Fell for the oldest trick in the book. Grocery store parking lot lit up like a super nova. I piled the groceries into my van and took off. Didn’t even think about it being night time. The roads are all brightly lit. I was a mile from home before noticing my headlights were off. :smack:
It’s been a few years since I fell into this trap. It never happens out in the country because it’s actually dark outside.
I try hard to remember my headlights at night. But every few years I find myself on the road without them.
I would do the same if the cars I drive didn’t have automatic headlights. I also only drive once a month or so. Last spring, I was driving home from Target when a guy told me at a stoplight that my headlamps were off. Whoever had the car before me had turned the auto lights off and I didn’t notice because the city streets are so bright. Now it’s part of my startup routine whenever I first grab the car for the day/trip.
I see other people without their headlights quite often, too. I’ve considered flashing my flashlight at them from where I’m walking, but figure they wouldn’t put two and two together, plus getting flashed from the sidewalk might cause an accident.
Headlights off will get you pulled over and doing a field sobriety test. I was coming home from work one winter morning and had it happen to me.
Even explaining I was I night shift nurse and showing my ID still hanging around my neck. I had to walk the line. At that time, field breathilizers were not being used because it was found they weren’t being calibrated and 98% were inacurate.
I can tell you, I didn’t sleep well that day!
My first thought was how lucky I was that there was no cop around. I usually reach for that headlight switch right after turning the ignition key. 99 times out of a hundred I do it. For some reason I didn’t think of it tonight. Once the car is rolling it’s hard to tell the headlights aren’t on. The main roads are that brightly lit in my city. You have to look up at the sky to even tell it’s nighttime.
I’d notice in a hurry when I turn into my subdivision. There’s fewer street lights and it’s much darker.
Granted both of my current vehicles are a bit older ('99 and '03) - but if my headlights are off, so are my dashboard lights. So there’s really no excuse to be driving without headlights. Or is this not the case with newer vehicles?
The dashboard lights were lit up in my new van. They even come on automatically when I open a door. Then go off automatically after about 2 minutes. I’m sure they were on when I was driving tonight. But, I can’t recall.
I’m certain the dashboard lights would be off in my old 2000 Van. You have to pull the headlight switch. It’s very much old technology.
The one thing I don’t like about daytime running lights (Canada here) is that your headlights are on when you drive off at night and forget to actually turn on (all) your lights. Headlights on? Check. Tail lights? Nope!
most new cars have gauge clusters which are backlit all of the time, so they’re no longer a reliable indicator of whether the headlights are on or not.
Yep. Combined with daytime running lights, my Subaru Outback gets me all the time because of this. By “gets” I mean it tricks me into not having my headlights on. The only dash lights that don’t come on until I actually turn my “lights” on are the ones around the HVAC, which is over in the center console stack. Not exactly in my main line of sight.
I miss my Jeep Grand Cherokee’s automatic headlights. Truly idiot-proof. Don’t miss the low MPG though.
This one time on a ski trip up in the mountains I was driving home from the ski lodge and I got hlafway down the mountain before I remembered to turn my tire chains on.
They’re not automatic in the sense of turning on when it gets dark, but Subarus automatically turn the headlights off when you turn the key off. If you wanted to you could just leave the headlight switch on and never touch it again.
If you’ve got a small black “nub” up on top of the dash by the defrost vents, then in this case “it depends.” That’s a light sensor and will automatically change the interior lights from day to night mode depending on how much ambient light it detects.
Do you have any other hobbies we need to know about?