If you can’t see at night without the high-beams then you shouldn’t be driving. My Dad gave up his license for the same reason.
I was just saying that your reasoning (brights are on when I turn on headlights, therefore this person drives around with their brights on regardless of conditions) is faulty. There certainly ARE a lot of inconsiderate dolts out there. No argument with that! Sorry for misleading you. And extra info in this reply does add some validity to your thinking.
And the ‘something bad’ could be very bad indeed. If his brights are blinding you, yours are probably blinding him. If he is coming at you, loses control, and kills you, well…
Driving with your high beams on reflects a good number of society?s attitudes that the world revolves around them thus no consideration for others.
Jeff,
I take it you’re describing Maryland’s M97 highway - Old/New Washington Road (the part that goes between Wheaton and Manchester)?
I drive that road every Saturday evening, and yes, there are a LOT of offenders. I do keep my brights on when I drive there, as there is NO road lighting at all. I do dim my own lights when I see a car coming from the distance, and keep them dimmed until it/they pass me by. But sometimes I forget - I know, there is no excuse for forgetting, but then again I am not making excuses.
The only exception I make is for those oh-so-special people with those headlights that shine this vivid blue beam right into my face - I keep my brights on for them. Call me an ass if you must, but those people just plain have it coming.
I hear you. I don’t drive after midnight unless it’s an emergency. A third of the other drivers then are drunk. A third are sleepy, and the rest are just damn fools.
No actually i’m talking about KY-Hwy 22. I usually have to drive on it late at night where I use my brights as well but am careful to kill them when I see someone coming.
Yeah trust me I know what you mean. But I think 99% of the cars I deal with do not have an auto-bright-kill switch like the one you described in your vehicle. + I’m talking about pulling in to a hotel in a well-lit downtown area and a well-lit garage, not a pitch black subdivision with deer roaming around at 1AM. Sorry if I was being a jerk about it. At least we both agree on the main issue.
Most annoying though are those people who have their high beams on BEHIND your car. What are they thinking?
I don’t think they are (thinking).
I suppose you can say that people working 2nd shift are fools. I worked 3:30-midnight for 3 years… 
maybe they are thinking that ther person in front of them want to read a good book while they are driving, so they provide them with good lighting to do so.
Great subject. I had a friend at work who took advantage of the High Beam/Spot light situation. We had a barney fife type of “Security” officer who used to park at the gate and if he thought you where driving too fast, he would not only use his High Beams, but would also spot light you with a high powered hand held light. My buddy got this treatment one night and drove his car right into the trees.
He called the police and filed an official complaint saying that barney blinded him and he lost control. Barney got reprimanded, my buddy got a lot of free body work.
My dad used to drive around with a special gun that shoots M-80’s just for stupid drivers, and the high beam people were in that group. It worked pretty good. Usually caused the stupid driver to pull over and check their tires. I had mixed emotions because it was so satisfying to “get back” at the stupids, but it made me uncomfortable thinking something bad could come out of this… One day my dad shot off his gun and the M-80 hit the window frame, fell back into the car and exploded. His ears were ringing for a week. I think he’s lucky that is all that happened. That was the end of the M-80 shooting.
How old was your Dad at the time?! Who drove while he loaded the gun, lit the dynamite, and shot the gun? I always thought Homer Simpson was a cartoon. No offense to you, kg, but that’s disturbing.
Unfortunately it can be hard to tell exactly what constitutes “high beams”. If you are driving through rural Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, KY, etc. with a newer car (fresh bulbs) and the headlight covers are clean, every “bleepety-bleep” will flash their headlights at you…even after you purposefully wait until the oncoming traffic is close enough that they should realize that you just turned your high-beams off and yet they still will flash you. I have had more than a dozen occasions now where even after flashing them back they proceeded to continue to flash or just leave their high beams on. My eyes don’t react well to the light anyway and this bright-ing process causes me to have to look away from oncoming traffic and/or takes a period for my eyes to recover. So try to think about that next time you just want to go throwing your brights on to somebody, and if they flash you back - don’t keep them on.
Since this seems to happen continually, get you low beam AIM checked and corrected. If you’re carrying a load in the back ,it will change you aim. if you’re cresting a hill the natural aim of your lows will angle into their face. But you seem to indicate a mis-aimed low beam on your part.( if they don’t respond to your highs then it seems they’re probably overshooting above the oncoming cars indicating everything is aimed too high ) I can see the world with both of my truck’s OE low beams yet no one has any issues with those.
lets not forget that some newer cars have those cursed HID bulbs(either real system or fake blue bulbs) that put out bright light.
9 K/C daylighters fix that little issue,
one of my pet peaves,ever seen a sunvisor come down at 10o clock,well IM that guy.
so im ok with that.
Hey Jeffm!! Fivers from a former “Frying Clutchman” valet!!! SF is a great place to make some college coin (20 yrs ago anyway). As far as your Hi-Beamers. Dittos to all!!! But I have to warn you; driving is like hunting to most Americans and NEVER give un solicited/wanted advice to someone carring a loaded weapon (such as a car). In LA and later up here in Oakland, some G-bangers were “initiating” newcomers by driving around with the beams up. When some nice LOL flashed them as a courtesey, they shot them. I don’t even make eye contact with these kooks around here…
Keep that rubber squealin’ !!