PSA: Turn on Your Headlights When it's Raining

"Michael Woyahn" (michaelwoyahn) 10/30/2015 at 11:47 • Filed to: None

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A three-hour swim is an accurate description of my drive home from college last Friday. The rain and the mist whipping up from tires made it nearly impossible to see the lights of cars 50 yards away. To make matters worse, just 20 minutes in, a silver Toyota Corolla appeared in the right lane with no lights on.

This was not an anomaly. I had to come across at least a dozen cars without their headlights on over the three hour drive. Now, this was a bit of a shock to me. I wrongfully assumed that it was common knowledge that a driver is supposed to turn their lights on if it happens to be raining. Most states even have laws requiring headlights to be on in inclement weather. Unfortunately, my home state of Wisconsin does not have this legislation. Since I can’t fault other drivers for breaking the rules in Wisconsin with their lack of lights, I am strongly encouraging people to use them.

I think the main reason why people don’t turn on their lights in the rain is because a lot of new cars have automatic headlights now. When people first get their car, they flip the headlights to automatic and think they never have to touch them again. They just assume that the lights will always come on when they’re needed. But this is simply not the case. In order to get the automatic lights to come on in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I drive, the apocalypse actually has to be happening. Or it has to be nighttime. This means that I typically have to reach over and flick the switch to turn on my headlights in the rain or snow.

However, the 2007 Ford Edge that I was driving on this trip, which happens to be my sister’s car, has an interesting trick just for this situation. The automatic lights actually turn themselves on if the wipers are turned on. Now, I cannot understand why this is not standard in every single car with automatic headlights. My understanding of car wiring and computers is very limited, but I can’t imagine that connecting the two systems would be too difficult. It might even be a simple line of code.

The solution for cars without “smart” automatic headlights or automatic lights at all is less simple. It requires drivers to manually reach for the light switch when there is precipitation. Obviously, it will be difficult to train drivers to do this. The only way for this to happen is for police officers to actually enforce the laws in states where they apply, similar to what Doug suggested in his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

For now, the only options are to either be bold and flash your brights at people and hope they get the hint or let them drive around invisibly until the apocalypse. At least their automatic lights will turn on then.

Photo credit to: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Forgetful > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 11:56

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Always drive with your headlights (and tail lights) on. You never know when someone else’s view of your car might be compromised, such as by rain, mist or even shadows on a sunny day.

cazzyodo > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 11:56

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Happened to me the other day. Pouring rain, highway spray everywhere, check my mirror and see a shadow in the middle of glowing mist.

Fuckin’ Prius.

Berang > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 11:57

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Nevermind that most cars today are silver or white and all but invisible in bad weather.

Rico > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 11:59

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I agree, but even with laws in place the police don’t care. They are more concerned with the person doing 65 in a 55 rather than the dark grey car with no headlights and tinted tail lights driving in the rain. You’d think if they actually ticketed those people they’d reach their quotas quite quickly and maybe just maybe actually make the road safer.

Urambo Tauro > Forgetful 10/30/2015 at 12:01

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I’ve never understood why anyone would mock another driver for leaving the lights on while driving. (High beams- that’s another story.)

jariten1781 > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 12:03

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The automatic lights actually turn themselves on if the wipers are turned on. Now, I cannot understand why this is not standard in every single car with automatic headlights.

Hrmm, I thought it was, at least for the last 10-15 years...learned something new I suppose.

spanfucker retire bitch > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 12:07

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Even with legislation it does nothing. There were dozens of cars during my commute in and commute home yesterday despite heavy rain and even light hailing. It’s fucking beyond infuriating seeing that shit. Makes my blood boil every time it happens.

spanfucker retire bitch > jariten1781 10/30/2015 at 12:09

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My Mom’s 2014 Escape doesn’t have this feature and it blew my mind. Automatic headlights? Yep. Coming on when the wipers are activated? Nope.

I too thought it was standard for any car with automatic headlights.

Dean Beyer > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 12:14

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My rule is if I can’t see the sun then I turn my headlights on.

jariten1781 > spanfucker retire bitch 10/30/2015 at 12:17

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Weird .... I'm sure it's exasperated by the fact that a lot of cars also illuminate the gauge cluster full time now as well.

vondon302 > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 12:19

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Ditto on this.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 12:29

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Electroluminescent gauges suck. On my daily commute I run across at least 4-5 cars that don’t have their lights on when it’s dark out. Early morning, dusk, nighttime, it doesn’t matter. People see the instrument panel lit and just assume their headlights work too. It's silly, but one of the things I miss about my Crosstrek was my ability to leave the lights switched on at all times. When you start the car, the lights come on. When you turn the car off, they go off. Sadly my Civic doesn't do this.

ClearedForTheOption > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 12:42

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+1,000,000,000,000

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 12:53

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This guy right here. Run them off the road. They're practically asking for it.

Michael Woyahn > jariten1781 10/30/2015 at 12:58

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Gauges being illuminated all the time are an issue too because people assume that if their gauges are lit up, their lights are on.

Volkswagen actually did something right and addresses this by putting an ambient light sensor in their gauges. If it is dark out side, the backlighting will actually turn off.

Michael Woyahn > Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! 10/30/2015 at 13:01

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That is disappointing. Auto off headlights are actually really useful.

Interestingly, Volkswagen does something right by addressing the gauge lighting. They put an ambient light sensor in the gauge cluster so if it is dark outside, the backlighting in the gauges will turn off.

BigBlock440 > Rico 10/30/2015 at 13:01

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Then they’d have to get out of their car in the rain

Michael Woyahn > spanfucker retire bitch 10/30/2015 at 13:02

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I totally agree. That’s why the cops need to enforce the law, but, like RicoRich said, cops are too preoccupied with people speeding than people without their lights on.

Michael Woyahn > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 10/30/2015 at 13:06

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Seriously! Their car is the exact same color as the road. You can barely see them in the picture so I’m sure it was even worse in real life.

Berang > jariten1781 10/30/2015 at 13:12

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*exacerbated*

(yeah I went there)

jariten1781 > Berang 10/30/2015 at 13:21

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Got me I suppose.

Rico > BigBlock440 10/30/2015 at 13:50

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This also applies to dry nights, people driving at night, with black cars and no lights on that also annoys me to no end.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 14:18

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See, that makes sense. I have a little icon on my dash to tell me that I have my lights on, but that's it. People aren't very bright. They need to make it as obvious as possible. Maybe make auto on mandatory, or make a lockout that won't allow you to shift out of park until the lights are on, such as how you can't shift out of park in an automatic now without the foot on the brakes.

Michael Woyahn > Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! 10/30/2015 at 15:21

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Yes, this is exactly what’s needed!

Hiroku > jariten1781 10/30/2015 at 18:22

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I was “caught” by that once. Used to driving cars-in-which-the-cluster-only lights-up-when-the-headlights-are-on all my life, then got in a car in which the cluster is always lit and automatically assumed the lights were on. Drove about 15 miles through well-lit urban areas, it was only once I got to darker roads and couldn’t see jack shit that I realized I had been invisible for the past several minutes (which suddenly explained the few startled pedestrians I had noticed along the way!).

I felt pretty ashamed of myself that day since I’m usually very vocal about other drivers not turning on their lights, but then again I thought it was a pretty retarded “feature” to have the dash lit all the time.

Hiroku > Michael Woyahn 10/30/2015 at 18:28

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I just keep my lights on most of the time. My commute involves going through a couple tunnels so I just don’t bother turning them on and off all the time. Plus, people on the roads are already not paying attention, so one more thing to help make you more visible while on the road can’t hurt. That’s why they created DRLs after all.