Headlights

It amazes me how many people don't know how to use their headlights properly. So, as a public service, I present the following guide to using the headlights in your vehicle:

• There are three settings available to you: Parking lights, low beams, and high beams. On modern cars there are also daytime running lights, that are on when none of the other settings are selected.
• If you turn the headlights knob one click, you have turned on your parking lights.
• I'm sort of surprised how many drivers don't know this, and think that they have turned on their low beams when they do this, but the first click is for your parking lights.
• With this setting, you have turned off your daytime running lights, and simply turned on two little orange lights at the front of your car. This means you have less light than you would have with daytime running lights, which further means that your car is less visible to other cars. It does, however, turn on all of the lights on your dashboard, so that you can see the instruments (and radio) at night.
• If you turn the knob two clicks, you have now turned on your low beams.
• This is the setting you usually want for driving in the city, or on roads where there is oncoming traffic.
• Turning on the high beams is different from vehicle to vehicle; you normally put on the low beams first, and then pull the headlight lever towards you until it clicks, or do something else, to get the high beams on. However, on no vehicle I've ever seen do you just keep turning the headlight knob until the high beams come on - you always have to do something separate.

Please investigate your vehicle, and understand how to use the headlights. There are so many people out there turning on their parking lights, thinking that they've turned on their low beams (because the dashboard lights are on inside, I guess), and it annoys me. It doesn't annoy me a lot - just enough to post about.