Parked sidelight usage

[uk_senator]

This BM (a Y-plate which is just about ULEZ compliant) belongs to a new neighbour, whenever he parks on a corner, in this case 10' from the edge of a driveway, he puts his roadside sidelight on all night, despite the fact we have perfectly adequate street lights.. I think he's eastern European, maybe it's law over there? Weird either way.. 

[Asimo]

He is correct if by "corner" you indicate junction.  Not an excuse for half on the pavement however.

[New POD]

Is there room for a fire engine? 

[uk_senator]

47 minutes ago, Asimo said:

He is correct if by "corner" you indicate junction.  Not an excuse for half on the pavement however.

Its not the edge of a junction, its the edge of a driveway dropped kerb in the middle of a (20mph) road. 
And we all park a bit on the pavement, because its a narrow road which often results in broken mirrors or worse (4 of my cars have been hit over 10 times in the last 5 years, on top of lost mirrors).

[uk_senator]

1 hour ago, New POD said:

Is there room for a fire engine? 

Yes, but its reasonably tight-ish, maybe 18-24" either side of a HGV (we`ve currently got rail replacement busses going by at night).

 

[Patent]

That person has full faith in their battery and alternator!

[Sham]

Leaving just 2 bulbs illuminated like the Beemers and VAG products do, among other makes, isn't going to flatten much is it? 10w at most - any battery should cope with that for days. It's less than an Amp.

If he likes the car, and wants to make it visible, I don't blame him. I do the same if I feel like I've been forced to park somewhere where the car is slightly vulnerable.

[sierraman]

Our Focus has them, I think the idea is coming from the right place. After all he’s using his fucking brains by trying to be sure people can see the car. 

[warninglight]

I'd rather see that, than the sub-urban roads around here which are poorly lit, which regularly have parked cars on the roadside, facing oncoming traffic.

Also regularly HGVs parked up on the wrong side overnight, on an unlit 40mph stretch, because it's close to the motorway.

Throw the book at them.

[vulgalour]

Fair play to him.  I used to do the same with my old Mk2 Polo if I was parking it somewhere it might not be too visible, although never fully overnight.  Did used to get people asking me if I knew I'd left my lights on and that was just an invitation to explain what parking lights are which is a great way to end a conversation with people you don't know.

[straightSix]

9 hours ago, uk_senator said:

This BM (a Y-plate which is just about ULEZ compliant) belongs to a new neighbour, whenever he parks on a corner, in this case 10' from the edge of a driveway, he puts his roadside sidelight on all night, despite the fact we have perfectly adequate street lights.. I think he's eastern European, maybe it's law over there? Weird either way.. 

Funnily enough I saw someone doing that for the first time ever last night. Didn't even know it was a thing tbh

[JakeT]

On one of those BMWs you can put the indicator stalk up or down and it puts the sidelights on one side only. Handy when you need parking lights as it uses less bulbs in the rear, too.

[PhilA]

I think it's still law in some parts of Europe. 

My old man has one of those red and white lamps that hooks over the top of the door glass and you plug it into the cigarette lighter. 

Apparently law to have a light like that when parked up on the side of a road at the time (seventies).

So for him, just habit I guess. Worked. You saw it.

[Barry Cade]

I found out to my cost that you can't park on the opposite side of the road in Germany- cross over to park. The single parking light thing was law there, not sure if it still is, or if LED lights have made it pointless?

[DSdriver]

There used to be a law about being parked on a bus route at night requiring the use of parking lights.

[Rust Collector]

All the German cars I’ve owned have had parking lights. Either controlled by the indicator stalk with ignition off, or using extra switch positions on the mercs I’ve had.

Subaru are the best*, they have a switch on the steering column that puts all four sidelights on. It’s out of view and is vaguely disguised like a hazard switch, and baffles people when they knock it and then can’t figure out why their lights are stuck on.

[PhilA]

Fiat had a button by the ignition switch that would allow the key to turn past off and bring on just the parking lights. 

Thought that was pretty smart

 

The parking lights on in the Jag leave a little to be desired; 84 watts of bulbs are lit with just the sidelights on (5 watts x 2 at the front, another 2 at the back, 4 for the side markers, 4 in the dash and 7w x2 for the rear plate lights).

[uk_senator]

He parked at the other end of that "block" last night, next to another driveway further up, & sure enough, he's done it again:

I know German cars do it on the indicator stalk, I've had quite a few, & I know some people leave the indicators on when they turn the car off & do it accidentally, I also understand the logic in some circumstances, like on an unlit road in the countryside, in a well lit street in urban London, that generally has less than 15 cars going past on an average night, it doesn't really make sense.. + it's a £1500 E46 that's got quite a lot of damage around it anyway, so yeah, I'm not getting it, unless he's from a country where it's law & it's completely ingrained in his head.

I mean, it's doesn't bother me, it's his battery at the end of the day, it's just odd.

[uk_senator]

6 hours ago, PhilA said:

Fiat had a button by the ignition switch that would allow the key to turn past off and bring on just the parking lights. 

Thought that was pretty smart

 

The parking lights on in the Jag leave a little to be desired; 84 watts of bulbs are lit with just the sidelights on (5 watts x 2 at the front, another 2 at the back, 4 for the side markers, 4 in the dash and 7w x2 for the rear plate lights).

Yeah, Fiats still have that button, I forgot about side markers over there, 84w is pretty hefty, & 4 sidelights-worth more than ours. (are they 5w each?)

Also, are your licence plates reflective PhilA? Ours are, front & rear, & have been since the 60s. From my understanding, all the laws regarding using sidelights at night were implemented before plates were reflective, so those laws aren't very relevant now (although still make sense in some circumstances).

[bangernomics]

It isn’t odd IMHO they have probably had a car hit where they used to live or have a historical hard to break habit based in rules from home. It has been many years since I lived on a through road but when I did it was common. I also saw lots of cones behind cars and those plastic cycling lollipop reflectors used as the neighbours without drives got fed up of having the sides of their cars wiped off.

[warninglight]

If he must park facing oncoming traffic then at least it makes the car visible, in the absence of any reflectors on the front.

Would be better all round if he parked facing the other way, though, and let the reflectors do their job.

[uk_senator]

2 hours ago, bangernomics said:

It isn’t odd IMHO they have probably had a car hit where they used to live or have a historical hard to break habit based in rules from home. It has been many years since I lived on a through road but when I did it was common. I also saw lots of cones behind cars and those plastic cycling lollipop reflectors used as the neighbours without drives got fed up of having the sides of their cars wiped off.

Well, in my lifetime I`ve never seen anyone else in London do this, in any kind of road, so, unless the definition of "odd" has changed, then I`d say it is legitimately, odd.
 

59 minutes ago, warninglight said:

If he must park facing oncoming traffic then at least it makes the car visible, in the absence of any reflectors on the front.

Would be better all round if he parked facing the other way, though, and let the reflectors do their job.

The fact we`ve had reflective plates front & rear for the last 5 decades renders that point a little moot, even if the streetlights were to suffer an outage, but yes, parking the "wrong" way is a little stupid, & has resulted in at least 3 head-ons directly outside mine in the 25-ish years I`ve lived here, & is something I was taught not to do (although I understand that "rule" is no longer an official thing, ridiculously). 

[warninglight]

Plates may be reflective, but they don't mark the edge of a car in the way that rear reflectors do. Easy to park in such a way that the number plate is obscured but still be poking out into the road. 

[vulgalour]

There's all sorts of funny ingrained safety habits like that.  If I'm in the countryside and approaching a humpback bridge I always do a little beep before going over it to warn oncoming traffic because that's what I was taught to do.  I doubt anyone would actually hear me these days, cars are so well insulated from outside events.

[uk_senator]

1 hour ago, warninglight said:

Plates may be reflective, but they don't mark the edge of a car in the way that rear reflectors do. Easy to park in such a way that the number plate is obscured but still be poking out into the road. 

Sometimes? Quite possibly, in this road, a long, straight, well lit suburban road, that issue doesn't apply, & that's what makes it odd..

In this road, the vast majority of hits come during the AM or PM rush hour, done by people with no spacial awareness, hitting the corners of parked cars at walking pace while trying to manoeuvre into gaps for traffic coming in the opposite direction. As I said earlier, thats happened to my fleet over 10 times in the last 5 years.. 

 

56 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

There's all sorts of funny ingrained safety habits like that.  If I'm in the countryside and approaching a humpback bridge I always do a little beep before going over it to warn oncoming traffic because that's what I was taught to do.  I doubt anyone would actually hear me these days, cars are so well insulated from outside events.

I do things like that too, as well as flashing my main beams at night on blind bridges & bends, that's common sense as far as I`m concerned. I also look for reflections of oncoming traffic in the sides of parked cars, feet/wheels under parked cars etc, a lot of people don't do any of that these days, most seeming to concentrate on an area 15-20` ahead of their bonnet, & no further..

[PhilA]

6 hours ago, uk_senator said:

Yeah, Fiats still have that button, I forgot about side markers over there, 84w is pretty hefty, & 4 sidelights-worth more than ours. (are they 5w each?)

Also, are your licence plates reflective PhilA? Ours are, front & rear, & have been since the 60s. From my understanding, all the laws regarding using sidelights at night were implemented before plates were reflective, so those laws aren't very relevant now (although still make sense in some circumstances).

Yeah, all plates here are reflective. I only have one on the rear so no retro reflectors on the front of the car, only the side and rear.

And yes, every sidelight bulb is a 5w capless, so that adds up quickly. I guess it's one reason the car has a huge battery.

[Volksy]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

Yeah, all plates here are reflective. I only have one on the rear 

My mate relocated from South Carolina to Hawaii and had to fit a Front Plate for the first time to his Passat. 
It was certainly annoying as an Uber/Lyft customer in SC as you couldn't tell if it was your cab until after it had gone past you. 

[PhilA]

4 minutes ago, Volksy said:

My mate relocated from South Carolina to Hawaii and had to fit a Front Plate for the first time to his Passat. 
It was certainly annoying as an Uber/Lyft customer in SC as you couldn't tell if it was your cab until after it had gone past you. 

I like not having to make screw holes in my front bumper.

[Volksy]

2 minutes ago, PhilA said:

I like not having to make screw holes in my front bumper.

Yeh, he's since moved back to SC - with said Passat - so has redundant holes. 

[PhilA]

The lack of a front plate shouldn't be an issue for visibility here, because you aren't allowed to park on the side of the road facing the direction of travel. 

All vehicles since the fifties here have had to carry a red retroreflector on the outer rear corners of the back of the vehicle so at the very least there's that facing traffic from a parked vehicle. 

 

Parking any which way chaos like in the UK is an offense, same as crossing the road outside of a crosswalk. The rules seem odd but when you factor in how stupid people tend to be when they get behind the wheel, it makes sense. 

Highway code states a minimum distance from any street light requires a parked car in a darkened area to be parked with sidelights on, if I recall. 

Phil