Team-BHP - Say NO to HIGH-BEAM

I have a santro and i always preferred low beams also on the highways
but sometimes i switched to high beams because
1.Sugar cane bullock carts on highways are not at all visible with low beam since distance covered with santros low beam is not more then 15 -20 feets i guess.
2.Bi-cycles riders are also not visible
3.There are many pedestrian who walks to shirdi on pune-nasik highway at night. This walking people walks on highway to shirdi , this people are also not clearly visible on low beam
4.anyone crossing the roads 20-25 feet ahead is not properly visible
5. Many trucks , specially dumpers which carried building material like sand, dose not have any tail lams , so it is dangerous and you may collide from back if you cannot see it
6. Any break-down vechile like truck may be stopped on a highway is not visible clearly on low beam and there are accident happen on Mumbai-pune expressway due to this standing vehicle
7. Almost all tractors with trolleys on the highway which carry sugar cane do not have any tail lamp or radium strip on the trolley

so on low beam i always feel that i may collide with some vechile/pedestrian from back since speed is around 80-90 KMPH

So can you please elaborate how to avoid this issues with low beams , I had not upgraded my lamps of santro and it is company fitted, do I need to upgrade so that on low beam also this issues can be tackled with ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandeep joshi (Post 2191867)

Upgrades are an option, but if you find that your headlamps have sufficient illumination and it's only the low-beam that's causing problems on highways, I have a simple solution for you to try out.

Get black insulation tape (1-inch width), and tape the top inch of your headlamps. You can now drive in high-beam without blinding oncoming traffic and still have sufficient beam-throw to illuminate fairly distant objects in your path. Admittedly, it isn't ideal, but works most of the time like a charm. Best part, you can always take the tape off if you don't like it, or at the end of your highway trip.:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacescreamer (Post 2191263)

Good thread.. highly appreciate the sentiment.
have asked numerous people to put off the high beam and luckily enough they all have obliged instantly. (knock on the wood)

How would one convey this message to the nut coming in opposite with high beam? Is possible only if one is in the thick of a traffic jam.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 2191282)

Two points:

1. I think they tried making the auto-dimmer mandatory some years ago. Could not find a decent reliable unit. I find dipping no big deal, so why mindless automation.

2. Bigger vehicle is at fault is I think somewhere in the statutebook. Of course the rule does not in practice ally to the police vehicles, netas, etc.

1. You are right; dipping is no big deal but not too many does that.

2. True. One can see many police vehicles, state cars never dip their main beams.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpha1 (Post 2192536)

The menace is not high beams as such ... but the fact that most of the idiots behind the wheels do not know:
1. What is beam dipping and when to do it
2. How to dip the high beam to low

That is true. The driving schools don't teach about this and one has to use the sense which is uncommon ie., commonsense.

During rains the fools put in high beams and struggle to drive without knowing that his high beam can only blind others and is of no use to him as the light gets refracted.

Another common phenomena seen on roads is if we dip our beam, the guy coming opposite to us in low beam would instantly switch to high beam as if it is mandatory.

Another set is those who switch Lo/ Hi 60 times a minute totally blinding others. They all need to be taught the basic funda.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajeev k (Post 2192642)

That is true. The driving schools don't teach about this and one has to use the sense which is uncommon ie., commonsense.

During rains the fools put in high beams and struggle to drive without knowing that his high beam can only blind others and is of no use to him as the light gets refracted.

Another common phenomena seen on roads is if we dip our beam, the guy coming opposite to us in low beam would instantly switch to high beam as if it is mandatory.

Another set is those who switch Lo/ Hi 60 times a minute totally blinding others. They all need to be taught the basic funda.

Depends on the quality of driving school really. If a driving school doesn't teach basics like dim/dip, it's best to stay well away from them. Driving is much more than just the steering and 3 pedals.

:OTMy driving instructor put me through a 3-day road-safety course before I even got behind the wheel for the first time. From what I can recall, it included:

1. Equipment available in the car.
2. Basic driving habits, including something as basic as how to/how not to hold steering wheels.
3. Using beams/dippers at night and low-visibility conditions.
4. Reading/understanding road-signs and hand-signals used on-road.
5. Changing tires.
6. Checking/topping up oils & other fluids.

He insisted on teaching the safety part first because he said a lot of his pupils stopped coming to the course the day he announced that the driving part is complete, and the safety/ basic vehicle upkeep training would start.:D

He's a veteran of 25 years in this business, and I'm glad I found him when hunting for a good driving school. We need more of his kind if we want to improve road safety in India.

A personal experience on Chennai-ECR (Thiruvanmiyur to Injambakkam junction) everyday. Drivers, as ECR not having bright street lamps, tend to switch to high beam. The divider height being very low exposes the on-coming vehicle totally and the high beam. This totally blinds the drivers. Ofcourse this is a problem in every city and every road in India. .
I feel like getting down and slapping the fellow and giving a big lecture. Atleast in couple of incidents I was able to educate the opposite driver through my gestures and they seemed to be sorry and ignorant.
I remember, when we bought our first car in mid-90s, a driving-school driver telling that a tipper (high-low-high or vice versa) is to indicate the opposite driver 'you stop and let me go'. lol:
May be that (above vice versa) helps in blind corners or some scenarios but the funda is lost here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BusyBoyKK (Post 2192763)

A personal experience on Chennai-ECR (Thiruvanmiyur to Injambakkam junction) everyday. Drivers, as ECR not having bright street lamps, tend to switch to high beam. The divider height being very low exposes the on-coming vehicle totally and the high beam. This totally blinds the drivers. Ofcourse this is a problem in every city and every road in India. .
I feel like getting down and slapping the fellow and giving a big lecture. Atleast in couple of incidents I was able to educate the opposite driver through my gestures and they seemed to be sorry and ignorant.
I remember, when we bought our first car in mid-90s, a driving-school driver telling that a tipper (high-low-high or vice versa) is to indicate the opposite driver 'you stop and let me go'. lol:
May be that (above vice versa) helps in blind corners or some scenarios but the funda is lost here.

That is true. One should always flash before entering a blind turn at night (honk during the day, of course), as an approaching vehicle on the other side might not be able to judge your position accurately by looking at a constant beam. Flashing would indicate you're approaching close, and warns the other guy to be careful.

Importantly, never flash after you've entered the turn, as you may end up blinding the oncoming guy. This can be dangerous, esp. on ghats.

I want to add something from my side.i am currently in stuttgart , germany and i have been driving on stuttgart roads and autobahn for some trips.One of the amazing thing i found is germans never use High Beam !!!! Even the bus and other big trucks have a beam which is reaching at the maximum 30 feet.I was totally taken by surprise during my first drive in dark and when i switched on to high beam i was told by my collegues that it is not advised to put high beam.I for one was not so comfortable with only half the car distance visible and had to occasionaly switch to high beam.But one of the reason this works for them is maybe the traffice is so highly organized and lane disciplined that there will be no surprise pedestrians jumping in front of the car or cars coming at wrong direction.but honestly in india i think high beam is definetly required in some stretches.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajeev k (Post 2212737)

Best way to force blokes to stop the practice is to make driving with HiBeam mandatory.
This will force everyone to drive in LoBeams as iit will give them the pleasure of flouting the rule. Ha Haclap:

That might work in our state cause we mallus love doing the opposite.lol:
I really hate to drive at night especially in the rains. It has become such a pain.