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It's time to mandate automatic headlights, imo (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Sometimes I have to drive after dark in my city, and it never fails that if I drive any appreciable distance that I always see at least one person (often more) driving with their lights off. I do not need to tell y'all why this is dangerous. We're a community of enthusiasts. We know. Plenty of us are driving older cars that predate the tech.

It's not like they don't mandate lots of shit already. Seatbelts, head restraints, airbags, and backup cameras are some of the most sensible things ever required for cars to have. Why are automatic headlights not on this list? There also needs to exist a mandate whereby the lights turn on if the driver turns on the wipers. Because if you need your wipers, you need your lights too. It's common freaking sense.

Your headlights aren't just for seeing, but for being seen. Ambient light sensors are so cheap that they end up in midrange TVs all the time. I blame the backlit gauges and myriad other interior lights. Ergo, it's time to mandate automatic headlights. There's no reason not to.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I want a super version of this. I want headlights that dim several lumens when I slow down and when I stop. I drive a massive truck with headlights that blind the shit out of people. I wish it would slowly dim them as I slowed and would basically turn them off or point them down when I’m stopped. I don’t need to see 500ft ahead at that point. We have the tech, and LEDs are perfect for that.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Perhaps you don't need to drive a massive truck? Or you can change your headlights? Semis don't blind me like modern trucks do.

I get blinded in the highway as much as in the neighborhood.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

We don't know what they use the truck for. What we do know is that semi trucks have fairly low-mounted headlights whereas pickups and SUVs are in a race to see who can mount their lights the highest for that road presence and offroad clearance (as long as you ignore how low the air dams are on recent trucks). Part of the issue is that the US code FMVSS 108 requires low beams must be mounted higher and/or outboard of the high beams. This increases the height of the low beam of any dual-unit headlight. Aside from that, just about every nifty trick to hide lower headlights gets hit with criticism. The first gen Jeep Cherokee (2015, not the Grand) had slim faux-headlight DRLs in the hood line and snuck the real headlights in the middle of the bumper. The Chevy Bolt did the same. The Nissan Juke is even more notorious for that. Even the 2008-2016 Ford F-250/350 (especially 08-10) gets flak for its huge upper parking light feigning a headlight bucket. Unfortunately, consumers are emotional