license plate covers

Started by AutobahnSHO, January 10, 2018, 07:27:18 AM

Soup DeVille

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 10, 2018, 08:16:40 PM
if your car has an auto light system, I don't see the need to even have a switch.

Drive any GM car on auto on a grey overcast day and you'll watch the lights continually go on and off on about a 15 second cycle. Most people don't even notice, but it drives me nuts.

I Want to turn the lights on and off. Sometimes I want em in the day. Maybe I want to signal somebody with them. Maybe I want to sit on a hillside and make obscene Morse code messages to passing airplanes.
Maybe I want to sit in my car at night with the sunroof open listening to the radio and look at the stars with the
Lights off.

Just because you don't see a reason for it doesn't mean there isn't one.
Maybe we need to start off small. I mean, they don't let you fuck the glumpers at Glumpees without a level 4 FuckPass, do they?

1975 Honda CB750, 1986 Rebel Rascal (sailing dinghy), 2015 Mini Cooper, 2020 Winnebago 31H (E450), 2021 Toyota 4Runner, 2022 Lincoln Aviator

Gotta-Qik-C7

2014 C7 Vert, 2002 Silverado, 2005 Road Glide

CaminoRacer

Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 10, 2018, 09:51:15 PM
Drive any GM car on auto on a grey overcast day and you'll watch the lights continually go on and off on about a 15 second cycle. Most people don't even notice, but it drives me nuts.

I Want to turn the lights on and off. Sometimes I want em in the day. Maybe I want to signal somebody with them. Maybe I want to sit on a hillside and make obscene Morse code messages to passing airplanes.
Maybe I want to sit in my car at night with the sunroof open listening to the radio and look at the stars with the
Lights off.

Just because you don't see a reason for it doesn't mean there isn't one.

+1

Give me full control. And give me real gauges, not a damn screen with digital gauges.
2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

FoMoJo

Quote from: Gotta-Qik-C6 on January 10, 2018, 09:19:12 PM
I just think cars look goofy driving around with dim headlights on all day.
Do you not think that the reason for DRLs is valid?
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

FoMoJo

Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 10, 2018, 09:51:15 PM
Drive any GM car on auto on a grey overcast day and you'll watch the lights continually go on and off on about a 15 second cycle. Most people don't even notice, but it drives me nuts.

I Want to turn the lights on and off. Sometimes I want em in the day. Maybe I want to signal somebody with them. Maybe I want to sit on a hillside and make obscene Morse code messages to passing airplanes.
Maybe I want to sit in my car at night with the sunroof open listening to the radio and look at the stars with the
Lights off.

Just because you don't see a reason for it doesn't mean there isn't one.
I don't see a reason for a lot of things whereas others might...freedom on thought and all that.

What does listening to a radio at night have to do with the car's lights?
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

RomanChariot

I have had many times where I need to have my vehicle running in campgrounds or parking lots but I do not want my DRLs annoying other people. In my Suburban I can put on the parking brake and it will override the DRLs but I have not found a way to do that in my BMW. There are also drive through Christmas light displays around here where you are supposed to turn your lights off as you drive through but many cars won't give you that option.

giant_mtb

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 11, 2018, 10:02:30 AM
Do you not think that the reason for DRLs is valid?

If you think all cars should have automatic lights and no switch, then the default should be always on.  Fuck that.

FoMoJo

Quote from: giant_mtb on January 11, 2018, 11:56:26 AM
If you think all cars should have automatic lights and no switch, then the default should be always on.  Fuck that.
There are daytime and nighttime/darkness modes.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

shp4man

Just FYI, the reason you could get a vehicle with the autolamps turned off after service is because of weak batteries. You have to leave the key on to perform some electronic testing procedures and a weak battery with die a painful death, causing us techs to have to recharge the goddamn thing for nothing, and typically a pissed off customer saying "It wasn't like that when I brought it in! I want a new battery!"
Ya, right. The fucking thing is 5 years old, but it's my fault it died.  :facepalm:

Soup DeVille

Maybe we need to start off small. I mean, they don't let you fuck the glumpers at Glumpees without a level 4 FuckPass, do they?

1975 Honda CB750, 1986 Rebel Rascal (sailing dinghy), 2015 Mini Cooper, 2020 Winnebago 31H (E450), 2021 Toyota 4Runner, 2022 Lincoln Aviator

Soup DeVille

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 11, 2018, 10:07:44 AM
I don't see a reason for a lot of things whereas others might...freedom on thought and all that.

What does listening to a radio at night have to do with the car's lights?

Maybe I don't want to be that asshole shining his lights for no reason?  It also helps your eyes adjust to the darkness better.

There are also tunnels, campgrounds where driving around at night with just the parking lights on is a lot more polite than blinding every poor sap in the place, and about a dozen or so other reasons that just haven't occurred to me yet.

This argument is one step above Rotor's "why would you want to adjust the heating vents" argument.
Maybe we need to start off small. I mean, they don't let you fuck the glumpers at Glumpees without a level 4 FuckPass, do they?

1975 Honda CB750, 1986 Rebel Rascal (sailing dinghy), 2015 Mini Cooper, 2020 Winnebago 31H (E450), 2021 Toyota 4Runner, 2022 Lincoln Aviator

FoMoJo

Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 11, 2018, 12:58:54 PM
No.
Whether you accept it or not, studies show that DRLs do reduce crash rates.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

FoMoJo

Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 11, 2018, 01:02:49 PM
Maybe I don't want to be that asshole shining his lights for no reason?  It also helps your eyes adjust to the darkness better.

There are also tunnels, campgrounds where driving around at night with just the parking lights on is a lot more polite than blinding every poor sap in the place, and about a dozen or so other reasons that just haven't occurred to me yet.

This argument is one step above Rotor's "why would you want to adjust the heating vents" argument.
I would concur with most of your reasons, but how is it going to help your eyes adjust to the darkness better?
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

Soup DeVille

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 11, 2018, 01:43:45 PM
I would concur with most of your reasons, but how is it going to help your eyes adjust to the darkness better?

Having the lights off? How do you not know this.
Maybe we need to start off small. I mean, they don't let you fuck the glumpers at Glumpees without a level 4 FuckPass, do they?

1975 Honda CB750, 1986 Rebel Rascal (sailing dinghy), 2015 Mini Cooper, 2020 Winnebago 31H (E450), 2021 Toyota 4Runner, 2022 Lincoln Aviator

Soup DeVille

#44
Quote from: FoMoJo on January 11, 2018, 01:42:29 PM
Whether you accept it or not, studies show that DRLs do reduce crash rates.

The studies I know of were done in one of two ways;

The first one is doing a controlled test, measuring th distance from which people could spot a car on a road.

The second one was looking at statistics and finding crash rates differed between drivers who kept their lights on and which ones didn't.

The first the answer is rather obvious; the second one is not controlled for any number of driver's behaviors and is inconclusive.

People will also point to different injury/fatality rates before and after DRLS became mandatory. Again; lots of other things happened in that time frame and that in no way can be considered a controlled test.

I maintain that there are times when having lights on makes sense and times when it doesn't; and educating people on using them in low visibility situations would be more sensible and effective.

As the NHTSA concluding in this study, the results were "not statistically significant" https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811029

DRLs first became popular on Volvos, and the data they gathered was from Nordic countries that have significantly more grey and darker days than most of the US and even most populous places in Canada. This makes sense to me, but also reinforces that lights are effective in (shockingly) low light conditions.
Maybe we need to start off small. I mean, they don't let you fuck the glumpers at Glumpees without a level 4 FuckPass, do they?

1975 Honda CB750, 1986 Rebel Rascal (sailing dinghy), 2015 Mini Cooper, 2020 Winnebago 31H (E450), 2021 Toyota 4Runner, 2022 Lincoln Aviator

FoMoJo

Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 11, 2018, 02:01:03 PM
Having the lights off? How do you not know this.
It takes mere seconds, 2 or 3, for my old eyes to adjust to darkness.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

Gotta-Qik-C7

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 11, 2018, 10:02:30 AM
Do you not think that the reason for DRLs is valid?
Not really! Motorcycles should be the ONLY vehicles with Headlights on during daylight hours! Maybe THAT would save a few lives per year!
2014 C7 Vert, 2002 Silverado, 2005 Road Glide

FoMoJo

Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 11, 2018, 02:12:03 PM
The studies I know of were done in one of two ways;

The first one is doing a controlled test, measuring th distance from which people could spot a car on a road.

The second one was looking at statistics and finding crash rates differed between drivers who kept their lights on and which ones didn't.

The first the answer is rather obvious; the second one is not controlled for any number of driver's behaviors and is inconclusive.

People will also point to different injury/fatality rates before and after DRLS became mandatory. Again; lots of other things happened in that time frame and that in no way can be considered a controlled test.

I maintain that there are times when having lights on makes sense and times when it doesn't; and educating people on using them in low visibility situations would be more sensible and effective.

As the NHTSA concluding in this study, the results were "not statistically significant" https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811029

DRLs first became popular on Volvos, and the data they gathered was from Nordic countries that have significantly more grey and darker days than most of the US and even most populous places in Canada. This makes sense to me, but also reinforces that lights are effective in (shockingly) low light conditions.
There will always be questions concerning the results of testing. 

The first time I became aware of DRLs, or DRL as it was a single small light similar to what one might see attached to a truck's roof stuck in the middle of the grille, was on a friend's '63 Plymouth Fury which was some sort of option back then.  I thought it was kind of silly.  I also thought seat belts were kind of silly as well back then.

I do believe now that DRLs do help to make vehicles more visible, even on a bright day when visibility is not impaired.  Not so much in the sense that we can't see the vehicle, but more in that sense that we notice it.  This may be because so much of driving becomes a reflexive process and glancing becomes the norm rather than looking.  Glancing at something lit up is more likely to be noticed.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

FoMoJo

Quote from: Gotta-Qik-C6 on January 11, 2018, 03:05:06 PM
Not really! Motorcycles should be the ONLY vehicles with Headlights on during daylight hours! Maybe THAT would save a few lives per year!
That is true regarding motorcycles.  It seems many drivers do not notice motorcycles approaching even when in plain view; something about expecting only to see cars.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

Soup DeVille

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 11, 2018, 02:54:18 PM
It takes mere seconds, 2 or 3, for my old eyes to adjust to darkness.

No it doesn't.

It takes 2 or 3 seconds for them to start to. It takes about 20 minutes for them to finish.

But even if those two or three are all you need; why leave lights on you don't want just so you have to wait there?
Maybe we need to start off small. I mean, they don't let you fuck the glumpers at Glumpees without a level 4 FuckPass, do they?

1975 Honda CB750, 1986 Rebel Rascal (sailing dinghy), 2015 Mini Cooper, 2020 Winnebago 31H (E450), 2021 Toyota 4Runner, 2022 Lincoln Aviator

Soup DeVille

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 11, 2018, 03:08:58 PM
There will always be questions concerning the results of testing. 

The first time I became aware of DRLs, or DRL as it was a single small light similar to what one might see attached to a truck's roof stuck in the middle of the grille, was on a friend's '63 Plymouth Fury which was some sort of option back then.  I thought it was kind of silly.  I also thought seat belts were kind of silly as well back then.

I do believe now that DRLs do help to make vehicles more visible, even on a bright day when visibility is not impaired.  Not so much in the sense that we can't see the vehicle, but more in that sense that we notice it.  This may be because so much of driving becomes a reflexive process and glancing becomes the norm rather than looking.  Glancing at something lit up is more likely to be noticed.

So you've gone from "studies show" to "this is what I think," which makes your opinion no more valid than mine now.
Maybe we need to start off small. I mean, they don't let you fuck the glumpers at Glumpees without a level 4 FuckPass, do they?

1975 Honda CB750, 1986 Rebel Rascal (sailing dinghy), 2015 Mini Cooper, 2020 Winnebago 31H (E450), 2021 Toyota 4Runner, 2022 Lincoln Aviator

FoMoJo

Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 11, 2018, 03:11:59 PM
No it doesn't.

It takes 2 or 3 seconds for them to start to. It takes about 20 minutes for them to finish.

But even if those two or three are all you need; why leave lights on you don't want just so you have to wait there?
I suppose I don't park any place that's that dark anymore.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

FoMoJo

Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 11, 2018, 03:13:08 PM
So you've gone from "studies show" to "this is what I think," which makes your opinion no more valid than mine now.

I'm willing to adjust my opinion if I become convinced that there is more merit to a different or enhanced view.  Certainly your opinion is as valid as mine, from your perspective.  As insinuated, I've changed my opinion on both DRLs and seat belts over the years.

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

giant_mtb

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 11, 2018, 02:54:18 PM
It takes mere seconds, 2 or 3, for my old eyes to adjust to darkness.

No, it doesn't, especially after an intense bright light like a headlight.

"Human eyes take several hours to fully adapt to darkness and reach their optimal sensitivity to low light conditions. The quickest gains in vision sensitivity are made in the first few minutes after exposure to darkness. For this reason, many people think that after only a few minutes, their eyes have reached their peak sensitivity."

http://wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2013/08/09/how-long-does-it-take-our-eyes-to-fully-adapt-to-darkness/


FoMoJo

Quote from: giant_mtb on January 11, 2018, 03:46:28 PM
No, it doesn't, especially after an intense bright light like a headlight.

"Human eyes take several hours to fully adapt to darkness and reach their optimal sensitivity to low light conditions. The quickest gains in vision sensitivity are made in the first few minutes after exposure to darkness. For this reason, many people think that after only a few minutes, their eyes have reached their peak sensitivity."

http://wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2013/08/09/how-long-does-it-take-our-eyes-to-fully-adapt-to-darkness/


I only base my view on personal observation.

When getting up in the middle of the night to use the washroom, which happens far too frequently, I walk down a very dimly lighted hallway to the washroom where I turn the light on because it's really dark in there.  Upon returning, I switch the light off and enter the very dimly lit hallway where I see practically nothing.  Within 2 to 3 seconds, my vision has adjusted whereby everything looks pretty much the same as when I first walked down the hall from the opposite direction.

Perhaps if I waited for 50 minutes, I might see slightly better in the dark, but we should know that, when driving, we don't stare at the bright lights coming towards us because the 2 or 3 seconds that it takes our eyes to readjust could be fatal.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

Laconian

Fun fact, sailors wore eyepatches so they could maintain night vision on one eye at all times. If they had to go below deck, they'd move the patch to the other eye.
Kia EV6 GT-Line / MX-5 RF 6MT

FoMoJo

Quote from: Laconian on January 11, 2018, 04:51:27 PM
Fun fact, sailors wore eyepatches so they could maintain night vision on one eye at all times. If they had to go below deck, they'd move the patch to the other eye.
I should try that when I have to go to the washroom at night.  I have, at times, kept one eye closed after turning the light on so that I wouldn't have to wait the 2 or 3 seconds for my vision to adjust after turning the light off.  It works.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

Laconian

Quote from: FoMoJo on January 11, 2018, 05:07:40 PM
I should try that when I have to go to the washroom at night.  I have, at times, kept one eye closed after turning the light on so that I wouldn't have to wait the 2 or 3 seconds for my vision to adjust after turning the light off.  It works.

Arrr, an' maybe ye wench would be into having a pirate in the bedroom, arrr
Kia EV6 GT-Line / MX-5 RF 6MT

FoMoJo

Quote from: Laconian on January 11, 2018, 08:27:08 PM
Arrr, an' maybe ye wench would be into having a pirate in the bedroom, arrr
She'd be more likely to call for an ambulance.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

Rupert

Novarolla-Miata-Trooper-Jeep-Volvo-Trooper-Ranger-MGB-Explorer-944-Fiat-Alfa-XTerra

13 cars, 60 cylinders, 52 manual forward gears and 9 automatic, 2 FWD, 42 doors, 1988 average year of manufacture, 3 convertibles, 22 average mpg, and no wheel covers.
PRO TENACIA NULLA VIA EST INVIA