derekb Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 So this is my first year having any "real" traffic. I have noticed quite frequently people pull up when the show is going and leave their headlights on, blinding the car in front of them. I have seen the other cars pull away or turn their lights on or flash their lights. Sometimes the other car turns their lights off, but sometimes they do not. I just cannot believe people are so rude or oblivious that their headlights are shining right in another vehicle. Does anyone do anything about this or just let them work it out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparkDr Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I use a scrolling LED message board (about $80 online) for my show information which includes a request to turn headlights off & it works surprisingly well. We oftentimes have folks pull up & leave their headlights on for a bit until they see the message. In almost every instance, the headlights are extinguished shortly thereafter once the message board has cycled through the request. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekb Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 Great idea. Maybe I will add that to my scrolling sign. Currently I just have my web address and tune to channel scrolling. I have the voice-over at the beginning of the show reminding people to do this, but most people are not there exactly when the show starts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mwhite7097 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 We have people who are there for the beginning message and reminder about headlights who still don't turn them off. I usually let the viewers "police" themselves. Sometimes a flashing of someone else's lights will get them to turn theirs off but sometimes not. I did add a 5 second "reminder" into the show and that works sometimes too. It is an audio clip of my daughter saying "Hey. You with the headlights on. You know who you are..........Thank you." Works most of the time. Some folks just plain don't know how to turn the lights off though and there's not much you can do about it. I don't want to be out there every night being a headlight cop. I did go out once this year because someone pulled in and then turned their BRIGHTS on for the whole show and stayed for another. Illuminated the entire inside of my house. I walked all the way out there and as I neared the car window, they then shut them off. (On a side note, I have noticed that those who leave the headlights on are usually the one's to arrive late, let their kids run around, and don't donate. Just the way of some folks.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dslowik Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 My wife's last car had no obvious way to turn off the lights when the car was on. It was totally automatic - DRL during the day and headlights when it got dark. I finally did find out that if I engaged her parking brake 1 or 2 clicks, the lights would go off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hans Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I think an aweful lot of the people just don't know how to turn their headlights off! With more and more cars coming equiped with the automatic headlights and seeing as how no one reads their owners manual.... I don't think it is rudeness as much as ignorance that causes people to leave their lights on. If the weather is decent people will turn their cars off, as they know this will turn the headlights off, but if it is cold out they leave the car running and the lights on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyci Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Illinois drivers are idiots anyways, Chalk it up to stupidity Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I run headlight reminders all throughout the show. Every announcement includes it and I have ten-second bumpers that I run as well. It works out to about once every 6 or 7 minutes all evening long. It works well, except for the morons who don't know how to shut them off. I've even got a bumper that says "If you don't know how to turn down your headlights, could you please pull off into one of the side streets so you can check your owner's manual and figure it out. Thank you." As far as I can ascertain, the only people it pisses off are the ones too stupid to believe that yes, there IS a way to turn off your lights if only you had the intelligence to read the owner's manual. The people in the street don't necessarily like hearing headlight reminders "all the time" but they greatly prefer it to being blinded. I've asked them. Often. It's pretty unanimous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 My sign reminds them of the headlights also.. but I stood there one night and watched people.. seems they get transfixed on the display and are completely oblivious to their own headlights.. Yeah.. we have snide remarks about them as well around the house.. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 We have parking facing the display from across the street. We have a few signs on white coroplast with the station in red. Along the top and bottom, it says headlights off please in white reflective vinyl. If your headlights hit it, you get a pretty good reminder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekb Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I used to worry about it. About 5 years into the display I stopped worrying so much. If people started honking at each other, I'd just shut down the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I just tell them I will send out a minion with a sledgehammer to extinguish their headlights. Seems to work very well. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffl Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 It's a sign that you have a great show. They get so caught up in the moment they forget what they're doing. My problem seams to be that the lights seam to look different when you put the window down and crank your radio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMeBobO Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Talk about not knowing how to operate your own car. Last night I was standing outside talking to a car full and another car with headlights on blinds us for over a minute. Then the same car pulls right between us and the display completely blocking the view. I was annoyed but the car I was talking too didnt mind waiting for a bit so I didnt go ask them to move. Now we are two+ songs in from when the headlight car came and it finally pulls parallel to us with me standing between them. The lady rolls down her window for me and tells me she cant figure out how to tune her radio to my station! She only knew the preset buttons and mine was not one of them. A few minutes of coaching failed to get the radio tuned so I turn to the other car behind me and ask them to roll down a window for a minute so the headlight car could hear. Or I tried anyway. That car could not figure out how to roll down the passenger window! ACK its a party of people who cant operate their own cars. The passenger occupant had to open their door and was giving me the blow by blow of buttons that do not do anything and driver did not know how to unlock the controls. This was also a AARP rally it seemed to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Batzdorf Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I too have a voice over just before the show starts about dimming lights. I also agree that most people just dont know how. Both of my Chevy trucks have the auto lights. I have have to check the manual to figure out how. I'll have to try the parking brake method.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcktpwrd Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 I too have a voice over just before the show starts about dimming lights. I also agree that most people just dont know how. Both of my Chevy trucks have the auto lights. I have have to check the manual to figure out how. I'll have to try the parking brake method....If your truck has a rotary headlight switch try turning it to the left, that should turn off the auto headlights and the drl's too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeH Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 On my Chevy Silverado there is a button located under the headlight switch, just hit it a couple of times and the lights go out. To get them back on, hit the button a couple of times again and they will come back on. MikeH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainyoregonchristmas Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 We are one of the few towns that still has a functioning drive-in. I'd love to snag a copy of their head light voice over. From what they say, engaging the parking break one notch should disable just about every make and model of modern daytime running light. That's where I learned about it. Never would have thought about it if I hadn't seen many movies there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeH Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 And speaking of headlight wars: Tonight I went to look at a light show that is a block long with houses on both sides sync'd to the same music. So I turn into the street, switch my lights to the parking lights and drive to the center of the block where I can see everything in front and behind me. Here comes this pick-up from the other direction and parks about 4 car lengths ahead of me, lights still shining, Before I can signal the truck with my lights, a small car pulls in front of me and stops, foot on the brakes, brake lights shining in my face. Then another car pulls up behind me, lights on. I bet they are all wondering why I have my lights off!! Needless to say I left and came back 10 minutes later. Those ID10T's were gone. MikeH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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