Wednesday rant: Why I hate autobeam headlights

Since 2012 local councils have been put under extreme pressure to cut costs and one common initiative has been to switch off road lighting. Public spending is now tighter than it’s ever been and so it’s more than likely you’ll have to encounter roads at night with little or no lighting. Obviously, this throws up a lot of safety concerns but as drivers all we can do is be even more vigilant on the road when driving at night.

It’s not always an easy job to navigate dimly lit roads safely. Drivers have to use what could be described as fighter pilot levels of skill to engage their full beams when there are no cars approaching and then quickly disengage them when there are cars approaching. If we’re being honest a lot of us will have the odd lapse and forget to take them off when a car is approaching. There’s no arguing that this can be extremely dangerous and which is primarily why manufactures have since introduced a technology badged “autobeam headlights”. Basically, what autobeam headlights do is support drivers when they’re driving at night by automatically switching the headlights to low beam when necessary and then returning to high beam when the road ahead clears.

So, what could possibly be my issue with something that’s been specifically designed to make driving safer? Well, I’ll tell you my issue. The problem I have with autobeam headlights is that when the system is on and you’re on a dark road you spend every minute wondering “why hasn’t it come on yet?”, “is it about to come on?“, “is it on?” and so on. I’ll be on a dark road constantly wondering “why hasn’t it come on?”. So, I’m just constantly focused on why the blasted thing hasn’t come on yet. Even worse, is when the lights are actually on full beam and you can see a car approaching from the opposite direction - and it hasn’t turned off! All the while the other driver is thinking “what the hell’s going on you idiot!”. So, it’s the other driver that ends up flashing you and blinding you in the process!

To think, autobeam headlights was specifically designed to take the stress out of driving in the dark. I’m just not that convinced that it does. Saying that, I’m sure the safety stats stack up. And if they do then it’s got to be a good thing right?

If you’re after a car with autobeam headlights or you’re happy with the old fashion old method then head to DesperateSeller.co.uk.