Discussions

Out driving in the fog this morning and noted that 1/3 of the vehicles did not have daytime running lights that were working. Also noted about 1/2 had not turned on their tail lights. I was following a white car in the fog with no tail lights. Do you know how hard you were to see?

Same happened to me on Richmond.  
Was behind a little red car, again no tail lights so i pulled up next to Her and flashed my lights, Nothing...Honked my Horn and she never even noticed me.  
Older Chinese lady that you can tell had a hard time seeing at night, due to driving lights on and not headlights...  
 
Says Auto on switch, please use it..

See it lots. People driving with daytime running lights and oblivious to the fact they cant be seen from behind because they havent turned their lights on. Dont get it. Wish they would walk around their car at night to see whats lit up. Wish city police were more active in the fines.

I don’t know how many times I have almost gotten into an accident with a person who didn’t have their tail lights on. If you flash them as a friendly warning, most people stick their finger out the window at you, not bothering to wonder why you have flashed your highbeams or honked at them. Others just ignore.

So what happens if you smash into yje back of a car with no lights on at night, because you can’t see them? Are you at fault? And many times during the week, I see many cars with no lights on!

Jim.49.000 said "Same happened to me on Richmond.   Was behind a little red car, again no tail lights so i pulled up next to Her and flashed my lights, Nothing...Honked my Horn and she never even noticed me.   Older Chinese lady that you can tell had a hard time seeing at night, due to driving lights on and not headlights...     Says Auto on switch, please use it.. "

Putting your lights on auto doesn't always mean your tail lights are on. On most newer vehicles, there will be a light symbol on the dash to indicate if all the lights are on.

Just because a vehicle has daytime running lights does not mean it has an "auto" setting for lights.

Well guess that depends on the vehicle, our 2 newer ones have Auto and Daytime running, other had Daytime but no Auto, other one has neither...

We seem to live in a world full of technology, so why don't the automakers just idiot proof the light problem. We have delay timers to shut lights off, why not have a delay timer of 20-30 seconds after the vehicle starts that turns the lights on, now there still is the problem of parking lights, likely easy to overcome by connecting into the transmission, park lights on in park, any other gear, lights on completely.  
If we weren't hopeless idiots we wouldn't be having this discussion, idiot proof the system and solve a problem.

The problem with the auto setting on my vehicles is that it only turns on the headlights and tail lights if it is dark enough. During the day in rain, snow, or fog it is not dark enough to trip the auto setting to turn on the lights and am left with only the daytime running lights on. During the day in those weather conditions I turn on my lights.  
I am also noticing a trend when I roll my window down at a stop light to tell the person beside me they have a light out - they reply "I know" about half the time. I don't understand why so many don't get them fixed. When I have one out I try to fix it the next day.

It would be pretty simple to tie the lights into a circuit that turns the daytime running lights and the tail lights on as soon as the vehicle speed sensor starts to produce a signal. A daylight sensor could also be used to switch from daytime lights to full headlights when it gets dark.  
 
All this technology has existed for some years, it just needs to be used on every car built, or we will end up with people driving in the dark or in poor light conditions without enough lights on.

if you have auto light you can turn them on manual on the switch. But keep this in my that GM vehicle all have auto tail lights on. so if you are driving any other brand 90 % of them dont have running tail light when the vehicle is running. There was one post asking why dont this manufacture just make them always on. Well the answer to that is that GM is the only one doing it for a long time. only a few of the manufacture have started to do this now.

Missing in Action said "if you have auto light you can turn them on manual on the switch. But keep this in my that GM vehicle all have auto tail lights on. so if you are driving any other brand 90 % of them dont have running tail light when the vehicle is running. There was one post asking why dont this manufacture just make them always on. Well the answer to that is that GM is the only one doing it for a long time. only a few of the manufacture have started to do this now. "

Explains all the GM vehicles that don't have there lights on in the evening and the morning. People are just less intelligent now. They are so used to things automatically doing thing for them they have forgotten common sense. If it is dark or dusk make sure your lights are on. Last night I had to turn off all my lights while in front of someone for a while just so they would get that their lights were off

Trust me GM vehicle have auto tail light when they are on. But if you have snow or dirt or mud on them, they yeah you wont see that they are on cause of that.  
 
So if someone is putting other at risk by not turning on there tail lights of making sure that they are clean. Why did you think it is ok for you to do that, I get that you are driving a point but do so not at risk of others and yourself.  
 
Drive safe everyone and me considerate of those on the road with you and there would be no issue. It when you dont care is when ppl get hurt.

Missing in Action said "Trust me GM vehicle have auto tail light when they are on. But if you have snow or dirt or mud on them, they yeah you wont see that they are on cause of that.     So if someone is putting other at risk by not turning on there tail lights of making sure that they are clean. Why did you think it is ok for you to do that, I get that you are driving a point but do so not at risk of others and yourself.     Drive safe everyone and me considerate of those on the road with you and there would be no issue. It when you dont care is when ppl get hurt. "

Waited until it was just him and I with no other cars coming towards us before I turned off my lights and It took him only a few seconds to realize what I was doing. His car was clean he just wasn't thinking as is what most of the cause of this issue. There maybe a few GM products that have this feature but certainly not all.