Sometimes I have to drive after dark in my city, and it never fails that if I drive any appreciable distance that I always see at least one person (often more) driving with their lights off. I do not need to tell y’all why this is dangerous. We’re a community of enthusiasts. We know. Plenty of us are driving older cars that predate the tech.
It’s not like they don’t mandate lots of shit already. Seatbelts, head restraints, airbags, and backup cameras are some of the most sensible things ever required for cars to have. Why are automatic headlights not on this list? There also needs to exist a mandate whereby the lights turn on if the driver turns on the wipers. Because if you need your wipers, you need your lights too. It’s common freaking sense.
Your headlights aren’t just for seeing, but for being seen. Ambient light sensors are so cheap that they end up in midrange TVs all the time. I blame the backlit gauges and myriad other interior lights. Ergo, it’s time to mandate automatic headlights. There’s no reason not to.
I’ll get off my soapbox now.
The problem is we’ve removed the cues to turn the lights on.
Normally it gets dark and you know it’s time to turn the headlights on because none of the dash lights are illuminated. You can’t see the speedometer. Unfortunately with the advent of LCD dashes and touchscreens the default has become leaving everything in front of the driver lit, and that includes analog instruments. Add fairly bright DRLs people have lost the visual prompt to flip the switch on.
Backlights, where not necessary for operation, should remain off until lights are turned on. Getting rid of touchscreens for everything and going back to push buttons. That would help a lot with headlights as well as being distracted flipping thru menus to turn the AC on or something.