Yes, out in the Mohave on an old jeep road, we always had our high beams on. Almost never any other time.
Pedestrians are just as much blinded by high beams like other drivers, bikers or actually any other incoming traffic. Don’t do it.
But people don’t drive around all the time with their high beams on. That’s what’s confusing about this.
What’s confusing about it? People don’t drive all the time with high beams on because they learned to only switch it on with no one driving ahead of you and without any incoming traffic. At least that’s the case here in Germany.
Guys, @Mangetout is English where they speak a different language, use 'u’s indiscriminately, and drive on the wrong side of the road while sitting in the wrong side of the car.
Elevator etiquette.
First: people who press both the up and down buttons because they think the elevator will get there sooner.
Second: six people all trying to cram their walkers into the elevator at once because, god forbid, they may have to wait a few more minutes for the next one and really MUST get to their apartments so they can sit and do nothing.
Third: people who crowd the elevator door when they’re waiting to get on so that people trying to get off have to fight their way through them. I will beat you to death with that fucking cane!
Fourth: elevator small talk. Just shut the fuck up and leave me in peace for that one minute ride. “Oh, you’ve been shopping?!” What gave you your first clue? I mean, other than the bag with Safeway plastered on it.
Because they live there, probably.
I recommend carrying some sort of light, though.
People who live on those dark rural roads do.
Though we do dim them when we come into traffic; and it’s polite to do so if the curve of a road sends your lights right into somebody’s windows. I’ve always heard dimming them, though, not dipping them.
My Dad always said “Dim” not “dip” and in CA there were even road signs saying that “Dim High Beams”
Right, you dim when cornering, when you see pedestrians or an oncoming car.
…by pushing the little button to the left of the brake pedal with your foot
Lol, 
I remember that.
There are dark suburban roads, too. I sometimes commute to work before 6 AM. Some of the roads I drive on at that time have little or no traffic, so I use my high-beams. I do occasionally encounter pedestrians though, and yes, I make it a point to switch to low-beams so as to not blind them.
It’s actually the law here - from the UK Highway Code:
You MUST NOT
- use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders
Part of this is that, here in the UK, pedestrians are classed as ‘road users’ with a legitimate right to be where they are. Most of our small roads have existed since before the invention of cars and as a result, are often narrow, or do not have any separation of road and footpath and don’t have street lights. Anyone blinded by the full beam of oncoming headlights may be subjected to unnecessary risks that arise from not being able to see properly - straying out of their lane or proper place, colliding with unseen objects, and in the case of pedestrians, tripping on unseen hazards.
This part is simple. It’s to get from the place where they have been, to the place where they are going. 
The village where I live has no street lights, no pavements and in places the roads are not wide enough for two vehicles to pass without one of them stopping and pulling into a passing place. If I have to walk somewhere at night, I always wear a high-vis tabard and carry a bright torch. Probably makes me look like a dork to some people, but better dork than dead.
(Although this is a separate issue to that of oncoming traffic dazzling me with their headlights)
Yeah, on an unlit, rural road, high beams are a good thing - you can see more of the road ahead, and (until you actually encounter them in line of sight) other road users ahead will be more aware that you are approaching as they see the indirect illumination of the headlights.
The talk about headlights reminds me of one:
People who park right in front of the Starbucks or Peets or whatever, early in the morning when it’s still dark, and sit there in their cars with the headlights on shining directly into the cafe. The customers seated next to the windows are treated to blinding lights from about eight feet away. Why are the drivers sitting in their parked cars? Because they are doordash or Ubereats folks waiting for their online orders to be ready.
So much for a leisurely, pleasant cup of coffee in the early morning. I think I’ll switch to a little independently-owned espresso joint nearby, even if they charge more.
America: invents Google
Also America: “I encountered a pair of words I didn’t comprehend! Also how can it be that the world is different in some places?!”
(meta post:the above form of ‘someone/also someone’ sarcasm infuriates me more than it should. America’s ongoing confusion about the rest of the world doesn’t infuriate me, because that would be exhausting)
Tranlsations for non-Brits:
Pavement=sidewalk
Tabard=vest (in this context; technically they’re different)
Torch=flashlight
I live in the 'burbs. I use my high beams all the time, because i see better when i use them. The insurance institute for highway safety tells me that the typical driver uses high beams far less often than they should, and that high beams reduce accidents.
But out on the burbs, i often encounter pedestrians on the road at night. Mostly they are walking their dogs. Some are standing around chatting with someone. Anyway, it’s common. And of course i switch from high beams to regular when i encounter pedestrians. I don’t know if anyone told me to do that, or if i just recognized that it would be obnoxious and unsafe to blind them. But… it’s obviously the right thing to do.
And while I’ve also heard “dim”, not “dip”, what you are actually doing is changing the angle of the lights, not the brightness. So when @Mangetout said “dipping the high beams” i knew immediately what he meant, without needing to Google. I suppose it helps that i know he’s from the UK, and i expect to see different idioms.
But overall, I’m really shocked that his perfectly ordinary little rant created so much confusion.
Not meaning to pick a fight or anything, but this part tickled me, because of the apparent underlying assumption that the confusion would be non-brits/brits (when it’s more usually USA/the rest of the world)
In every car I’ve ever owned, you’re doing both. With normal, low beam driving, there’s one filament lit, and it’s angled somewhat downwards. With the high beam, a second filament is lit, and it’s angled more forwards.
My current car has a setting that will automatically turn the high beams on/off. I’ve noticed it turns them on far more often than I would - I never use it for that reason.
To be super-nitpicky: the high beam and headlights are actually separate bulbs installed at different angles, so you do switch between both when turning on/off the high beams.
ETA: ninja’d by @muldoonthief .