Car headlights ON for Friday's State Funeral

June 9, 2004 | ricer1

[ricer1]

Honor Mr. Ronald Reagan with your car headlights ON for Friday.

[ricer1]

Many millions of admirers cannot pay their respects personally to the Reagan Family.

In view of that, might I propose that we honor this great man (in a small way, granted) Ronald Reagan, by driving with our car headlights ON all day.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping

[petercooper]

you should always have them on

[Andy'smom]

Great idea. Thank you for proposing that.

[ActionNewsBill]

you should always have them on

Why?

[petercooper]

HEADLIGHTS ON IN THE DAY?
Why should you drive with your headlights on during the day? You can see just fine, right? But, can other drivers and pedestrians see you? Driving with your lights on during the day is especially effective in preventing head-on and front corner collisions by making your vehicle more easily noticed. A recent study found that driving with your headlights on during the day reduces your risk of being involved in an accident with another vehicle by 5 percent, and reduces your risk of striking a pedestrian by 9 percent! It's worth it!

[muawiyah]

Actually, you should have your headlights OFF except at night.

There are several tens of millions of reasons for this ~ among them are the elderly for whom any increase in the level of glare is an unmitigated disaster. Whether they are passengers, pedestrians, or even drivers, any reduction in their visual accuity is not advisable.

Even for folks who have no vision problems, there's always that rear-view mirror. Really nothing quite like an SUV behind you with his highbeams on ~ that's the OTHER disaster ~ too many people don't know how to switch to their low beams. Last thing we want to do is advise them to turn on their headlights.

[muawiyah]

BTW, any study that says having your lights on during the daytime makes you more visible is seriously flawed. All it does is cause other folk's pupils to contract, thereby making you less visible to them, and cause you to have reduced contrast at the horizon.

This has been known since WWII.

[buccaneer81]

you should always have them on

I'm not Canadian.

[Petronski]

It's a nice idea, but some of us have our lights on always, while others drive cars with this feature built in.

[Cinnamon Girl]

It has been the case, this week in Los Angeles, that it has been especially overcast and that most people have been driving with their lights on. Still, I wondered on Monday if even more people had them on because of Reagan.

[cweese]

...if other drivers and pedestrians can't see my jacked up landcruiser coming from 100 yards, they're probably blind...

[kjam22]

Yeah.... I'm one of those with the headlight automatic feature on my car. Hmmmm... maybe there's a manual override.

I've got a question for any in this thread that may know the answer. My flag has been at half/staff since I first heard of the President's death. What did Dubya proclaim? Am I to keep it that way for 30 days?

[spoiler2]

"...driving with our car headlights ON all day."

You must drive an older car. Most cars built since 2000 have their lights on automatically, whenever they're put in Drive.

It's a nice idea, but remember to lower flags to half staff on Friday, too. THAT is something that's not automatic, and really shows respect for President Reagan.

[The_Victor]

Daytime running lamps have made this gesture somewhat meaningless.

[petercooper]

Studies show otherwise. So why do motorcyclists have them on all the time?

[theDentist]

Mine are on automatically. Part of this, though, was a push by the various companies that manufacture headlights. By having them on whenever you drive, the lifespan of the lights is reduced, and more are needed. I recall reading somewhere that by 2002 the numbr of headlights sold were up 50% or more for that industry. But, I have no quarrel with it overall.

[eyespysomething]

Yes, 30 days

[Petronski]

Your logic is seriously flawed.

[ricer1]

So why do motorcyclists have them on all the time?

Because it's the law.

The light makes them more visible. Many drivers simply don't have the time to maintain situation awareness of ALL traffic behind/before/beside them.

A friend of mine has a nice big Yamaha with 3 headlights and a stupid driver turned right in front of him anyway (causing $4000 damage to the bike). Fortunately, he AND his wife walked away from the bike with just minor scratches. The card driver said, "I just didn't see him..."