# Why are they "parking lights"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206 "2003-12-20T20:25:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/41 "2003-12-23T01:52:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > \*\*In reference to all those who feel turning on your parking lights so other cars can see you better is a good idea, don’t you think then that turning on your _headlights_ too would be an even better idea?! 😃 \*\* No. Headlights, and many daytime running lights, partially blind oncoming drivers. Parking lights are sufficient to make the vehicle more noticeable without compromising other drivers’ vision. (Obviously we’re talking about “gray days” here, where you don’t need your headlights on for you to see well.) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/42 "2003-12-23T01:56:42Z")
(Overlooked this part before.) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > \*\*…and if its daytime I always use my high beams. Its the best way to increase your car’s visibility, it doesn’t have any effect on the other driver (during the day) … \*\* That’s not my experience. I find approaching headlights to be partially blinding even during the day. High beams make it significantly worse. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/43 "2003-12-23T02:37:43Z")
> [@](#): > > No. Headlights, and many daytime running lights, partially blind oncoming drivers. Parking lights are sufficient to make the vehicle more noticeable without compromising other drivers’ vision. Hmm. Sorry but I see no logic in that at all. The increase caused by the beam coming out the headlight, low or high, is imperceptable when washed out by the daytime. And I have never, **ever** , not even once had someone flash their lights at me for having my highbeams on during the day (even with overcast skies). ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/44 "2003-12-23T04:25:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > **Hmm. Sorry but I see no logic in that at all. The increase caused by the beam coming out the headlight, low or high, is imperceptable when washed out by the daytime.** It might be imperceptible to you, but it sure isn’t to me. \*\* > [@](#): > > And I have never, **ever** , not even once had someone flash their lights at me for having my highbeams on during the day (even with overcast skies). \*\* That doesn’t mean it isn’t bothering people. I don’t flash at people during the day. ---
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/45 "2003-12-23T05:53:01Z")
Please do not use your high beams if other drivers are in front of you day or night - it is very annoying!!! ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/46 "2003-12-23T07:34:00Z")
Parking lights on during the day is one of my pet peaves. It’s daytime, you need _more_ light than at night time to be more visible to other drivers, not less. If you think other people may not see you, turn on your lights (not the high beam, they are a little blinding during the day). It’s kind of funny when some dude comes lurking out of the rain just as you are about to enter the road in front of him, and as he swoops by, you note that he has his parking lights on. “If you had your full lights on I might have seen you _before_ it was too late!” ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Matrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/34f0e0/32.png) [@Red\_Matrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Matrix)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/47 "2003-12-23T22:56:59Z")
Texas allows Right-Turn on red light unless otherwise noted. Also, if you are on a OneWay and the perpendicular street is a OneWay to the left, then you can turn LEFT on a red light. All of this provided, of course, there is no cars in the immediate way. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Matrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/34f0e0/32.png) [@Red\_Matrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Matrix)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/48 "2003-12-23T23:07:44Z")
**Hail Ants** I beg to differ. High beams in daylight do indeed bother oncomming motorists. [FDISK.COM](http://FDISK.COM) They’re comming to take me away, ha ha! ---
**Author:** ![Quint\_Essence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/54ee81/32.png) [@Quint\_Essence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint_Essence)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/49 "2003-12-24T00:19:21Z")
when parking lights were first used/required, they tended to be oil lamps rather than electric lights. Cars back then also did not depend on a battery to start them. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/50 "2003-12-24T00:46:50Z")
Are those “running lights” some of you have mentioned the same lights (down low, quite bright) that my owners manual calls “fog lights”? Talk about your pet peeves. Argh! ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/51 "2003-12-24T03:36:39Z")
Running lights are a low-intensity setting on your normal headlights. Most new cars (all of them?) have running lights that come on whenever the car is in gear. They make the car more visible during the daytime. As for parking lights, in most parts of the US (except, apparently, in West Virginia) parking lights are a vestigal remnant of a bygone age. Kinda like the automotive equivalent of your appendix. Some people turn them on when driving at dusk, or for other reasons, but they are not widely used. ---
**Author:** ![SkyCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SkyCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyCowboy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/52 "2003-12-24T03:51:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zardoz \* > \*\*…and what’s the point of them, anyway? I know I should remember this from my driver ed. days, but I’d rather hear it from you guys anyway. I mean, does anyone actually use those lights for parking? Or is it some antiquated use that no one does anymore? \*\* Zardoz, Yes, they are to be used when you park the car along a road at night. The reason is so cars traveling along the road can see you more easily, and thus avoid sideswiping you. If you park in a parking lot, driveway, or a designated parking spot on a street you don’t need to use them. In Europe – where they are more advanced about such things than us – the parking lot switch actually gives you the choice of lighting either the left or right side parking lights. If you park on the right side of a road and the left side of your car is sticking out into passing traffic, you can choose to light only the left side parking lights, and vice versa. Merry Christmas, Sky ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/53 "2003-12-24T04:42:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mangeorge \* > \*\*Are those “running lights” some of you have mentioned the same lights (down low, quite bright) that my owners manual calls “fog lights”? > Talk about your pet peeves. Argh! \*\* No. Fog lights are engineered (placement, angle, lens dispersal) to let you see the road in fog with a minimum of reflection from the fog itself. Running lights are for the purpose of being seen. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/54 "2003-12-24T08:41:34Z")
That is another of my peeves- when people drive with both their ordinary headlights and front fog lights switched on when the visability does not need it. The name says it all “fog lights” , so they should only be used when visibility is bad. In fact it is illegal in the UK to use fog lights ( front and rear) unless it is foggy. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/55 "2003-12-24T22:09:16Z")
Regarding so-called _ **"fog lights"** _- They’re just for looks. I’ve never seen any that don’t illuminate the fog just as much as the regular headlights. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/56 "2003-12-24T22:09:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gary T \* > \*\*No. Fog lights are engineered (placement, angle, lens dispersal) to let you see the road in fog with a minimum of reflection from the fog itself. Running lights are for the purpose of being seen. \*\* Ok. I ask because I see people driving with their fog lights on all the time, day or night. No fog needed. I’ve turned mine on at night (no fog) and I can’t see any better. Who knows. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/57 "2003-12-24T22:24:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > \*\*Regarding so-called _ **"fog lights"** _- They’re just for looks. I’ve never seen any that don’t illuminate the fog just as much as the regular headlights. \*\* The fog lights on my car (Audi) do illuminate the road in front of the car pretty good. Makes it a lot easier to see the line. That’s important to me because the first thing I do in dense fog is try to get the hell off the road. Denny’s, here I come. ---
**Author:** ![SkyCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SkyCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyCowboy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/58 "2003-12-24T22:44:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hail Ants \* > \*\*Regarding so-called _ **"fog lights"** _- They’re just for looks. I’ve never seen any that don’t illuminate the fog just as much as the regular headlights. \*\* Hail. Not just for looks. Look closely and you will see that real fog lights are an amber or yellow color. The reason is that water particles and vapour in the air (fog) is more transparent to amber light than to the wavelengths in the spectrum from white light. So with amber light, there is less backscatter and it appears the fog lights penetrate fog better. (There are obviously yellow wavelengths in standard white headlights, but their penetration is overwhelmed by the backscatter from the red and blue wavelentghs.) Until not too many years ago, all autos in France could use only amber headlights because of the backscatter effect of the other wavelengths. Merry Christmas, Sky ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/59 "2003-12-25T03:31:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quint Essence \* > \*\*when parking lights were first used/required, they tended to be oil lamps rather than electric lights. > Cars back then also did not depend on a battery to start them. \*\* I’d love to see your source on your assertions. I particulary doubt the oil lamp thing. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/60 "2003-12-25T03:40:05Z")
Google it, **samclem**. Include kerosene. Peace, mangeorge [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206.md?page=4)