light and if you could turn them on by themselves, it wouldn't be enough light to safely drive with, fog or no.

On my '99 Grand Am, the fog lights come on with the park lights or the low beams; however, it had Daytime Running Lights which run the high beams at reduced voltage, so even with the parking lights on, the DRLs are still on anyway. There is no way to drive that car without some form of headlight turned on without modifying the car.

Maybe that's why Obama shut down Pontiac. Any company that would do that should be run out of town.

High beam DRLs and turn signal DRLs should have never been allowed in the first place. Either use the low beams at reduced brightness or dedicated white DRLs.

/another example of NHTSA sucking balls

"Tennessee cops confused by newfangled brighter headlights, will issue tickets"

....coming as no particular surprise, since many Tennessee cops are still bemused over Saturday following Friday.

wambu: chewd: And another thing, when using fog-lights in the fog, you are supposed to turn OFF your normal headlights.

Not in VA. Fog lights can only be on when you are using low beams; off with high beams. Driving lights are just the opposite. They cannot be legally wired to work any other way although State Safety Inspectors never check (unless you're being an asshole). Your main headlights must always be on by law when visibility is reduced or your windshield wipers are on. You can argue "improved visibility with fog lights only" all you want as long as you argue with the DMV and pay your fine if you get caught. Oh, and drive like you suggest in VA and get in an accident -- you're screwed.

That's not true, a state cannot legislate that federally allowed equipment (e.g. fog lights wired in the standard manner where they will work with either parking lights or low beams) is disallowed at a state level, at least when we're talking about factory-produced vehicles. Now if you added the fog lights after the car was built, they might make you tie the relay to the low beam circuit, not sure, but I wired the fogs on my old Scirocco to work the "standard" way and didn't have a problem with VA safety inspection.

/just so you know, the way to do it is to take the power for the switch from the parking light circuit, and hook the ground for the relay to the high beam circuit.

Just put night vision in cars, then we can do away with the whole head light problem :)

I love headlights.

(PNSFW)
Even if they are blue (new window).
(PNSFW)

Shine on, baby!

just_dis_guy, for some fun, do some driving in Italy:

no signals, lanes are there just as a general guide and not much more, traffic merging into the highway WILL cut in front of you, but ONLY if they see you have another lane to your left to escape to. If they see your left lane is blocked, they wont get in front of you (as long as they can).

Very different than the US, way more fluid, with all drivers way more alert and fast reacting (freaking acrobats!). Much less "This is MY lane/ I OWN this lane".

Thats what happens with so many cars, so few roads, and 10.00 a gallon fuel.
Drivers value theirs and others built-up-speed, and don't want to cause others to lose that for no reason.
Built up speed costs way more over there than here.

Also, even here in the US, don't cause trucks to lose their built up speed, without a very good reason. It costs trucks a lot of fuel to speed up, and we all end up paying for that eventually at the store shelf.

Brade: "Perhaps next week they'll get around to shooting the jackasses that tailgate. Tailgating at midnight, when they're one of two or four cars in a mile or more."
-----------------------------------------------------

tailgaters are way more dangerous than your average speeder going 5-10 miles over (in daylight, on straight open highway), but unfortunately, the speeder is much more likely to be ticketed.

every car should have a rear camera, and when a tailgater comes too close (based on the speed), a couple business days later, he gets a little present in the form of a "tailgate camera" administrative "fee" (a small, 15.00 fee, just a gentle reminder, then it goes up with each infraction, in a time period).

(Oh, and every state should require front license plates)

no. Mounting brackets are pricey, and if my car doesn't have a place to mount it you aren't going to convince me I should drill holes in my bumper.

Find me a plate holder for a 2001 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro that doesn't involve damaging the car or cost over 60 bucks (cost of a ticket, haven't had one in the 2 years I've been here) and I may consider putting a plate up front, otherwise it'll sit tucked in the corner of the windshield.

Good! Those new lights are horrid .. damn distracting - and make it hard for other drivers to see.

The should ban those daytime running lights too.

She comes in colors everywhere: I hope your fuel bill bankrupts you.

*Snert* Typical "good mileage" is about 35 mpg. Truck mileage is about 20 mpg. If you drive 3500 miles a month, you'll spend an extra $200 or so in gas at $2.75/gal. That'll almost make half the payment to get something else. Also, if you happen to need a truck, a car won't work. Unless you want to go around like this idiot:



/with some hotlinked parts and plywood on top instead of your purse

HID, not what article is about




this POS is what article is about


/why ticket when you could just hit their lights with a bat and fix the problem instantly?

Phil Herup: just_dis_guy: I'd just rationalize to myself that it was really a logical evolution of the Volkswagen, with some Audi technology thrown in for good measure



It is all Volkswagen technology. Right up to the Bugatti Veyron.

VAG for the win.

Audis are just overpriced VeeDubs. At that price point, you must go BMW

if you want overpriced, BMW is an excellent choice. I considered a 335, but after adding options that are standard in many other cars it went north of $50,000.

the 370z i am getting is faster, better equipped and $15k cheaper

Goimir: Treetop1000: I was one of the first in my area to adopt HID on my bike.
Two things: they make about three times more light than the OEM bulb, and they use a third less current doing so.
These are an improvement over Halogens (remember when halogens weren't legal?)
The cops used the same reasons against Halogens as here.
They said the Halogens were too bright and would cause accidents
Things change all the time. It's why we have 12 volt systems on cars now, used to be strictly 6 volt automotive...
And why should bright bulbs be illegal?
Because they -might- blind oncoming drivers?
How about me hitting that fast moving deer that I just saw at 500 feet versus a 2500 feet miss (due to super bright bulbs).
Get real Tenndot. Grow a pair. You already use the highest wattage Halogens on the planet in your cruisers, and you still cant allow a safety upgrade?

You don't need to be able to drive 75 mph at night on country roads. I need to be able to see. Don't just say "look at the shoulder". Your lights reflect off the pavement at about 10 degrees vs 90 degrees that my headlights do. I don't feel the need to run the numbers on the amount of light from your lights that reaches my eyes vs my lights, but I can tell you it's a difference on the order of several orders of magnitude. That's the reason I cannot see anything beyond your oncoming lights. Then it takes time for my eyes to adjust from several score footcandles to some fraction of a footcandle that my eyes receive from my lights.


Your overbright blue-biased lights close my pupils right up.

//found that drifting into the other lane gets people to turn off their high-beams every time.

The two do not have to be mutually exclusive. At the risk of becoming overly repetitive, E-CODES.

/bears repeating

lajimi: Those blinding ultra bright light bars the cops use should be banned too but who's going to write the cops a ticket?

No kidding. Especially on a rainy night. Once they're stopped, they ought to be able to revert to blue flashing incancesdents. The strobes endanger the cops too, if the drivers attempting to slowly ease past the accident scene/whatnot are farking blinded.

cryinoutloud: Lar Jorgen: When I turn on my headlights the moon goes down.

It's because of people like you that all the stars have gone out.

I know I'm getting old and tired, but I swear that half the cars on the road anymore are driving around with their brights on. I have to drive most of the night with my eyes glued to the right white line. Blue lights, white lights, people with only one headlight so they turn on their brights--jebus, people. I'm trying to get home here.

Oh so very much of THIS. Add in the jackasses who switch their headlight connectors so that they can use the high beams as low beams. Sure, it looks different and you are all cool and stuff, but frickin re-aim them so that we can BOTH see.

Most of those aftermarket lights are not DOT approved and have a little disclaimer on the box "For Show use only" or Check local laws before installing on a vehicle to be used on a public highway" Something like that. The ones that ARE DOT approved aren't as bothersome.

Mostly on newer cars it is difficult to screw up the aim. The halogen bulbs pop out of the back and you pop the new one in. On older sealed beam types it was easy for a dufus to mix up the retaining screws with the adjusting screws and then not re-aim afterward.

Some lights out there are very annoying with how bright they are. Yes I'm sure you like being able to see 6 miles into the future, but I like being able to see the road

chewd: While we're on the subject.... i would like to point out that fog-lights are meant to be used in the FOG.

The fact that your car has fog-lights doesnt mean that you get to just drive around with 4 (or 6) headlights on all the time.

And another thing, when using fog-lights in the fog, you are supposed to turn OFF your normal headlights.

Yeah, explain that to the asshat cop in Charleston SC who tried to give me a ticket for having just my fog lights on. With low beams on I couldnt see squat. Worst thing was it was patchy. Fine for half a mile then solid fog.

Sh%tcop: just trust that the officials here are making the correct decsion, and that they are trained properly.


WOW that's a leap of faith an Olympic jumper shouldn't attempt!

She comes in colors everywhere: myth321: I drive a 2008 chevy silverado with factory lights. I usually never drive with with my hi beams on, but I get flashed all the time.

I hope your fuel bill bankrupts you.

Wow!!! Actually, my company pays for all my fuel. Yes, it's a company truck, that has parts stored in a covered bed. And also had the back seat taken out to store more parts, and in front passenger seat. Yes, my service vehicle is fully utilized. Now, if you have even one empty seat in your ride, I hope you go bankrupt, silly.....NGP

detroitdoesntsuckthatbad: Phil Herup: At that price point, you must go BMW

My S4 disagrees- I can make it to work year round, on snow or dry pavement.

/Quattro FTW


The age old debate.


Do you have the V8 S4?

I am a big fan of RWD and snow tires though.

I have a 335d now, so I can run with just about any car on the highway. Massive torque is massive.

Big Dave: Yeah we've had to deal with these in California for at least a decade.
We got used to them.

/If you can't look away from new, shiny things, maybe it's better you crash.
//Darwin.

It's a bad idea to look away from the road while driving at night.

It's a bad idea to have headlights in the oncoming lane you cannot see past.

It's a bad idea to lose your night sight while driving at night.

These can all be solved by a simple thing -- and it is not 'look away from the road while traveling 65MPH at night for 30 seconds'.

Seacop: There's no need for hunting anymore, hence why we have the piggly wiggly.

HAHAHHAHAHAHA

Might as well take away all recreational activities that have been replaced by corporate overlords. No more tag -- entertainment is provided by game consoles. No more cooking, food is provided by restaurants. No more personal cars -- travel is provided by taxis. No more books -- all knowledge is handed out by the government.

Sigh.

Good. Fake HID headlights with blue tint can not only be dangerous not only for other drivers being blinded, but also for the owners of the cars using them. They all either have less light output than a standard headlight (because they *are* a standard headlight which has wavelengths other than blue light filtered out to some degree to make them seem "whiter" and hence brighter (when in actual fact they're not and visibility is reduced), or they have significantly higher power requirements which the stock headlight wiring isn't designed for, and will likely results in melted wiring harnesses and potentially a fire. Retrofitted HID kits are also dangerous because the reflectors aren't designed for their light distribution, and hence the projector pattern is wrong, again blinding oncoming traffic.

Factory HID headlights have none of these issues, and are also designed in a manner that they don't blind oncoming traffic.

The only safe HID conversion is to replace the entire headlight assembly with one designed at the factory for HID, mounted in the same position and height as they would be in the vehicle for which they were originally designed (and with a wiring harness that is designed to meet their power requirements). That rules out 99% of HID conversions out there, and 100% of the rice-burner crowd's tinted blue headlights.

just_dis_guy:
the classic DOT beam pattern is just an oval of light. Obviously you can see how the E-code pattern allows you to put more light on the road without blinding oncoming traffic. Unfortunately NHTSA has been unwilling to get with the program, their defense of the old beam pattern, shiat you not, is that it makes reading unlit overhead signs too difficult. (never mind that I've been running E-codes for years and haven't had a problem, neither have all those drivers over in Europe with their "inferior" headlights.)

And that's not new, either. I've got an old Motor Trend from the 60's in a closet somewhere that details the fight to get DOT to allow square headlights. The editors were pissed because (at the time) the square headlights had a much better beam pattern, and were safer for both the driver and oncoming cars, but the DOT wouldn't budge for the longest time.

It's the typical bureaucracy story - you get a bunch of idiots that don't know anything about cars and are too lazy to be bothered to find out what they're talking about before they just blindly strike down new design /because/ it's new. Status quo means they can keep their jobs without actually doing them.

i use my sideview mirrors to angle their own lights back into their face when these ultra bright light jackoffs are behind me

also cures tailgaiting

what? you dont like your own lights in your face?

haha

GroverCleveland: i use my sideview mirrors to angle their own lights back into their face when these ultra bright light jackoffs are behind me

also cures tailgaiting

what? you dont like your own lights in your face?

haha

I do that too, but I've never noticed it making any difference.

I've yet to come up with a good method of getting the jackhole behind me with his brights on to understand that his brights are on and that it's pissing me the fark off (not to mention destroying my night vision.)

just_dis_guy: GroverCleveland: i use my sideview mirrors to angle their own lights back into their face when these ultra bright light jackoffs are behind me

also cures tailgaiting

what? you dont like your own lights in your face?

haha

I do that too, but I've never noticed it making any difference.

I've yet to come up with a good method of getting the jackhole behind me with his brights on to understand that his brights are on and that it's pissing me the fark off (not to mention destroying my night vision.)

I slow down.

GroverCleveland: i use my sideview mirrors to angle their own lights back into their face when these ultra bright light jackoffs are behind me

also cures tailgaiting

what? you dont like your own lights in your face?

haha


You sound 15.

amanogowa: just_dis_guy: GroverCleveland: i use my sideview mirrors to angle their own lights back into their face when these ultra bright light jackoffs are behind me

also cures tailgaiting

what? you dont like your own lights in your face?

haha

I do that too, but I've never noticed it making any difference.

I've yet to come up with a good method of getting the jackhole behind me with his brights on to understand that his brights are on and that it's pissing me the fark off (not to mention destroying my night vision.)

I slow down.

Do both. In my case the jackhole went to pass flashed his hibeams one more time which actually blinded him and I heard the reassuring skeet skeet skeet of his antilock brakes taking care of the situation. If necessary buy a box of roof tacks.

It's just a blue shift because they're heading towards you really quickly.

I'm joking...cars can't go that fast
/still thought it was funny
//quite funny actually

Finally!

Goimir: just_dis_guy: Goimir: The two do not have to be mutually exclusive. At the risk of becoming overly repetitive, E-CODES.

/bears repeating

Please entertain this exercise.

Get in your car and turn on your headlights. Turn around in your seat and try to read the classified section of a newspaper.

Now try it with another vehicle with properly aimed headlights aimed at your car. Then try it in the other car with your fancy euro-fanboi "need to be able to see 10 miles" headlights pointed at you.

It's harder to read the newspaper with the E-codes pointed at your car than it is with the typical American car's headlights. That's the point.

When I moved, I was driving my company car and my FIL was following me in my Porsche with E-codes. They looked like just two glowing round things. I could stare directly into my rear view mirror with him directly behind me without any discomfort whatsoever. You don't get that from typical US headlights.

Trust me, until you've had it demonstrated to you, it's hard to believe that headlights can be so good and yet so inoffensive (on low beam, that is. Do not fark with the high beams. They are not toys.)

spookidooki: MrKraclenutz: like Lexus and Mercedes?

Those are not as blue as the ones they are talking about in the article. The cheapies from autozone are practically headlights with blue gels over them.

MrKraclenutz: So my car is illegal now?

Don't worry, you don't own either.


So he's lying because you say so? Sounds like someone is jealous.

Besides, you ever consider the possibility that he bought a used luxury car? These days you can pick up a mid-2000s luxury car in great shape for less than a new Chevy Cobalt. Or to put it another way: I prefer Macs to PCs, and have owned several over the years despite being a government employee making just shy of $30k a year. How? I buy used. Macs, like luxury cars, are built better and tend to be cared for much better by their original owners.

But hey, keep on being a jealous assuming douche. It makes me laugh.

Timmy the Tumor: "Those lights hurt my eyes!"

Wah wah wah

are you f*cking kidding me?

If you can't negotiate the roads at night and deal with an the random oncoming vehicle with poorly-aimed headlights, a driver who accidentally (or deliberately) left his brights on, or has aftermarket bulbs or HID's via either looking briefly down and to the right of the road at the lane marker lines or by squinting your eyes, then do yourself and the rest of the people on the road a gigantic favor and DON'T F*CKING DRIVE AT NIGHT.

If someone has replaced their bulbs with aftermarket HID's in the color range that literally appears BLUE, or with regular halogen bulbs that are Blue--that might cause someone else on the road to think that it is an emergency vehicle, then by all means, fine the sh*t out of them.

If, however, the driver just upgrades to HID lighting that is in the 4000 range and has a barely-perceptible "blue" tinge to it but DRAMATICALLY improves nighttime visibility then that's a bullshiat ticket.

Wow, what a douchey post. I guess if you are bothered by the aircraft landing lights that I've bolted to the front bumper of my truck, that's YOUR problem and you shouldn't drive at night, because, after all, MY visibility is dramatically improved. (never mind that when I flip them on, the truck slows down, you get a sunburn, and lightning bugs catch fire and fall to their deaths...)

/we have standards for a reason
//the problem is, they're not stringent enough

just_dis_guy: blah blah blah

Somebody always has to be that guy.

exempli gratis: just_dis_guy: blah blah blah

Somebody always has to be that guy.

Link (new window)

exempli gratis: just_dis_guy: blah blah blah

Somebody always has to be that guy.

Well, atleast he's informative, not like the fairy, prancing around in the park, with a hula hoop, wishing financial ruin on someone for the vehicle they drive...

Lighting colors explained:

Link (new window)

And for the technically inclined (PDF warning):

Link (new window)

Seacop: It's not, it's a weapon, used to take human lives and that's it.

I use mine to get the food that I eat. Literally, almost all of it. I prefer my food to be something that I earned on my own. The idea that a knife shouldn't be in the hands of a child is equally stupid. Don't breed.

/would have responded sooner but was busy

UnspokenVoice: /would have responded sooner but was busy wanted to get the last word.

FTFY.

gweilo8888: UnspokenVoice: /would have responded sooner but was busy wanted to get the last word.

FTFY.

Derp... No, some of us have a life. A post online is far less important than spending a chunk of time enjoying an extended visit from a couple of friends. Not to mention that the point I was making needed no additional support but you're probably too stupid to get that.

If it makes you feel better you can proudly post a response and have the final post and maybe you will actually have some faux self-esteem for a few hours.

Then again I'm in a rather foul mood and might just be being a dick because of it. My extended visit was in preparation. I didn't feel like going to rehab again so I had buddies come visit and stayed drunk in preparation for Sunday when I finally quit drinking. Again... Why yes, yes I am a raging alcoholic though they say I'm a functional alcoholic.

/was blacking out too often (daily pretty much) and don't want to do something stupid and hurt myself or anyone else
//longest sobriety was just over six months
/nobody likes a quitter