• This topic has 86 replies, 54 voices, and was last updated 5 years ago by hols2.
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  • #Driving thread# . Main Beams in villages.
  • singletrackmind
    Full Member

    Asking the great knowledgable folk as Google is giving varying answers.
    Smallish village , 30mph speed limit , partially lit with rubbish streetlamps every 200m or so .
    Weird man is shining a bright torch at me from the pavement as I have main beam on. Its very dark, and quiet and no -one apart from him, his dog , and presumably his bored and obediant wife.
    They stand on the pavement and he shines his torch into drivers eyes , and no , they were not waiting to cross the road, as I reason to return 10 mins later and he did the same thing. Weirdo, stood on the pavement in his Hi -Viz reflective jacket , Alsation and other half on a sunday night .
    I normally drop to dips for peds and runners as I know just how annoying it is, but blinding the drivers with a decent torch in revenge for driving with main beam on is alittle bit out there ( imo ), unless I am out of touch and its illegal to use mains in villages now.
    In that case he has a point , but thicker curatins and a nice hot choclate + book would be my approach

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    Three pages.

    I’ve some of last night’s cake left…

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Why do you need full beams on, in a village, in a 30?. Both of you sound like roasters tbh.

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    johndoh
    Free Member

    Me? I don’t drive with main beams on in streetlit residential roads. Imagine being a resident having to put up with lights constantly lighting up your house.

    Drac
    Full Member

    I normally drop to dips for peds and runners as I know just how annoying it is

    There’s your answer.

    ossify
    Full Member

    I always drop to dipped beam when going through villages, so as not to shine lights into people’s houses. Nothing to do with legality. My mother taught me this many moons ago.
    Weirdo or not, I assume you dropped your lights for him? I doubt he was standing there on the lookout for drivers to annoy.

    Similar to how my driving instructor taught me to use the handbrake when waiting at the lights especially at night, so as not to blind the driver behind with the bright brake lights. Just common courtesy and a bit of thoughtfulness.

    Drac
    Full Member

    thecaptain
    Free Member

    Just dip, you ****.

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    Why do you need full beams on, in a village, in a 30?.

    This + 1

    Enjoy your day mulling over this world changing conundrum.🤷‍♂️

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    Weirdo, stood on the pavement in his Hi -Viz reflective jacket , Alsation and other half on a sunday night .

    Did he have a dark suit, truncheon and tall pointy hat by any chance?

    dovebiker
    Full Member

    If you need full-beam at 30mph you need your eyes testing / shouldn’t be on the road.

    Freester
    Full Member

    I live in a small village, no street lighting, no pavements, single lane with passing spaces no speed limit. If I’m out walking my dog after dark and drivers don’t dip then the driver will get a ‘flash’ from my torch.

    Pedestrians dislike getting dazzled as much as drivers.

    But if he was stood there just flashing people who weren’t dipping then he’s a jobsworth with nothing better to do.

    johndoh
    Free Member

    But if he was stood there just flashing people who weren’t dipping then he’s a jobsworth with nothing better to do.

    Or sick of having his front room lit up like Wembley on match day?

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    Did you stop and ask why he was doing it ?

    nickjb
    Free Member

    I always drop to dipped beam when going through villages, so as not to shine lights into people’s houses. Nothing to do with legality

    +1. Do many people not do this? Seriously, just dip them. It’s not that hard

    antigee
    Full Member

    Similar to how my driving instructor taught me to use the handbrake when waiting at the lights especially at night, so as not to blind the driver behind with the bright brake lights

    need to get with the times would have frazzled eyeballs in countries where 90% of cars are automatics and the brake lights going off mean you look up from your phone and pull away

    timba
    Free Member

    There’s nothing wrong in using main beam appropriately in a village, especially when the street lights aren’t working (they’re on timers around here). Main beam is an advantage to spot the black dog or cyclist without lights on the road ahead, but can be counter-productive for a tight left-hander where a bit of left-dippage is an advantage to see as well as being less anti-social to the people living in the house opposite to the bend.
    As far as eyesight standards go, reading a number plate at 20m in good daylight is the usual minimum test (or 6/12), so main beam might be a good thing here as well.
    Having said that, don’t dazzle and upset people even if they have an option to stop walking and look away; drive slower if that’s what it takes and dip your lights

    Merak
    Full Member

    Tbh modren car lamps are so retina searingly bright on dipped beam it makes little difference.

    beej
    Full Member

    You have to dip manually? How quaint.

    My car will dip the lights if there are streetlights. If it doesn’t I give it a stern talking to, and dip them myself (if I can figure out how to turn the auto-dip off, it usually descends into a series of random flashes and occasional darkness).

    revs1972
    Free Member

    Was it Keith Lard ??

    wrightyson
    Free Member

    Claim he blinded you, mount the pavement and bonnet the silly ****. Job jobbed

    MarkBrewer
    Free Member

    Surely if there’s streetlights you should be on sidelights only!

    https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ultra-tedious-wwstwd-sidelights-only-in-a-streetlit-20mph/

    CountZero
    Full Member

    Why do you need full beams on, in a village, in a 30?.

    Well, there are villages in North Wiltshire which have no street lighting at all, and there are often cars parked along the side of the road, plus houses are often set back from the road.
    Apart from Castle Combe, but nobody lives there during the week, the cottages are mostly owned by townies who only come back at weekends, so they can get stuffed.
    If I’m driving through Biddestone, for example, I nearly always put my full beams on, until I see a car coming or catch sight of pedestrians or cyclists, then I dip straight away.
    As far as my lights shining into someone’s windows, I’d have thought that with the curtains drawn and lights on, nobody’s going to see my lights going past.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    All you’ve said there is that you do it, not a reason why? If you can’t see properly at 30, maybe you should slow down grandad.

    singletrackmind
    Full Member

    Had my eyes tested 3 weeks ago actually No, I am not blind and sailed through the driving standards part of the test . Do need glasses for distance work and they are on the way.
    I didnt know if was part of the HC or not , and there are many reasons for wanting to see further than the beam pattern dips offer .

    Maybe I should pay a man with a lamp to walk in front , just to be sure.

    I didnt know the road, or the village , was picking someone up from a house with a name not a number , hence the reason for coming back the same way, and wanting to be able to read house name signs , which funnily enough are never made to BS standards on reflective backing with 8″ type face.

    It was more the fact this chap has decided he is the law and stands there waving his torch around. If I have to go back I will take my XHP70 retina removal torch and shine it in his eyes.

    chestercopperpot
    Free Member

    These self righteous **** attempting to inflict their dictatorship on anyone passing always seem to own a dog. I don’t know what it is!

    Their poor wives whimpering in the corner.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Wow, amazingly sanctimonious start to 2019 from the usual STW bell ends.

    Should have called the feds, I’m sure they’d take a dim view (pun intended) of the old fart’s antics.

    vickypea
    Free Member

    Thing is, dipped headlights aren’t all the same. The bulbs fitted as standard in the headlamps of my current (and previous) car cast about as much light as a bloody candle!
    A lot of cars have bonkers-bright headlamps even when they’re dipped, and thus the drivers won’t feel the same need to use main beam in villages after dark.

    wordnumb
    Free Member

    He probably thought you were his Uber.

    andyl
    Free Member

    my car will only trigger full beam at 35 and above.

    If you need full beam doing 30mph then you really shouldnt be driving as either your eye sight is not up to scratch or your headlights are defective/dirty.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    Two three things that boil my water,

    People driving through villages at 30 with main beam on.
    People driving through villages on sidelights.
    People parked up facing oncoming traffic with main beam on.

    wobbliscott
    Free Member

    I’d add people with their fog lights on to that list too.

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    Just to add a further thought, my new Karoq (skoda replacement for the yeti) doesn’t have a readily available dipped beam adjuster like many conventional headlight cars have (little wheel near the right knee on your stw std issue octavia).

    Instead it’s buried in the settings menu on the main screen and it defaults to fully “up” (max range). I’ve set mine to half down now which is fine for most things and having the sprogs in the back doesn’t raise it too much. But I wonder how many people know about the setting at all, let alone used it? The lights are much better as standard than the Octy I used to have.

    dovebiker
    Full Member

    Pistonheads has called and wants it’s thread back 😉

    chestercopperpot
    Free Member

    Yeah but potholes!

    A bit of dog eat dog coming to the gammon belt near you.

    Mister-P
    Free Member

    Sidelights and foglights is where it’s at. No need for headlights or main beam.

    joat
    Full Member

    There’s no need to automatically dip your lights, you need to judge the situation. In this case there was a pedestrian getting blinded, possibly struggling to see where he was walking and could’ve fallen off the kerb in to your path. Dip your lights and drop your speed, simple.

    finishthat
    Free Member

    OP, Deliberately intending to interfere with drivers vision in the way you describe would be a quite serious matter , I would report to Police. This is not normal behaviour , the pedestrian has the choice to look another way to avoid the hazzard , the driver has to look at the road.

    singletrackmind
    Full Member

    There’s no need to automatically dip your lights, you need to judge the situation. In this case there was a pedestrian getting blinded, possibly struggling to see where he was walking and could’ve fallen off the kerb in to your path. Dip your lights and drop your speed, simple.

    Re -read it again , slower this time.
    This guy was spending his evening standing on the pavement . Stationary. ie.- not moving. Shining probably an XML at drivers driving through a village that basically had no streetlamps ho hadn’t switched main beam off. He , and his other half , and the dog presumably do this as some sort of hobby / retribution/ retaliation, I really don’t know the reason.

    Weirdo or not, I assume you dropped your lights for him? I doubt he was standing there on the lookout for drivers to annoy.

    Reading fail …That is precisely what this WGBE was doing. I drove past , got a torch in my eys, dipped beam, found colleague , drove back 8-9 mins later. He. Hasn’t. Moved. Got torch in my face again, so I kept him lit up like a Heinkel in a search light

    CountZero
    Full Member

    If you need full beam doing 30mph then you really shouldnt be driving as either your eye sight is not up to scratch or your headlights are defective/dirty.

    Yeah, riiiiiiight. Driving anywhere, with lots of dark areas, obstructions and corners to block a dipped beam, putting the mains on will pick up things like pedestrians walking without lights, or reflective clothing, or cyclists doing the same, who would otherwise be concealed by the shadows cast by dipped beams. I do wonder how many people actually drive around any inhabited areas that have no lighting for this not to be obvious. The road I live on in Chippenham has dreadful street lighting, there are cars parked on both sides along almost its entire length, and there’s a bend partway along that only allows one car through because of the parked vehicles on both sides. Late at night, there can be cyclists without lights, peds who will just walk out into the road, etc, and they’re often obscured by the shadows cast by my dipped lights, so I’ll often put my mains on, just to see if there’s anyone around, then I’ll dip again.
    On my way out the other evening along an unlit lane I nearly hit a couple in the road who were all in black, no lights, it was only because I flicked the mains on I saw them a few yards in front and could steer away, they were effectively invisible!

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