Aim your goddamn lights

"JGrabowMSt" (jgrabowmst) 11/07/2014 at 00:21 • Filed to: None

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I know my dashcam leaves a lot to be desired in the quality department, but I think if you look closely enough at this image, you can see what I'm going on about.

That pickup truck? Yeah, one beam is aimed towards the opposite shoulder, and the other? Yeah, it's basically the bat signal. On the bumper of a pickup.

Just aim your lights. It just looks fricken stupid.

twochevrons > JGrabowMSt 11/07/2014 at 09:05

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Pet peeve of mine, right along with aftermarket HIDs that blind everybody. I remember an acquaintance of mine boasting about how after he fitted a cheap HID kit, everybody was flashing their high beams at him because "his lights were so bright." Ugh.

It's one of the reasons that I am in favour of (sensible) vehicle safety inspections. Where I'm from (New Zealand), headlamp aim is checked as part of the 6-monthly inspection, and you almost never see that kind of thing. Here in Minnesota, there are no inspections, and the number of oncoming cars that blind you is ridiculous. But freedom, or something.

JGrabowMSt > twochevrons 11/07/2014 at 09:14

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I honestly wish road tests for people and cars were more strict here... its sad how bad some of these cars manage to keep being driven, but are just downright dangerous for everyone...

twochevrons > JGrabowMSt 11/07/2014 at 10:12

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Some aspects of the test, while I can see the reasoning behind them, are rather annoying – any safety equipment fitted to the car must be working, regardless of whether it is optional or even aftermarket, and they get pretty fussy on rust. But, on the whole, I think that having some kind of mandatory safety check every once in a while is a good thing.

I'm pretty obsessive about keeping my cars in good order, but even so, I got caught out by it recently when I had a brake hose blow out on the Volvo. Thankfully, it was just as I was pulling out of my driveway, but if it had happened at the traffic light down the road, things could have been much more disastrous. The hose was in terrible shape, and I'm sure that it had looked bad for a long time, but I just hadn't got around to checking it. Back home, a cracked brake hose is an instant fail, and would probably have been picked up at the last inspection.

The rust up here in MN is absolutely terrifying, too. You see cars with their sills completely gone, jagged edges everywhere, suspension components hanging loose, and lights pointing in all manner of directions. Same goes for tires – I've seen several cars with tires worn down to the cords, and I'm honestly somewhat terrified to think that I'm sharing the road with them.

I'm not so much of a nanny-state advocate that I think we SHOULD rely on the government to make sure that our cars are safe, but at the same time, having some kind of inspection system makes for a good backstop. If I, as somebody who spends an awful lot of time tinkering on my car, didn't spot an obviously bad brake hose, I can't imagine that your average motorist would, let alone the people who quite obviously don't care about how safe their car is, both for them and other motorists.