Yep I meant the side lights all along. I am not without some knowledge of cars as I have owned a vectra (if you've had one you probably know they needed regular fixing). I always thought the first click of the stalk was dipped headlight lol. Not that I drive at night with just them on!!!
Under the Highway Code rule 113, you are perfectly legal and entitled to drive within streetlit areas on sidelights (with my emphasis in red):
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-hig...-advice-for-all-drivers-and-riders-103-to-158
Rule 113
You
MUST
- ensure all sidelights and rear registration plate lights are lit between sunset and sunrise
- use headlights at night, except on a road which has lit street lighting. These roads are generally restricted to a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) unless otherwise specified
- use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226).
Night (the hours of darkness) is defined as the period between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise.
Rule 115 then offers somewhat contradictory, non-mandatory advice that suggests you should use dipped beam on urban roads (i.e. with streetlighting):
Rule 115
You
should also
- use dipped headlights, or dim-dip if fitted, at night in built-up areas and in dull daytime weather, to ensure that you can be seen
- keep your headlights dipped when overtaking until you are level with the other vehicle and then change to main beam if necessary, unless this would dazzle oncoming road users
- slow down, and if necessary stop, if you are dazzled by oncoming headlights.
but I completely disagree with this recommendation, personally.
For example, if we are standing in a dark room or area, can you see more
overall if I hold a candle up in front of me (sidelights) or shine a cree LED torch into your eyes and sear your retinas off (dipped beam headlights, especially those damned excessive LED versions on new cars)?
Sure, the brightness of the torch is definitely more noticeable than the candle and does 'ensure that you can be seen', in that its output is massively higher and it draws your attention (because it's all you can f**king see), but the eyes are not designed to cope with such a massive difference between light and dark, so your pupils constrict and stop you seeing anything in the dark areas away from the light source.
With the candle/sidelights, you can still see the source of the light and it draws your attention within the dark area because of it, but it's not so bright that your pupils constrict, meaning you can still see things in the dark areas.
We can see perfectly well by starlight alone, as anyone who's travelled to and stood outside at night in the Dark Sky areas of the UK can testify, and actually allowing the eyes to adapt to lower levels of light overall (and gain some 'night vision'), rather than suffering constant blinding glare from dipped beams and those f**king chavvy foglights that people call 'driving lights'
, might actually help drivers spot pedestrians and cyclists in the dark areas that are not visible when being blinded, improving road safety.
[/soapbox]
