This is getting annoying.
Where I work doing valet parking I will hop in AT LEAST 2 cars every day that have the brights clicked on (I turn on the lights before I pull in the garage to park the car).
Are people just completely oblivious to the fact that the little blue light on the dash is not supposed to be illuminated constantly ?
This seems to be ignored second only to the CEL light.
Friends don’t let friends drive with high beams on. I’m tired of being nearly blinded at night when some jerk is driving along with their high beams on and doesn’t care or doesn’t know any better.
Happens ALL THE TIME on the dark, curvy state highway I usually take to get home from work as a short-cut because it connects the interstate with my house in the middle of town.
Thoughts ?
I agree with you completely, and I think I had better keep quiet on the subject because I have been known to get pretty nasty with other drivers on the road over that. I once had a light aircraft landing light on my car just for those occasions.
Where I live the overwhelming number of these high beamers drive SUVs and pickup trucks. This is particularly nasty when they drive behind you since their lights are higher than those of a car.
There is no shortage of thoughtless, self-centered drivers.
I work nights, and it seems come summer time, the number of idiots who leave their brights on triples on my commute to work. I’ve seen a line of 5 cars the other night, all of them with their highbeams on. Dumb blankety-blanks.
I’m a pilot actually and our landing lights are pretttyyyyyyyyy damn bright, considering they will illuminate the runway surface when making an approach starting at approx. 300 feet above the ground. That is funny, how did you manage to retro-fit your vehicle with such a light? I’m curious.
I worked with this dweeb who drove a BMW. He would drive with his high-beams on ALL THE TIME…DAY OR NIGHT…I asked him why…he said he wanted to be noticed…GEEZ…
Many years ago I had this old guy pulling out of a Wallmart with his high-beams on. I flashed my lights at him. He didn’t do anything…So I turned my highs on…That got his attention…He then turned around and followed me back into Wallmart and wanted to know why I turned my high-beams on. I told him because he had his on and it was very very annoying…His response - " Well when you get to be my age you need those lights to see well at night." Which I responded…“If you can’t see well with just the regular lights on then turn in your drivers license…You do NOT belong behind a wheel.” He got furious and drove off.
My method is similar to wizard, I keep a hand held spotlight for rural area visibility but it’s great for high beam butheads too. Once, while waiting for a light to change, the car accross the intersection sat there with his brights in my face the whole time. I flashed mine once…twice…picked up my spotlight and when the light changed for us to go…BAM my brights AND spotlight ! Half way down the block I see him spin a U and follow me with police lights flashing ! ( it was an unmarked police car ) so, I pull over, he comes to my window to reprimand ME for the spotlight in HIs face " I’m on official business" he says. To which I retort, “Marty,(small town, everybody knows everybody) with YOUR brights in MY face there’s no way in hell for me to know that without your emergency strobes on. It’s flat out DANGEROUS driving on your part !!!” He replies “uh, yah I guess so , but watch it with that spotlight, ok.” after which he just went on his way with his tail between his legs.
Your observations at the parking garage have no validity. When I drive at night, I am usually alone on the road when I reach my neighborhood. Therefore, I usually have my brights on. There is no need for me to dim them when I get home. Therefore, except for my one vehicle that automatically defaults to low beams when the ignition is cut, the brights will be on when I turn the headlights on again. So what? That does NOT mean I drive around with my brights on all the time! In fact, since my own eyes are somewhat sensitive, I am very careful NOT to blind my fellow motorists with my brights.
As tempting as it can be to ‘flash’ the idiots with their brights, you can be ticketes/prosecuted in some states if something bad happens.
I suspect you will find an unusually large number of older and vision impaired drivers of those cars. I would also suspect that many of them have headlight lenses that are yellow and pitted. They need more light, but they are getting it the wrong way. Who really wants to blind the drives coming at you at 130 mph? Test indicate that drivers tend to turn into the direction of bright lights.
Nobody ever said YOU drive around with your brights on all the time. But some people DO. And the fact that people drop off their vehicles with me to be parked (with the high beams still engaged) says that something is wrong. Particularly because A. Most check-ins are in the late afternoon/evening and B. The Hotel I work at is in a crowded urban area. So deductive reasoning tells me that the vehicle was driven with it’s brights on in a congested area. Bad news.
If you are “very careful” to NOT blind your “fellow motorists”, then why are you trying to argue ? For you are not even part of the problem, which automatically voids your argument. We aren’t talking about YOU, but the morons who just cruise around with their brights on just because they can or just are too plain ignorant to know any better.
In Oklahoma anyway, failure to dim the lights is a traffic violation punishable with a ticket but my feeling is that none of them have ever issued a citation for this.
Some of them kind of tick me off too but there’s not much you can do about it.
“he said he wanted to be noticed”
Isn’t that one of the top three reasons for buying a BMW?
;-))
True, that was his point in stopping me. Until he realized his own “brights infraction”.
I quit driving at night.Responding to the “high-beamers” here in Tucson can lead to a “road rage” situation,no thanks.
fit 2 spotlights that can be aimed like your outside mirrors. 1 for forward illumination, the other for rearward illumination. 
I remember years ago in one of my mom’s old cars there was one of those vanity mirrors in the passenger side visor, it took up the whole space for the visor. 1 night while driving down the road, some guy was behind us with his brights on. My mom complained about it, I reached up, pulled the visor down and ducked. Needless to say, the driver not only backed off, but dimmed his lights as well. I should look to see if I could find something like that again…
Yes, those people are either self centered or clueless. I once mounted clear lens driving/fog lamps on the back of my pickup and illuminated them when a “bright lighter” came up close behind. Once activated with a toggle they turned thier brights off.
It’s alright to use the bright lights if no one is going to be blinded by them. I drive with my brights on as well, especially near my home. I get plenty of notice that deer ar near the road with the brights; not so with my lights dimmed. And just like you, NYBo, I dim them when I encounter someone.