Re: City Lights and aiming

[Aleksander Mierzwa <alex@matrix.pl>]

At 09:57 99-01-08 -0700, DeWitt Harrison wrote:

>Yup. Little 4W bayonets. Much friendlier in pedestrian rich, well lit,
>urban night time settings. Not enough on large busy boulevards.
>The Europeans seem to be far more aware of the appropriate use of
>vehicle lighting than we.

As I've already pointed out in the past, I don't know where the term "city
lights" originates from, but certainly not from Europe. The little 4W bulbs
you refer to are European _parking_ lights. They are intended to be left on
when you park the car in dark area, you are neither supposed nor allowed to
actually _drive_ with them on, particularly at night. No matter if you are
in well lit city area or not, the law everywhere in Europe requires you to
have your low beams on. In fact, some countries (particularly Scandinavian
ones) have laws requiring the use of low beams (or DRL, if so equipped) in
daylight as well.

Of course, if you have the Euro lights in USA, you can use them for
whatever you like. I personally think, though, that using only 4W bulbs at
night, even in very well lit urban areas, is plain suicidal.

Aleksander Mierzwa
Warsaw, Poland
mailto:alex@matrix.pl
87 Audi 5000CS turbo (mine)
88 Renault Medallion wagon (mom's)
91 mountain bike (just in case both cars broke at the same time :-)