Say NO to HIGH-BEAM

[kaushik_s]

While driving on the highway at night I normally find another car which is being driven at comfortable speed and I just follow him, ofcourse with low-beam. While driving on the city then always on low-beam whatever the situation may be as high-beam is not needed at all.

If I'm driving on a highway with almost no oncoming vehicle and no one to follow, then isn't it ok and safe to drive with high-beam? With hazards like bullock carts, cattles, broken down trucks etc lying on the road, it's really dangerous to drive with low-beams on the highway. I switch on to low-beam as soon as I see any on-coming vehicle. I normally drive max at 80-90kmph on single carriageways if driving with/without pilot car(depends on the traffic).

What about Expressways/Dual carriageways? Here most of the time you'll not be troubled with the lights of the oncoming vehicles even in high-beams. So what is the idea here? As for me I try to find a pilot car to follow even on dual-carriageways but what about driving all on your own? Rules remain same or can be changed/modified? I normally drive max at 90-110kmph if driving on my own (depends on the traffic) on dual carriageways.

[Thad E Ginathom]

While driving on the city then always on low-beam whatever the situation may be as high-beam is not needed at all.

It is tough when we come across power-cut stretches, but with oncoming traffic we still should not use high beam.

If I'm driving on a highway with almost no oncoming vehicle and no one to follow, then isn't it ok and safe to drive with high-beam?

That's what they are for! Except you should dip until the oncoming vehicle has passed

[rjstyles69]

I have been at the receiving end quite a few times while driving the scorp' with low beams on in the city limits.The high stance of the vehicle and the positioning of the headlamps actually blinds oncoming cars even while using low beams. So leave alone using high beams.
Have given up using high beams in the city limits and use them only on the highways these days mostly. Never bother to switch on the Hella's and only flash the high beams when needed.

From what I have seen, the low beams of SUV's are good enough to blind oncoming traffic mainly low slung sedans or smaller hatch backs.Add a 130/100 bulb to it and you are good to hear a lot of profanity .

[darklord]

Say NO to HIGH-BEAM

Impossible; dangerous even. Most of my highway driving involves unlit, undivided, "unpavemented" roads. At night, due to the lack of pedestrian space, people will usually walk on the road itself. Cyclists; no lights, no reflectors most of the time. Now, if I were to stick no high beam rigorously, it might be too late to react to such people. The best bet is to make it a habit to dip your headlights when there is oncoming traffic, even for cyclists.

Cities and well-lit highways; it is a different matter.

[libranof1987]

One big problem with high beams these days is the blaring reflection through the Green radium boards for varios things like directions, toll plaza etc.

If the high beam of a vehicle in your lane hits you bad!

I remember there was some protest against these boards on the Mumbai-Pune expressway for this very reason but nothing came of it.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by darklord

Impossible; dangerous even. ... Now, if I were to stick no high beam rigorously, it might be too late to react to such people. The best bet is to make it a habit to dip your headlights when there is oncoming traffic, even for cyclists.

Cities and well-lit highways; it is a different matter.

The best statement regarding usage of High Beams.

[nandans2005]

i have never, i mean most of the time, seen one sensible person driving his or her car in low beam in the city. I dont understand in what way one can pump sense into these duffers?

I tried couple of time asking them to switch to low beam, i was told
"Whats your problem? your car doesnt have high beam, is it ?" .

What will it take to change the attitude here ?

[jalex77]

Originally Posted by nandans2005

i have never, i mean most of the time, seen one sensible person driving his or her car in low beam in the city. I dont understand in what way one can pump sense into these duffers?

I tried couple of time asking them to switch to low beam, i was told
"Whats your problem? your car doesnt have high beam, is it ?" .

What will it take to change the attitude here ?

Very true, They might even get into a rage and get physical even if its only a polite request you asked. Its the problem of the way people are taught to drive in our nation. I've seen people who dont know where the dim switch was, they just switched it on from the beginning and never bothered of flicking the switch at all.

[rajeev k]

The blokes on hi beam, if you look at their face expression, are not bothered at all even if they get their own medicine back. Moreover there are hi-beamers who never ever dip and in case they do, they do it for a nano second as if it is wired to a live bomb.

We can see a lot of guys who would park the vehicle on the wayside in high beam and doing this and that..

I feel offended if my lights cause any inconvenience to oncoming vehicles.

One thing is for sure, this is going to stay.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I notice that the cab drivers from Chennai Airport (not the Ambassadors; they often don't bother with lights at all, and I avoid them for that and other reasons) seem to drive with full beam on.

I know I should say something, but hey, we just finished flying, we're on the way home, it's going to turn into an argument with my poor wife as interpretor, and then all three people in the car will end up pissed off.

[silversteed]

@Thad sir, seems you haven't noticed the other cabs. They drive with the high beam on all the time. They have these flashing park lights in the rear - The reversing light and brake lights all blink when they (ever) step on the brake. Some of the Indicabs and Indigo taxis have their headlight beams pointed up and not onto the road. It's the matter of screwing a nut properly behind the headlamp assembly, but these nuts don't bother. However they do find time off to booze. Pathetic

[haria]

Many times some morons even switch on hella lamps in the city and it literally blinds the driver coming in opposite direction. These jerks are really a menace.

One of the tips which a cabdriver shared with me (which i found quite effective) is when a vehicle is coming in the opposite direction with high beam, focus your eyes/look at left front edge of your car (ie, imagine a vertical pole in front of the left side lamp of the car, look at this spot). Once the opposite car passes you, you can switch your focus back to the centre. This causes less "blinding" and your night vision is also not much impaired. Just try it out. worked real well for me - esp on the highways.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by haria

One of the tips which a cabdriver shared with me (which i found quite effective) is when a vehicle is coming in the opposite direction with high beam, focus your eyes/look at left front edge of your car (ie, imagine a vertical pole in front of the left side lamp of the car, look at this spot). Once the opposite car passes you, you can switch your focus back to the centre. This causes less "blinding" and your night vision is also not much impaired. Just try it out. worked real well for me - esp on the highways.

Hey, I got the same advice from a sensible cab driver too. He used to he our driver for long trips with just my grandparents travelling. A good guy. His logic was, we tend to focus on bright objects even if they are blinding. Hence we lose our focus on the road when hit by the high beam of oncoming vehicles. So we have to forcibly focus our vision on something less bright.

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by haria

One of the tips which a cabdriver shared with me (which i found quite effective) is when a vehicle is coming in the opposite direction with high beam, focus your eyes/look at left front edge of your car (ie, imagine a vertical pole in front of the left side lamp of the car, look at this spot). Once the opposite car passes you, you can switch your focus back to the centre. This causes less "blinding" and your night vision is also not much impaired. Just try it out. worked real well for me - esp on the highways.

I used to do this until recently. Then one day I almost crashed into an oncoming biker. The truck in front of him was on high beam, and this guy was trying to overtake him, and he didn't care about me coming from the opposite side and continued overtaking. If he had crashed into me, I'd have been blamed for the whole thing!

[shajufx]

I have not read the whole thread, but whats the conclusion here ? Should we drive with low beam all the time at all terrains or use it in line with the situation ? Whatever it is, here is what I do: Majority of the time its low beam (read it as 80 watts) but I always use the high beam (read it as 100 watts ) in the following cases:

1) Oncoming vehicle in high beam
2) bad roads with potholes and uneven speed breakers
3) Highways that has proper dividers (which does not affect other side drivers)
4) When I see someone can not dip when I dip (read it as sadistic)

I respect people who drive on low beam and will never try to blind them at any situation. But, I try my level best to show my anger by using the fog lights and high beam together to convey my message to the oncoming, illiterate, aggressive driver and majority of the time it has worked. Many people believe head light ON means the high beam indicator on the dash board has to be ON. SAD !

We can tolerate all that, but how about the cabbies who drive with full time high beam and the horn button pressed 90% of the time ? (they take the hand off 10% to scratch themselves). We should amend the constitution to hang them without legal proceedings !