or people are idiots and just leave the lights in high all the time, or what.
It’s that one. Partially, anyway.
I’ll quote James May, in context for once:
The local attitude to headlights seems to be full beams, or off.
I went to the hardware store after dusk the other night (Hey, Lowes closes at 10:00 PM) and on a short ~2 mile drive I counted nine oncoming cars coming at traffic with their high beams on. Nine. I flashed all of them and only one of them comprehended and turned them off. People are absolutely clueless, and that’s not even counting the morons who have one low beam bulb burned out so they deliberately drive around with their brights on all the time rather than replace that bulb, so they “don’t get a ticket.” News flash, dummy: If a cop notices you actually two tickets. Even if you pay Autozone prices, a bulb is cheaper…
So yes, much of it is a people problem. Another people problem is that a lot of twerps just buy the cheapest LED retrofit modules from Amazon which don’t provide the correct beam pattern from the reflector headlight assemblies in whatever their clapped out hoopty is. Versions totally do exist that work properly, but they cost $10 more so nobody buys them. Except me, apparently. (Except except, I deliberately have flagrantly illegal unaimed, high powered modules in my high beam sockets expressly for the purposes of lightly crisping anyone who deserves it. I really don’t have occasion to use my high beams otherwise.)
I see a lot of people in my area with no lights on at all after dark, and it definitely is an increasing number compared to previous years. This isn’t just a crotchety old man thing, either. People’s driving habits got really bad during COVID and never rebounded back to even their previous level of general incompetence (already a low bar) afterwards.
It’s that one. Partially, anyway.
I’ll quote James May, in context for once:
I went to the hardware store after dusk the other night (Hey, Lowes closes at 10:00 PM) and on a short ~2 mile drive I counted nine oncoming cars coming at traffic with their high beams on. Nine. I flashed all of them and only one of them comprehended and turned them off. People are absolutely clueless, and that’s not even counting the morons who have one low beam bulb burned out so they deliberately drive around with their brights on all the time rather than replace that bulb, so they “don’t get a ticket.” News flash, dummy: If a cop notices you actually two tickets. Even if you pay Autozone prices, a bulb is cheaper…
So yes, much of it is a people problem. Another people problem is that a lot of twerps just buy the cheapest LED retrofit modules from Amazon which don’t provide the correct beam pattern from the reflector headlight assemblies in whatever their clapped out hoopty is. Versions totally do exist that work properly, but they cost $10 more so nobody buys them. Except me, apparently. (Except except, I deliberately have flagrantly illegal unaimed, high powered modules in my high beam sockets expressly for the purposes of lightly crisping anyone who deserves it. I really don’t have occasion to use my high beams otherwise.)
I see a lot of people in my area with no lights on at all after dark, and it definitely is an increasing number compared to previous years. This isn’t just a crotchety old man thing, either. People’s driving habits got really bad during COVID and never rebounded back to even their previous level of general incompetence (already a low bar) afterwards.