Why do the Swiss drive with their lights on during the day???

Transportation, Travel and Trips
21
And to be fair, the OP WAS trying to find out about the rules.

22
It is just a fashion.

A few years ago there were signs everywhere saying "turn your lights off" especially after tunnels & at traffic lights.

Now the fashion is to turn yur lights on.

In my case it is pure laziness; I travel from one underground garage to another & cannot be bothered to turn them off between.

23
They're probably all transplanted Nordics or Canadians, as they MUST (by law) have lights on during the day in those places!

Also, at 3:45 it's still dark out.

Tom

P.S. In Italy, you must have your lights on at all times when on the highway, but not normal roads, and not here.

24
Pfft, I have a thought-activated system.

Plays havoc with the retractable aerial though, seeing as I think about sex every 30 seconds.

25
I don;t drive here but cycle daily. I have a dynamo system built into the front wheel and usually leave my (LED) lights on all the time.

Sometimes, although getting better now the sun gets higher in the sky, if it's bright and I'm wearing my sunglasses it can even be hard to see cars when they're right in the line of the sun. So I'm grateful that drivers here tend to put their lights on when the sun is bright and low in the sky.

26
You will have to practice tantric methods if you wish to enjoy the broadcast of a complete music track.

27
I was flashed like crazy one morning by an incoming car as I was coming "from the sun" directly and I guess the lady saw me at the last moment or something and was surprised. She then proceeded to flash be about 6-7 times, the final one being continuous full-beam in my face

ps: 99.9% of the time I use the low-beams, that morning I just forgot for some reason.

28
Actually not quite true...there is a very small increase in fuel consumption. Plus wear and tear on the bulb if it's not LED.

It is (or was as of a year or so ago) compulsory in Austria and a favourite method of the police there to extract money from unlit tourists.

29
I can't remember who it was but they were talking about driving in India and seeing a single headlight.

"A motorbike is coming"

"No. It could be a car with a broken headlight...............

..........on a lorry with a broken headlight

..........or 2 motorbikes with only one headlight on

..........or 2 motorbikes carrying a wardrobe"

30
My 2010 VW Polo is the opposite. The dash display dims as the outside light goes down and turning the lights on brighten the display, which can be adjusted for brightness too.

Additionally it has daylight running lights (DLR) when the headlights are not on. I have driven with headlights/DLRs on everywhere for the last 20 years. Even in the UK other drivers no longer flash you in daylight to tell you your lights are on.

I read that EU wide 50 lives a year could be saved by all traffic driving with headlights/DRLs. It's a pity the Swiss government copped out and only recommended that light should be used. Not making it law in in Scandinavia...

31
This is true (although verging towards negligible, imo), but I was more trying to draw a parallel between car lights and domestic lights. We are always being advised to turn off unwanted lights in the home to save power/resources/money, and it wouldn't surprise me if some people didn't think the same with car lights - from what I've seen (not just here) - people driving in the dark/fog with no- or side-lights only.

32
I have a Volvo. It was only recently that you could turn the lights off. The only times my lights are off are when the engine is off, or the garage has serviced the car. The latter caught me out a few times, as I didn't notice (the dashboard remains lit!) for a while - a nice policeman flagged me down to point out my error. No ticket though - this was in Basel, not Zürich.

33
I was informed only yesterday from a "supposed knowing source" that they were about to try and pass mandatory daylight running through again... all be it the guys were at a bar and solving the world at the time! LOL

34
Well it is now law to drive lit up all the time.

Are side lights OK? Or must low beam be used?

35
Many cars (mine included) have dedicated front daytime running lights that are independent of the headlights.

Ignition on = running lights on

36
DRL or low beam, NOT side lights.

Tom

37
I had these fitted on my old car.. replacing the fog lights with updated ones including DRL - comes on automatically - job done (although no idea if actually legal, there was no comment at last control)

38
I'm not sure if it's still the case, but there used to be an exception for classic cars (i.e. Veteran MFK).

Most run with the headlights on all the time anyway, even on a 1925 RR which has a genny which isn't powerful enough to run the lights and the ignition without draining the battery.

(an 8A genny. Barely worth the bother!)

39
Are you talking about daytime running lights or full on headlights?

The former ones are useful in most conditions, and "automatically" ON on most modern cars;

The latter are as you please - and some who don't have daytime ones use them instead.

p.s. The DRL are also called "position" lights in some places, which makes sense if you think about it as a visibility tool.

As mentioned earlier, in certain countries (and/or for certain seasons) it's the law.

Edit: whoops didn't trace the OP dates.

40
Careful when replying to seven year old threads ...

It is now the law in Switzerland (24/7/365), since January 2017 I believe.