Sun 27 Mar 2011
The Genius of the Lamp
Posted by anaglyph under Ephemera, Gadgets, Hmmm..., Science, Skeptical Thinking, Technology
[27] Comments
Technology We Don’t Actually Need #1
OK, so this morning I’m driving along on the freeway and a question comes into my head. It’s not the first time I’ve asked this question, but I think now is the right time for the world to ask it with me:
What the hell are parking lamps on a car for?
Ponder this – when was the last time you used your parking lamps for parking? In fact, an even more pertinent question is: how useful are parking lamps in the process of parking anyway? If I tried to park my car using the pallid gleam of its parking lamps I think I’d end up parking myself into the rear end of another car. Parking lamps are wussy and dim. In the light from the average streetlamp, they may as well not even be switched on.
Of course, this is not the reason for which most drivers think parking lamps should be used in any case. Those who are even aware of their parking lamps (other than as the temporary switch position between OFF and HEADLIGHTS) think that they’re supposed to employ them when they’re driving along on a dimly lit or rainy day. BUT, my friends, if the point of this activity is to heighten visibility, then why not use your headlights??? Parking lamps are, in this capacity, a grudgingly marginal commitment to safety. It’s like wanting to be visible, but not too visible. ((It strikes me that it’s not unlike the floatation vest you’re supposed to wear in the event of a plane crash – sure, put it on if it makes you feel better, but when you hit the water at 800+ mph, a life vest is going to be about as useful as a banana in a swordfight.)) The driver of the car who was behind me on the freeway this morning may as well have been waving a birthday candle, for all the visibility his parking lights were offering. ((Seriously. Outside, in the overcast daylight, I couldn’t actually tell if they were on or off. I only knew they were on because we had previously passed through a tunnel.))
So, racking my brains as to any conceivable explanation for the automobile parking lamp’s purpose for being, I did what all hip 21st century netizens do and turned to the Font of All Knowledge, Wikipedia. Well. The first thing that must be said is that Wikipedia’s entry for Automotive Lighting is one of the longest and most comprehensive I have ever come across. You want lights, it’s got lights. And it has more footnotes than a Tetherd Cow Ahead article about ShooTag. If you need to know stuff about car lights, this is your one stop shop. Suck on that Encyclopedia Brittanica.
It throws scant illumination, however, on the topic of parking lamps. Oh, it has several paragraphs about them, alright, but nowhere is there any persuasive explanation for any practical utility.
So, even with the vastness of the internet’s information-gathering clout at my fingertips, I can draw no other conclusion than that the car’s parking lamps are nothing more than the automotive evolutionary equivalent of a vestigial tail or an appendix. It is my view that they serve no function other than to supply the makers of light bulbs with a nice reliable income stream.
Honk if you agree.
honk honk honk
I’m not qualified to honk.
The King
I think you could give an intellectual honk.
oh dear, I want to honk, but I feel a moment of seriousness coming on…
Parking lamps are essential in European cities in narrow streets. You turn them on after you park – so that when you are in The Castle visitng royalty, other drivers don’t side-swipe you. They use auxilliary power so the motor doesn’t need to be running.
sorry
grovel
trying to think of a funny punchline
overcome with shame…
I have heard this argument advanced, and I am sure you are already bracing yourself to be shot down in flames.
1. People may indeed leave their parking lights on in small European alleyways, but why not merely have good reflectors on your car, in order that HEADLIGHTS would illuminate them on approach. Or is it that people are afraid of being sideswiped by a horse and cart?
2. I have driven down very narrow streets in Erskineville Sydney and Silverlake Los Angeles, VERY narrow streets, and have managed not to sideswipe cars. This is because I use my HEADLIGHTS which are bright enough to illuminate cars, bicycle riders and horse-drawn vehicles.
3. Why do we have parking lamps on Australian, Japanese and American built cars, even if they don’t sell them in Europe?
No, my dear Queen. I am not convinced by your proposition. Those drivers of cars in European prefectures are merely labouring under the same delusion as people who use their parking lamps while driving. I would be prepared to wager that the level of effectiveness against sideswiping is about the same as for freeway accident prevention, ie none.
I wish I could read your comment but I have locked myself in my car boot, waiting for the moment to pass (hope no-one hits me).
NPR has a great radio show called Car Talk. I try to tune in on Saturdays if I remember. Apparently, this question has been brought up before.
http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/1995/July/08.html
Violet Towne advanced the ‘blown headlight’ theory and I agree that it might serve as a backup ‘wideness’ indicator in that event. But it’s still kind of daft – if that was the case, then the ‘parking’ lights would not need an independent switch position. They should just come on as part of the whole lighting unit.
I have seen some larger four wheel drives here with a row of LEDs that defines the left and right front of the vehicle, and I think that is a MUCH more sensible idea. In general, Automotive lighting really needs a big rethink IMO.
UK road traffic law: “All vehicles MUST display parking lights when parked on a road or a lay-by on a road with a speed limit greater than 30 mph (48 km/h).”
Safety first. So if you’re not going to use our cars properly, we’ll stop making them.
Oh, wait.
Parked? What does that mean? You leave your lights on when not in the vehicle? I have driven right around the UK on two occasions and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone obeying this law.
(Well, that might be because there’s never anywhere to park on the side of the road I guess).
And anyway, just because something is the law doesn’t explain its reason for being.
With respect, were you looking for unlit cars parked out of town?
On one of my trips, I WAS an unlit car parking out of town – I travelled around England, Scotland and Wales, with my girlfriend, in an old Datsun. We parked everywhere, including laybys, and not once did I see people leaving their parking lights on. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed. I’m sure the main reason for this is that people are just worried about their batteries going flat.
I will concede that I have seen the odd car with parking lights left on in some small towns, but not often.
Safety point 2: You’ve already noted that you _have_ to turn on parking lights before your main beams. So you’re driving along an unlit country road when one of your headlights succumbs to old age. Without the parking light backup, you’re immediately turned into a motor cycle. If it’s your offside light, you’re a potential death trap to oncoming traffic.
Sadly, no humourous side.
Well, like I said, I agree that as a safety backup that’s a reasonable idea. But you really don’t need an extra switch for that – the parking lamps could just come on when you switch on the headlamps!
And then they should call them ‘safety backup lamps’ or something. Surely.
And being quite serious about it, if that was a major purpose – and I do think it’s a great idea – why not design something specifically for that? As I also mentioned above, I have seen recently some really nice ‘edge-defining’ LED arrays on cars that make a great deal of sense in this respect. And, being LEDs in an array, the possible problems with failure are minimal. The whole circuit needs to fail for it to become ineffective.
OK I get the ‘headlight’ fails theory, but as I understand it the switch has only three positions, off, parking lights, and headlights. So are you telling us that when one headlight fails, you switch over to two measly parking lights instead?
Why wouldn’t you just put your remaining headlight onto high-beam?
The King
The parking lights are always on if the headlights are on. This is because you have to switch ‘through’ the parking lamps to get to the headlights. As far as I can see, you could do away with that switch position and just have the parkers come on when you switched the headlights on.
To be fair, the problem with just switching to high beam is that you might not know that your headlamp has failed. Since the parking lights are on anyway you have an extra safety buffer. Of course, if you were in a really dark place you’d notice your headlight had failed, so presumably the parking-lamp-as-fallback theory only works in lit city areas. Where visibility is fine anyway…
Stupid psuedoscientific attempt at making money those parking lamps
Stupid psuedoscientific attempt at spelling there Malach.
In Sweden people use dipped headlights ALL THE TIME, even in blazing summer. I wonder if that does any good at all. It’s very weird though.
I’m not even sure what parking lights are, since I don’t have a car. (Yes, this is Europe – people don’t all have cars.)
Well you’ve got me Paddy. Whats a dipped headlighed? Australia has sheep dip, Canada deep shit, and choclate dipped icecream cones, but dipped headlights is new to me.
Good point. If it took me thirty seconds to even remember what parking lights were, we don’t need them.