+1

its illegal in norway not to put your lights on at certain time evening I think,

Ive never once used sidelights, sidelights are absaloutly useless and pointless. I either have my lights on dipped or off completly

Which is how it should be. I never understood the sidelights...


It is what a lot of police investigations and studies came up with in the 90s and early 00s. A lot of drivers coming out of side roads mistook a single headlight (or two headlights close together al la modern sports and touring bikes) to be a car off in the distance. A lot of people didn't look any closer, they just saw a single light and assumed that it was a distant car, where the two lights were merged as one and they would pull out.

It was/is a major cause of motorcycle accidents, the driver coming out of a side road sees the single light, misjudge it and take it to be a far off car and pull out, safe in the knowledge that they have plenty of time, only to suddenly pick up a new hood ornament!

A what?

Mark

The sidelights thing is an interesting point. I never use them either. But proper DRLs, like the ones on the new Audis or the halos on BMWs help with visibility to other road users without negating the benefit to bikers. I'm all for LED based solutions and such like.

+1

I think in all Scandinavian countries you must have dipped lights on all of the time now, certainly Denmark.

As for confusion to 1 or 2 headlights and how far away they are. Take the bloody instructor and examiner to court for letting these people on the road. As a dive instructor my training/examining can be called into account many years down the line and I have to retain paperwork for at least 7 years.

Weren't side lights originally 'parking lights'?

+1. To be used when parking on the side of the road or something similar (can't remember the exact details now).

When I've been posting, it's not with thinking about vehicles at junctions, more about driving in traffic and vehicles around you, especially behind you or in your blindspot.

The only times bikes have surprised me is when they were doing 200mph plus. They go from being 10 cars behind to right on you in about half a second.

I still like the idea of lights on cars just to let you know they are "alive" rather than parked. It's especially annoying around school time when millions of cars have people in but aren't going anywhere, then one suddenly pulls out with no warning. Of course, correct use of indicators would also solve that issue but most parents seem far to distracted by the children to actually drive safely.

Alternatively, shooting anyone who drives their children to school in a tank when they only live 5 minutes away would also help enormously with road safety.

Everytime I change lane or pass a parked car I look over my shoulder. The highway code may say mirror, signal, manouvre, but I mirror, signal, look over shoulder and then manouver. Relying on mirrors only is a terrible way to drive imho.

When I was a learner driver, I once narrowly missed having an accident. Driving in the left hand lane of a short 40-mph dual-carriageway, my instructor wanted me to turn right at the roundabout ahead. I did mirror, signal, position, speed and looked, but looked into the door mirror. Did not see the car in the next lane occupying my blindspot. The instructor had to hold on to the wheel to stop me from moving into the right lane.

Ever since, I have always checked my blindspots, even when I'm fairly sure there's no one around. You just don't know until you LOOK!

What about cameras outside schools giving the drivers who drop off kids 3 points on their license? Three days later would have enough points to be banned.

The last few days of driving a LHD car in a RHD country has taught me to be extra careful with junctions. It's also not helped by having a mahoosive B pillar blocking the view exactly where you want to be looking at most junctions.
Edit: So if you see me waiting at a junction, be a dear and stop, let me out and wave. Ta.

Maybe what they should do is make them respond to ambient light levels - I mean, in summer, if you can't see over a ton of metal coming towards you, you need your eyes testing.

Depends where the sun is - if it's low in the sky, shining right into your face, lights on the oncoming vehicle help enormously.
Same goes for having the sun behind you, lights help you spot anything that's coming up behind you.