Astraist wrote:I always instruct to use the full beam, unless another driver is there to be dazzled, even if there are street-lights. I also instruct to use dipped beams or dedicated DRL's during the day. I understand that the same advice is issued by Don Palmer and the Bespoke group. So to recommend not to use any sort of light at night driving on road with streetlights does not seem right for me..,
I note that you instruct, whereas Don Palmer and Bespoke advise. Hmm, OK! My vote goes to DP and his ilk.
More importantly, do you not instruct or advise your pupils (or whatever you care to call them) that not only is it important to dip for other drivers, but that they also ought to avoid dazzling pedestrians and cyclists by using main beam? I mention this because I was out walking on country roads after dark recently (1), and two things became uncomfortably apparent to me.
One was that very few drivers seemed willing to go offside, or even move out further, in order to give more generous clearance to an obviously aged and vulnerable pedestrian and this was even when there was no other traffic around to prevent them from doing so. Poor show, drivers.
The other thing was that these were country roads with no pavement, so I mostly walked on the road facing the oncoming traffic. There was a grass verge for most of the distance, but this was quite rough and uneven, so not very appealing. Given that most oncoming drivers didn't bother to dip their headlights for me, a mere pedestrian, I found I had to stop walking and step onto the grass verge, and then wait until my vision recovered so that I could continue my walk. It didn't seem sensible to continue walking, and risk stumbling over the edge of the verge and falling into the path of a vehicle, which could have happened, in which case, given that the drivers were not allowing much extra clearance, I could have been hit by the vehicle. Drivers didn't appear to be even considering this possibility, let alone making any adjustment to protect against it.
From this somewhat protracted whinge, I conclude that we should not only take care to keep our own driving in order, but also spend a bit more time thinking about situations from the viewpoint of other road users; which means all other classes of road user, even pedestrians and cyclists.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
(1) Objective achieved: Whitby to Scarborough, 21 miles, 7.25 hours.
Yes, you're quite right: my lunacy is clearly established beyond all reasonable doubt.