Here in the Vancouver Lower Mainland area and most part of the West Coast. We had been in some unusually rain/wind condition for the past weeks. Even daytime could be dark. Along with the heavy rain you just can't see very well while driving.
COMMON SENSE.
Why are so many people not turning their lights "ON"? And I don't mean just your DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS. Your head lights, parking lights, front and/or rear auxilary lights, fog/driving lights, and hazard lights. They are all there for a purpose.
Sometime I wonder if some drivers know that they are there and how or when to use them. NOW is the time to use it; if you don't want to hit or be hit by someone.
If you are not sure how to operate your car, ask me. I'll be gald to help the best I can.
For pedastrians. Wear light colour or reflective clothes outside during this conditions. It might not be as pretty, but neither is the weather. Take your time to watch for traffic even if it means you'll stay wet and cold a bit longer. It's better then to have a short life. I think.
Pass along this message to your friends and love ones if you care.
Either last Tuesday or Wednesday morning I was driving to Langley along Hwy 1 at about 7am. It was very dark and, as you can imagine, there was a LOT of spray in the air as a result of the rain and wind storm we were having at the time. I called the radio station (yes, while driving, but it was on my handsfree :p) to remind people of this very issue because I just passed a little black car with DRLs only. With the spray and no lights the car was pretty much invisible from the rear.
Basically it boils down to ignorance.
1) people are ignorant of the fact that the reason for headlights is not just to be able to see but also to BE SEEN by other drivers. Which is why we have daytime running lights to begin with. We wouldn't need DRLs if people just turned on their lights.
2) people are ignorant of the fact that on 90+% of the cars that are equipped with DRLs, the DRLs are the high beam fillament illuminated at no more than 50% power. Nothing else comes on. Mercedes-Benz is one of the very, very few auto manufacturers whose DRL optioned cars turn on ALL exterior and instrumentation lights. In fact, when we got our first 500E this was the FIRST thing I noticed.
3) people are generally ignorant when behind the wheel of their cars. We see it every day in the stupid things people do on the roads and highways. This is just emphasized when you consider that a vehicle running with DRLs only probably doesn't have the instrument cluster illuminated either. This tells you how frequently the person driving in the middle of the night with DRLs only is looking at their instrument panel. And even in the panel *is* illuminated (as some are starting to be), the high-beam indicator is usually on at reduced illumination to indicate that the car is running in DRL mode. But this apparently goes as unnoticed in general given the number of people that have taken to driving around with their high-beams on.
It never ceases to amaze me at how downright lazy people are about their OWN safety, never mind the safety of others. Perhaps if it were a ticketable/punishable offence under the Motor Vehicle Act people would be a little more inclined to turn their lights on. Say, driving without due care and attention, or unsafe operation of a motor vehicle with the associated penalty. It may be a heavy-handed approach, but I don't expect the offenders to realize why it would be necessary; if they did we wouldn't be having this discussion.
