[leadf00t]

Originally Posted by verditer

During my initial years of driving, I took whatever opportunity I had to communicate to the other driver to dip;
but I think I have realised that there is no use in trying to advocate to others,, it just doesn't seem to have any effect. Some might respond, most will be indifferent, and some would bark back at you.

I feel it is better to focus my effort on keeping myself safe and avoiding an accident, than trying to educate another.. there are just too many morons around.

Suresh.

After driving for a few years now, I too feel i must adopt a similar policy.

No point in trying to correct these Morons

[GordonGekko]

It is really quite ignorant and inconsiderate behaviour.

Whenever someone in the opposite direction is coming on high beam, i dip my lights like crazy just to annoy them and teach them a lesson.

[Judemayne]

I have been driving for the past 36 years and trust me back in the 70's there were a few cars on the roads and 90% followed the low beam rule. It was the buses that were always on high beam. In the Army we always trained our drivers to drive on low beam especially in the Hills. Nowadays its fashionable to drive on high beam and with white lights. I have tried my best to educate but trust me i have given up!!

[saurabhdadhichi]

Originally Posted by arin_12

RTO should put high alert on this HORN Manufacturer company only. All musical and high decibel horn should be removed from all the vehicle before we permanently get def.

Hi Arin,
It would be almost impossible to have this implemented, as not all manufacturers are from India & since we have products coming from various countries its quite difficult to tame this....especially considering that we have not had till now a proper system of issuing license in India !

Originally Posted by Judemayne

I have been driving for the past 36 years and trust me back in the 70's there were a few cars on the roads and 90% followed the low beam rule. It was the buses that were always on high beam. In the Army we always trained our drivers to drive on low beam especially in the Hills. Nowadays its fashionable to drive on high beam and with white lights. I have tried my best to educate but trust me i have given up!!

True, my observation has been that the cars on high beams are also often the ones that are mostly chauffer driven. But i think we are slowly making progress as the awareness is increasing, howsoever slow it may be...it just needs some more patience & to continue doing our rightful act of driving in low beam who knows some people would learn from our rightful act if not for sure

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[jinojohnt]

Once I 'encountered' a Sumo coming in the opposite direction in High Beam, on a badly lit city road. Speeds were around 20 km/hr. Just when the Sumo was 5 or 6 meters away, I suddenly felt a shadow moving in front of me from the left side of my wind screen. Thinking a pedestrian is jumping in front, I panicked and swerved toward right, moving my car directly in front of the Sumo. We both braked hard and stopped just a few meters away from each other. The Sumo driver started shouting at me, and I thought educating him is not worth it, because I suddenly noticed a small wording painted on the side of the Sumo reading 'POLICE'.

[rajeev k]

Driving on high beams in city and also on leftward curves on roads blinding the oncoming traffic is really dangerous.

There are many types of Highbeam idiots like,

1.Always on high beam and if they dip is for a nano second. They feel that low beam is wired to a live bomb.
2. Follow a vehicle on highbeam
3. Talking on mobile after stopping the vehicle but keeping the headlights on and that too on high beam.
4. Entering the main road from side bylanes in high beam blinding every driver passing through the main road.
5. keeping continuously in high beam during rains without knowing that light refracts and will not add any additional visibility. (During rains low beam helps in seing the road.
6. Waiting at light signals with headlights on high beam blinding every body.
7. Indiscriminate dipper switch operation continually.

These days many buses and trucks have four head lights and all these in high beam is very very scary.

I always drive in city in low beam. I feel that if I use highbeams I am asaaulting and offending the oncoming driver.

If you watch closely we can see that these highbeam wallahs getting blinded and braking suddenly if the oncoming vehicle aslo switches to high beam. Thease idiots has a reflex action when they get their own medicine back. Guess what? They honk.

So say loudly and clearly NO to HIGH BEAM

[mathew1105]

I work the night shift, So it happends to me everyday. I leave to work around 8:00 in the night and most of the cars drive on high beam. It gets even worse in the morning when I get back home. The road would be so empty and mostly these Cab drivers drive on High beam and it's really irratating when that reflects on your rear view and on top of that they keep honking.
I use to let them over take me and drive right behind them with my High beam, Most of them don't even care, I don't think they even know the difference.
These days I just have learned to live with it because
"Trying to teach some one a lesson, I don't want to end up learning a bad one" if you know what I mean

[vinaydas]

while doing speeds ranging from 100- 140 in pitch darkness i do require to switch to High beam (only on the highways though) But i always switch to low even if i see an auto approaching me.
I personally feel there is no need for High beams in side the city.

[Punzabi]

Honestly speaking, I hate those who drive/ride with high beam on all the time. Being living outside India, I am accustomed to low beams and every high beam completely blinds me. So when ever I am in India I try to avoid driving/riding after sunset.

I believe the root cause of problem is that people learn driving/riding from fellows/friends and never bother to go through rules. If the person instructing the learner never knew the rules themselves, no chance they'd pass it on. If you have learnt driving from your elders who knew rules,they would teach you the rules beforehand.I remember from my previous visit to India, I was on my way from airport to home in a hired cab and it was night time. Cabby drove all the way (appx 400 kms) on high beams and would only flicker beam if needed way, so did the drivers on the opposite side of the highway. I asked him how he manage to drive in such blinding conditions. he said "who's looking at the light. I an guessing the road by looking in dark. and I was like

I know by law you are required to pass a driving test in order to get a driving license. But law disappears into thin air when those dodgy agents come into picture. I know a couple of my friends in India had their license made through those agents and know nothing about rules. And yes they are bad drivers too. Every time I try to give them a lesson on good driving practices, I get ridiculed

[aditya101]

One gentleman I met has the theory that it is Maruti who is to blame for this high beam habit.

M800 has a indicator light in the dash for high beam, but none for low beam. So beginner folk put on high beam to be reassured....since many generations of Indian drivers have learnt to drive on M800 between 1980s-1990s this habit has plagued the whole nation!

Just a theory!

[aargee]

Whoever agrees or disagrees, KL is one of the state where road rules are still far far better compared to any south states; this includes big cities like Thrissur & EKM. People lower their headlights (ofcourse a very few exceptions).

I'd 2 experiences; one on driving from Muvattupuzha - Kottayam on MC road & other Wadakanchery - Pattambi - Perinthalmanna route. Most of the drivers were courteous. I found the KSRTC (Govt bus) drivers the real morons, anyway, their headlights were also weak, so it didn't matter much.

[silversteed]

@aargee: I agree to your point. Most drivers are courteous. But there are a few who never change:
1. Taxi drivers who "graduated" to Innova, Scorpio, Tavera etc. after driving the Amby and Premier Padmini - They don't budge even if you point your lights right on to their face. And they always have the edge - well placed headlights, road presence, and arrogance
2. Trucks, mostly from other states, and tippers
3. Bikers - Noticed the bright high-beam of a Unicorn or a Pulsar?
4. "petti auto", Ace - These people once had the KAL/API goods three wheelers. Newer Ape autos and Tata Ace have real bright headlights which these drivers aren't used to. And also their dipper controls.

I was driving on the Palakkad-Kozhikkode highway on the last sunday, and it was 7pm. There was a guy on a Unicorn Dazzler with his high beam on, trailing our car. His beam was blinding me through the IRVM. I had to adjust the mirror to reflect his headlight onto his face to make him understand how disturbing it is. And with this, he promptly switched to low-beam. I hate doing it, but sometimes there's no other way.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by aditya101

One gentleman I met has the theory that it is Maruti who is to blame for this high beam habit.

M800 has a indicator light in the dash for high beam, but none for low beam. So beginner folk put on high beam to be reassured....since many generations of Indian drivers have learnt to drive on M800 between 1980s-1990s this habit has plagued the whole nation!

Just a theory!

Having a light for highbeam warning in the instrument cluster is a practice followed for many many years even in Indian cars and it is not Maruti who introduced it in India. Even the 1962 Amby Smiths instrument cluster had this. So too in Fiats and Heralds.

The habit of driving in High Beam has caught on not because of this reason but due to the fact that people just don't care for fellow road users.

Perhaps another reason can be that even a guy who dims against oncoming vehicles over aperiod of time gets infuriated seing none reciprocating his gesture and woud then transform to one who keeps the light always on High beam.

[karthik123]

Most of the drivers I assume don't even know that they can change their headlight settings. Many times i even tried talking to drivers in traffic ( not the educated ones ) and they are clueless . I guess govt. has to reintroduce that black tape on the headlights or else ill get myself a jeep with too many lights on it and give these drivers the same treatment on a much larger scale

PS: i narrowly escaped being hit by a huge speeding Scorpio last night which was running on high beam last night.

[simplyself]

It is not only taxi drivers who do not switch to low beam whenever there is a vehicle coming in opposite direction - this habit is prevalent across all sections. On the other hand, many of the older generation taxi drivers do switch to lower beam.

Apart from various reasons why people do not use low beam one reason I guess is many are not comfortable with high beams coming from opposite direction and are apprehensive about switching to low beam as they fear they might miss any object ahead of them.

On NH-9 the traffic situation and density of vehicles is such that you may not need a headlight, let alone dipping the beam