Gotta Love Those Modern Cars

[Phil Dally]

We have plenty of predatory birds here.

Golden Eagle
Red Tailed Hawk
Sparrow Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
American Kestrel
Great Horned Owl
Cooper's Hawk

Plus I'm sure a bunch more I've never seen.

[caraholic4life]

This is also probably one of the many reasons that Automotive Insurance Premiums are on the rise....

Now that many drivers are on their cell phones while driving the automatic braking systems have proved effective at reducing serious accidents and there is talk ALL new cars will be required to have them!!! Why pass a law to block cell phone operation in cars and make folks mad when you can make them pay for passive collision avoidance and higher insurance premiums.

In my Opinion, There are two things that would be beneficial to have.

First would be to make it somehow that any cell phone can not be operated within three feet of the steering wheel regardless if the driver is law enforcement or any other agency. (Bluetooth would be an exception)
Distracted driving is distracted driving regardless of the driver's profession. The passengers could still use theirs and emergency vehicles usually have two way radios for emergency communications.

Second would be to have all new vehicles headlights revert to LOW Beam after being on for five minutes.
Almost nowhere these days can anyone drive for more than five minutes without encountering oncoming traffic.
In instances where one might actually be able to drive for more than five minutes without encountering oncoming traffic, or coming up behind another vehicle, the High Beam could simply be clicked back on if needed.

As we all get older many of us are much more sensitive to bright lights and many of the new vehicles seem to be getting brighter and brighter headlights.
This does not include all those wonderful individuals that go out and purchase the brightest replacement bulbs they can and install them regardless if they are legal or not for use on public roads.

I am getting to the point where I simply avoid driving after dark whenever possible.

[Frank DuVal]

Our squirrels are gray and live in trees. What's a ground squirrel? I do suspect a squirrel ate the camshaft sensor wires, in a neat harness of only three wires, so it was easy to remove from my 2011 GMC truck and repair it with solder and heat shrink. The teeth marks were way too big for mouse teeth. The plastic harness overwrap? is falling apart, though, not being eaten by squirrels.

I like the 5 minute high beam rule around here too! I'm sure drivers out in the desert would need a longer time limit, though. With all the misaimed and LED replacements in vehicles it is hard to know if the blinding light is from a proper low beam or a rouge LED installation or just a selfish person running high beams. My only hope is they get it (other people being selfish and running high beams and over powered misaimed LED lamps) in return as they get older and have to stop driving at might!

[Phil Dally]

At night I use yellow tint night driving sunglasses.

They help with even super bright LED headlights.

[Gasman63]

5 minute timer for high beams. That would be a great addition to vehicles. Someone needs to send this to a manufacturer. I bet they would go for it too. Added cost means more money for them.

[flamingchariots]

RE: High beams

My Subarus have automatic sensors which cut off high beams when oncoming traffic is detected, regardless of the position of the high beam switch.

[vairchet]

High beam sensors aren't anything new, Cadillac had Autronic Eye and Guide-Matics starting in 1952. Other GM automobiles began to offer them 1954. Even Ford/Lincoln had a similar version.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thr ... cs.580437/

[66vairguy]

High beam sensors aren't anything new, Cadillac had Autronic Eye and Guide-Matics starting in 1952. Other GM automobiles began to offer them 1954. Even Ford/Lincoln had a similar version.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thr ... cs.580437/

I remember those!! Awful as they just were NOT practical. They were often on luxury cars and you had to "adjust" them to dim at a certain distance. Problem is the sensitivity circuit was crude.

You'd see a car coming and their lights would dim, so you would dim yours then suddenly the oncoming "auto" dimmers" would got back to HIGH beam, so you would turn on your HIGH beams, and the auto dimmer would dim and BACK AND FORTH, BACK AND FORTH until someone got MAD. Probably the earliest form of "Road Rage" recorded. Most folks just gave up and turned the crappy auto dimmers OFF. Now we have "sensing" lights to dim or level the beam and reports suggest they don't work much better -