[Asif 6959]

I don't think its a fault in the design. Too tiny a indicator would have been a problem - what was the other car in question here?

As a basic rule and commonsense - car cutting into the lane has to stop and allow the car moving straight to pass first.
Irrespective of the speed and distance available vehicle moving straight has the right to cross first and then the vehicle cutting into the lane.

Everyone is in a rush and wants to reach first and many times do this at the safety of others.

[Carpainter]

I personally feel that other than design flaw, this is more of a bad habit. No matter how much we are told to drive in low beam, most people still drive with high beam on even on two lane undivided roads which makes it difficult to spot the turn signal due to the focus of high beam. Also I think headlamp clusters that have turn indicator lamp on the outer side (example 4th gen City) is more visible than ones with indicator lamp on the inner side of the cluster (example old i10 pictured in this thread). Personally, I drive with caution at all intersections because there are idiots who have a mind of their own and take turn/ come out of side alley without any indicator at all.

[psmenon]

Originally Posted by Nithesh_M

If you are unable to differentiate between a blinking turn signal and a headlight beam within the same housing on a 2 lane road, chances are you were travelling faster than the speed limit on that road. That or some kind of colorblindness.

Is there no wing mirror lights or front fender lights you could spot?

I do not really agree when you say that the lights could not been seen due to over speeding, when senseless people does not use their dim lights on roads - specially the state highways and unmarked roads its difficult to mark the blinkers.

I totally relate with the initial post and this is some thing of a bad design.

[ArnabOnTheRoad]

Originally Posted by Mr.Perera

since many drivers drive all the time with High beam ON

Can't we do something about this? Apart from the official stuff, can each of us pledge to help ONE driver in a month understand the correct usage of low beam and high beam? Small, but it will be a start. I am sure there are thousands of us who face this problem every time we drive at night.

[gopi_rm]

This is not a design flaw. The vehicle and it’s light setup are designed according to the Indian Motor Vehicle Act otherwise it won’t pass the homologation/type approval.
The problem is drivers not following/aware of road rules and regulations. If one follows the basic rules such as giving priority on turns according to the sign board, no high beam when there are vehicles in opposite lane, etc. then headlight+turn signal would not be a dangerous combo. I am frustrated with the way people using high beams. Even when I flash my high beam to signal the opposite driver to switch to low beam, 80% simply ignore it and drive.

[Rhik94]

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

Many cars today particularly the top variants have indicators on orvm and also on fenders. That should help a bit. Anyhow, these mishaps usually happen in a four cross or signal, where I guess we need traffic regulations such as in US, first come first served basis just to avoid confusion.

Fatigue could be another issue or mindlessness why one might not be able to differentiate the two lights.
Nevertheless, the rule in the US where one is supposed to wait for the car coming straight before you can take a turn is a very effective way to mitigate risks. Though in India the scenario changes given that every body wants the right of the way.
The general rule followed in the US in 3 or 4 way junctions where first come first serve is followed, could be risky since who came first will be open to interpretation in case of an accident, especially at a junction where there are no cameras.

[BLACNWYTE]

I feel it's part design flaw and part user technique. The small blinkers so close to the big bright headlamps is the part design flaw. The person on high beam putting the blinkers on and expect the oncoming traffic to notice it is the flaw in user technique.

I have faced this on countless occasions. When the brights are on, it is hard enough to see the road immediately in front of you so noticing the tiny blinker so close to the source of the blinding light is near to impossible.. Most of the drivers that I have encountered, drive with high beams on two lane roads. I don't know that if they know that they are effectively blinding the oncoming traffic which in turn can prove fatal to they themselves.

What I do now is that when I need to take a turn I switch off my head lamps before putting on the blinker. As for lighting, I have the fog lamps and led position lights, which lights up the road immediately in front of the car and also gives my bearing to the oncoming traffic. So I guess it's a win-win for both.

[chaudh2s]

Irrespective of whether one sees the blinkers or not, the rule says that the one turning right has to give way to oncoming traffic (no 2 ways about it). The rule also says driving on high beams is prohibited when your high beam reaches oncoming traffic. So, the oncoming car who wants to turn right should wait for oncoming traffic to pass and switch to dipped beams and then there should not have been any problem.
Cars must be designed based on laws and rules, not on the basis of misuse pattern of folks. My personal opinion.

[GT007]

It's really a hazard during night drives when the visibility is less and to top it most of the drivers are on high beams, it's very difficult to spot the glowing indicators in few car models by a normal eyesight.

Does anyone feel that there should be two speed limits on a road one for day and one for night, i agree it will make more complications in our already complicated system but i personally feel specially on undivided state highways with good roads It's easy to cruise till 80kmph during day but at night anything above 60kmph becomes risky if suddenly there is some unexpected maneuver from the oncoming traffic. Also due to lack of street lights on these kind of undivided state highways, most of the drivers are on high beam always when they are driving at good speeds & even sudden unmarked speedbreakers or police barricades without any reflective strips cause panic braking at times.

[spgv]

I too agree, turn signals integrated in head lights is bad design. Even while walking at intersection i have experienced this issue. The incoming light from headlight completely dazzle even pedestrians.

[Kosfactor]

An indicator bulb (non led) is 21W in the front and rear, bright enough when replaced timely and visible when combined with OE headlamp. Some people drive with blinkers on in the rain because it is bright and visible (It is perhaps not required to drive that way, but goes on to show that blinkers are bright enough for its purpose).

At the expense of going slightly OT. Right of way is a bit more complicated than what we assume.



Link for further reading.

https://vikaspedia.in/social-welfare...gulations-2017

[pranavtengshe]

This calls for new feature: dip lights when turn indicators are on!! I dont know if any car has this. Cost effective than auto dipping lights

[bhavik.1991]

You can add pre-facelift Brezza in The Good list. Attaching an image from the official Team-bhp review.


Obviously, people and reviewers didn't like it hence blinkers were moved inside Headlight assembly in facelift.
My personal opinion : It looked old school but sexy.

[PrasunBannerjee]

I have an expectation/request from the manufacturers here. Plonk in a system which switches to low beam irrespective of the beam you are driving in, and switching off the high beam when any indicator is lit. This is possible as I have seen factory fit DRLs going off when an indicator is lit or something similar, so why not high beam as well?

As for my limited experience, I haven't really come across too many drivers who light up their indicators 50+ meters prior to their turn. It might go bad in only a select cases, say high speed highway runs in total darkness where people are bound to use high beam. Solution in that case can be to 'reduce' the speed. Other possible scenario is a double barrel headlamp cluster car like Indigo CS or Duster or Honda City, etc. where a careless owner didn't deliberately replace their fused low beam bulb and kept driving on the high beam. Solution can be to replace the fused bulb. For cars with the adaptive headlight systems, don't think it might be needed at all. This is a fix for relatively cheaper cars than that.

Awaiting opinion from fellow BHPians on this thought/potential safety feature petition. Implementation can be as simple as the self cancelling indicators and not hugely expensive

[Leem]

Newbie here.. but this topic happens to be my area of profession. i work in optics design in automotive lamps

FTI (Front Turn Indicator) by design comes in 3 categories depending on its distance from LowBeam boundary. if distance is less than 20mm it falls in highest brightness category and if distance from LB is higher than 40 then in the least brightness category.
and there is one in between. By brightness category i meant the light function is homologated by certification authority depending on these preset rules.

This rule is to ensure visibility of FTI in night times while LowBeam is on. I repeat LowBeam!!. From Design point of view, you wont require a Highbeam assistance upto speeds to tune of 60km/hr. Most well designed LB can give a good visibility upto 80m (range of 5 Lux on road) ahead.

When HighBeam is ON this negates all the design consideration. and you dont normally need a Highbeam assistance in a slow turn.

FTI can be perceived as DIM when
1. when High Beam is ON and FTI is close to HB
2. when lamp is dirty
3. over time PY21W bulbs (or any light source for that matter) deteriorate in its light output
4. reflectors are dull due to age, dust or other damage.
5. misjudgment of the other road user. ( But this is a case for another big debate)


BTW... Brezza FTI was one of my earliest design projects to come in to production