The dangers of DRLs
 

Yesterday, in northern Michigan, was raining torrentially,
and visibility was almost zero. Almost everyone was driving with their lights
on, except for the GM cars, which had only their headlights (DRLs) on.
Real helpful on the road in poor visibility conditions!
Lots of GM cars have DRLs and automatic headlights,
and give you the impression that you dont have to
worry about your ligths.

223rem wrote:
> Yesterday, in northern Michigan, was raining torrentially,
> and visibility was almost zero. Almost everyone was driving with
> their lights on, except for the GM cars, which had only their
> headlights (DRLs) on. Real helpful on the road in poor visibility
> conditions!
> Lots of GM cars have DRLs and automatic headlights,
> and give you the impression that you dont have to
> worry about your ligths.

The headlights don't come on with the wipers?

On Tue, 5 Jul 2005, JohnH wrote:

> 223rem wrote:

> > Lots of GM cars have DRLs and automatic headlights, and give you the
> > impression that you dont have to worry about your ligths.
>
> The headlights don't come on with the wipers?

No, the headlights don't come on with the wipers.

On Tue, 5 Jul 2005, 223rem wrote:

> Yesterday, in northern Michigan, was raining torrentially, and
> visibility was almost zero. Almost everyone was driving with their
> lights on, except for the GM cars, which had only their headlights
> (DRLs) on. Real helpful on the road in poor visibility conditions! Lots
> of GM cars have DRLs and automatic headlights, and give you the
> impression that you dont have to worry about your ligths.

I see this literally every day (night) here in Ontario, where all new cars
have been equipped with DRLs since 1/1/90. A steady stream of cars running
only DRLs (or DRLs plus parkers and markers) without proper headlamps.
It's such a simple, basic problem, and it's so incredibly easy to fix, but
the regulator in charge of Canada's lighting laws says the problem doesn't
exist.

Daniel J. Stern wrote:
> On Tue, 5 Jul 2005, JohnH wrote:
>
>> 223rem wrote:
>
>>> Lots of GM cars have DRLs and automatic headlights, and give you the
>>> impression that you dont have to worry about your ligths.
>>
>> The headlights don't come on with the wipers?
>
> No, the headlights don't come on with the wipers.

More crap design fixed by a single diode. They should at least test drive
their competitor's vehicles to have a design target.

On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 11:29:19 +0000, 223rem wrote:

> Yesterday, in northern Michigan, was raining torrentially, and visibility
> was almost zero. Almost everyone was driving with their lights on, except
> for the GM cars, which had only their headlights (DRLs) on. Real helpful
> on the road in poor visibility conditions! Lots of GM cars have DRLs and
> automatic headlights, and give you the impression that you dont have to
> worry about your ligths.

My car turns on its headlights even when the day is gloomy. And if it is
not dark enough for the headlights to turn on automatically, there is a
nifty little switch on the left side of the steering wheel, that allows me
to turn on the headlights manually.

On the other hand it's astounding, how many 'conventional' cars still
drive around with their lights off at dusk, when my car already has turned
on its lights automatically.

Chris

JohnH wrote:
> 223rem wrote:
> > Yesterday, in northern Michigan, was raining torrentially,
> > and visibility was almost zero. Almost everyone was driving with
> > their lights on, except for the GM cars, which had only their
> > headlights (DRLs) on. Real helpful on the road in poor visibility
> > conditions!
> > Lots of GM cars have DRLs and automatic headlights,
> > and give you the impression that you dont have to
> > worry about your ligths.
>
> The headlights don't come on with the wipers?

You mean they do in some cars? Driving twenty year old beaters doesn't
keep me up to date. Anyway it's a stupid idea. Everytime you add a new
feature, it's just one more thing to go wrong.

JohnH wrote:
> Daniel J. Stern wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 5 Jul 2005, JohnH wrote:
>>
>>
>>>223rem wrote:
>>
>>>>Lots of GM cars have DRLs and automatic headlights, and give you the
>>>>impression that you dont have to worry about your ligths.
>>>
>>>The headlights don't come on with the wipers?
>>
>>No, the headlights don't come on with the wipers.
>
>
> More crap design fixed by a single diode. They should at least test drive
> their competitor's vehicles to have a design target.

Are you saying that having the headlights come on automatically
with the wipers is a good thing? It is not. It is yet another dumbass 'nanny'
feature that denies drivers of their full control of their vehicle.
I hated my old GM car, with all those stupid chimes and automatic locking
of doors and automatic lights etc etc.

Laura Bush murdered her boy friend wrote:
> JohnH wrote:
> > 223rem wrote:
> > > Yesterday, in northern Michigan, was raining torrentially,
> > > and visibility was almost zero. Almost everyone was driving with
> > > their lights on, except for the GM cars, which had only their
> > > headlights (DRLs) on. Real helpful on the road in poor visibility
> > > conditions!
> > > Lots of GM cars have DRLs and automatic headlights,
> > > and give you the impression that you dont have to
> > > worry about your ligths.
> >
> > The headlights don't come on with the wipers?
>
> You mean they do in some cars? Driving twenty year old beaters doesn't
> keep me up to date. Anyway it's a stupid idea. Everytime you add a new
> feature, it's just one more thing to go wrong.

Holy crap a LBMHBF post I agree with. Who are those four scary looking
dudes on horseback anyway and what are they doing in my office?

nate

> Are you saying that having the headlights come on automatically
> with the wipers is a good thing? It is not. It is yet another dumbass
> 'nanny' feature that denies drivers of their full control of their
> vehicle.

You technophobes crack me up.

It's not "nanny", it's the law here - headlights must be on when wipers
operating. On my 98 Jeep, they come on with the lights when the lights are
in "auto" mode (which I always use).

It's about as "nanny" as having your brake light come on when you put on the
brakes. But I suppose you'd prefer a switch on the dash to do that.