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Night driving on sidelights only (1950s)
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
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Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:07 pm    Post subject: Night driving on sidelights only (1950s) Reply with quote

Hi all

Watching a number of films from the 1950s recently, I'm reminded of something I read about - how it was the norm, and perhaps even the law, to only use sidelights at night in built-up areas? Does anyone know when this fell out of favour?

RJ
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Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think you used to be legally within your rights to drive in built up areas on sidelights only until the 1980's when (think) the law was changed.

If you go back to a time when cars were dependent on dynamos, many drivers would not use dipped headlamps for fear of a flat battery. The introduction of alternators made the practice unnecessary.
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Keith D



Joined: 16 Oct 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back in the 1960s I always used to turn my headlights off when I entered a built up area. It seemed to be what most people did. Many felt that headlamps dazzled pedestrians in brightly lit areas, especially when the roads were wet. I seem to remember on bright moonlit nights, we would often drive on side lights only in the country. I never heard of anyone being prosecuted over it.

Ray has a valid point regarding generators. I can remember switching off headlamps when in a traffic jam to save the discharge of the battery.

Keith
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A Jaguar Mk II on sidelight only was a bit of a frightener.

Highway Code, rules 113-116

Quote:
4. Lighting requirements (113 to 116)
113
You MUST
ensure all sidelights and rear registration plate lights are lit between sunset and sunrise
use headlights at night, except on a road which has lit street lighting. These roads are generally restricted to a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) unless otherwise specified
use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226).

Night (the hours of darkness) is defined as the period between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise).
Laws RVLR regs 3, 24, & 25, (In Scotland - RTRA 1984 sect 82 (as amended by NRSWA, para 59 of sched Cool)
114
You MUST NOT
use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders
use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves to avoid dazzling other road users (see Rule 226).
In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.
Law RVLR reg 27
115
You should also
use dipped headlights, or dim-dip if fitted, at night in built-up areas and in dull daytime weather, to ensure that you can be seen

keep your headlights dipped when overtaking until you are level with the other vehicle and then change to main beam if necessary, unless this would dazzle oncoming road users
slow down, and if necessary stop, if you are dazzled by oncoming headlights
116
Hazard warning lights. These may be used when your vehicle is stationary, to warn that it is temporarily obstructing traffic. Never use them as an excuse for dangerous or illegal parking. You MUST NOT use hazard warning lights while driving or being towed unless you are on a motorway or unrestricted dual carriageway and you need to warn drivers behind you of a hazard or obstruction ahead. Only use them for long enough to ensure that your warning has been observed.
Law RVLR reg 27


Note the 'must do' is enshrined in Law....the 'should do' is advice only...and basically keeps up with the times.

Since the 1980's, manufacturers had to provide a dim/dip device, to prevent a vehicle being driven on the roads on sidelights alone....probably a rule for other countries? The device ensures that the headlight has a light via the bulb, but with reduced voltage.

Much confusion exists nowadays, because cars & stuff have permanently lit lights.....[which, I might add, give me a real headache when viewed from close up]

During these light summer evenings I drive around on sidelights[dim/dip if in daily driver]...mostly through urban speed limits...I intend to start a fashion of not dazzling oncoming traffic....maybe they'll stop my eyes hurting??

Trouble is, today's drivers expect to be told one is there....rather than actively looking for one?
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Bitumen Boy



Joined: 26 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Such things aren't necessarily confined to the dustbin of history, you know. My Herald still runs a dynamo and I still will go down to sidelights only in stationary or very slow traffic to save the battery. Going into Cardiff early in the mornings a few years ago I would, for the last couple of miles, only use headlights when I spotted another vehicle's lights - the battery was on its last legs and I wanted to be sure of being able to start the engine for the return journey!

It's worth pointing out that the old style seperate sidelights are much more visible than the type that are diffused into the main headlamp. Interestingly it seems more and more modern cars have "proper" sidelights of the LED variety, probably for looks more than anything but still IMO a rare example of the motor manufacturers getting something right for a change.
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peter scott



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PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I very much preferred driving in town on side lights. Your eyes were adjusted to the low lighting and you never missed seeing anything. Of course once a few started using headlamps everyone had to use headlamps. So now we all see other brightly lit vehicles and hope that our stopped down eyeballs can still detect unlit pedestrians etc.

Peter
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
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Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 7:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Interestingly it seems more and more modern cars have "proper" sidelights of the LED variety, probably for looks more than anything but still IMO a rare example of the motor manufacturers getting something right for a change.


These LED arrays, I find very annoying.

To see {?} what I mean, try sitting down 10 feet or so in front of a set, looking straight at them [as one would be doing, if one 'gave way' to an oncoming car in a narrow gap?]..

I know from my experience [I am past retirement age] my eyes actually hurt because of the intensity of the brightness.

I am sure many owners of new cars would be amazed at how painful their car lighting systems can be to look into, when faced with them at close quarters?
Especially when they flash their main beam headlights to say 'thank you', to a driver but a few yards in front of them, facing towards them?

It really hurts!

[It is a major ongoing new gripe I have against the technology, and the lack of real thought about what they are doing, by most modern drivers]

I'd far sooner everyone totally ignored me....when I forfeit my priority to them....and just drive on by!

Sorry for the thread drift. [My eyesight is good for my age, with no need for vision enhancement ....any time soon. Tested annually, as a parent had glaucoma, so tests are free]
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mikeC



Joined: 31 Jul 2009
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Location: Market Warsop, Nottinghamshire

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think it was ever the law to extinguish headlights in built-up areas, but it was certainly general practice well in to the 1960s. I will still run my Austin Seven on sidelights if it's late at night with little or no traffic.

I can also remember many happy night-time trips across the Pennines in my Austin Twelve: full moonlight and the gentle glow of the sidelights on the scuttle was a wonderful way to travel!
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Mog



Joined: 30 Dec 2007
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Location: Sydney

PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 8:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I did drive on side lights only in the county but not easy if there is no moon . Cars coming the other way with head lights on was a problem ...

I did not have any head lights !
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Mikey77



Joined: 10 Jun 2014
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 9:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

peter scott wrote:
I very much preferred driving in town on side lights. Your eyes were adjusted to the low lighting and you never missed seeing anything. Of course once a few started using headlamps everyone had to use headlamps. So now we all see other brightly lit vehicles and hope that our stopped down eyeballs can still detect unlit pedestrians etc.

Peter

+1
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MikeEdwards



Joined: 25 May 2011
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Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 9:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

alastairq wrote:
I know from my experience [I am past retirement age] my eyes actually hurt because of the intensity of the brightness.


Is it the intensity of the LEDs, or the oscillation?
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
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Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MikeEdwards wrote:
alastairq wrote:
I know from my experience [I am past retirement age] my eyes actually hurt because of the intensity of the brightness.


Is it the intensity of the LEDs, or the oscillation?


Intensity....too close to notice oscillation, I suspect....? Pet hate is folk who flash their fancy new full beam headlights to say 'thank you' for letting them through....Hurts, really hurts...they should be made to get a taste of their own medicine......then maybe...just, maybe, they'll start to use their headlamp flasher correctly [as per Highway Code!!!]
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
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Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Regarding seeing at night...without lights?

Part of my last job [nearly 20 years, after I 'retired' from 25 years of bus driving]......which involved training military personnel to be military drivers [up to that point,they were licence holders...like most out there].....was to conduct 'tactical' night driving with them...[without benefit of NVDs...which, in themselves brought on a whole new set of issues for the driver].....Not done on the public Highway, I hasten to add....but conducted off-tarmac, in our training areas....driving around without benefit of lights [on what are known as Convoy, or tactical lighting]...It always amazed the 'students' how much they could really 'see' with just plain ordinary Mark 1 eyeballs!

Once night vision is acquired, what one also gains is peripheral vision.
This Is something that is lost when driving on headlights....also, one's clear vision is 'tunneled' down the headlight beams.

I had the harder job , because, at my age, I had to 'see' what the student had failed to 'see'.

Keeping them on the 'straight & narrow' was sometimes interesting. [I used to tell 'em, ''the light bit is the track, the dark bit is the grass...try & stay off the dark bit'']
All went to pot when I routed them through a 100 meter long, deep water crossing!!

First response when we would eventually put normal headlights on,,was usually ''whooooaaaah!!!''

[Night Vision Devices...NVDs, make driving more difficult, as one loses 'depth-of-field'... One can see the pothole, but one struggles to judge exactly how far away it is.....Worse when driving on cameras]
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MikeEdwards



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PostPosted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 6:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alastairq wrote:
Pet hate is folk who flash their fancy new full beam headlights to say 'thank you' for letting them through....Hurts, really hurts...they should be made to get a taste of their own medicine......


I tend to flash my foglamps if I have headlamps on, which are pretty useless but serve to just show some kind of response. Or sometimes if I have headlamps on, I "flash" them down to sidelamps and back. Of course, if it's daylight, then I wave.

Otherwise, I'm with you - if people flash their main beams at me, then I flash mine back. Sort of a (blinded) eye for an eye.
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alanb



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 3:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I first learned to drive it was considered good practice to momentarily turn your lights off to say thank you.
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