PDA

View Full Version : Dome Lights on at Night


belovedgandp
10-31-2009, 03:05 PM
Just because DH and I have always had an ongoing tiff about this silly issue and I'm PO'd at him for getting our kids involved last night....

Do you drive with the dome light on in your vehicle at night? Turn it on just to see something? Only in the rear seat? Not at all?

I feel like I cannot see as well if I'm driving and any light is turned on inside the car, so yes, I'll turn it on to hunt down toll money or something on a roadtrip, but immediately turn it off. I do not leave it on to read or let the kids have them on for their activities in the back (thank goodness for DVD players for night driving).

DH is always flipping it on to read two words at dusk or leave them on for the kids to see something.

So not the end of the world, but just curious to see if I'm overly neurotic on this one.
SnuggleBuggles
10-31-2009, 03:25 PM
It's terribly distracting for other drivers, ime. We only turn it on if we really need to and turn it back off fast.

Beth
egoldber
10-31-2009, 03:29 PM
I used to be hardcore about only turning it on for short periods of time, but I am becoming more lenient as Sarah reads in the car and sometimes even needs to do homework in the car.
scrooks
10-31-2009, 03:31 PM
I can just remember my Dad yelling at us as kids when we turned them on....and I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree because I now don't turn them on for the kids. I don't think it's safe for the driver.
Melanie
10-31-2009, 03:41 PM
It's terribly distracting for other drivers, ime. We only turn it on if we really need to and turn it back off fast.

Beth

That, and it's hard for me to see from inside as well. The kids are always asking and that is the same answers they get.
Indianamom2
10-31-2009, 03:48 PM
Well, while I agree with you (it's distracting) and I voted no, I wish mine would cooperate.

We have a possessed Ford Windstar. From almost the day we brought it home (definitely within a month of purchase) the dang interior lights have had a mind of their own. They will randomly start turning on and off at will...usually at night, while I'm driving alone. While absolutely infuriating, I can only imagine how it must look to other drivers.

On the upside, when it happened with my MIL in the van, she laughed so hard she almost cried, so sometimes it's kinda funny.

We've taken it in to be fixed multiple times, but the mechanics say they can't fix it unless it is actually happening right then. We've finally just turned them off so that they don't come on at all.

Christina
egoldber
10-31-2009, 03:51 PM
Interesting. I've had cars where they were distracting to the driver, but in my current car and in DH's car, they aren't IMO (as in they do not interfere with visibility or reflect in mirrors).

Why would other drivers find them distracting? I find DVD players more distracting personally.

My main concern is that I"ll forget they are on and the battery will run down.
trales
10-31-2009, 07:00 PM
My parents always told me it was illegal and I never thought to question it. Hmm. Learn something new everyday.
bubbaray
10-31-2009, 07:01 PM
I too thought it was illegal. Hmmmm. I find it VERY distracting.
wellyes
10-31-2009, 07:45 PM
It's not safe, I don't think. Very distracting.
KathyN115
10-31-2009, 08:43 PM
I too thought it was illegal. Hmmmm. I find it VERY distracting.

I thought it was illegal too! I just had this discussion with DD this week, and that is what I told her. But I find it hard to see if the light is on inside, and if someone else has their light on, I tend to look and see what they are doing.
vludmilla
10-31-2009, 09:33 PM
It's terribly distracting for other drivers, ime. We only turn it on if we really need to and turn it back off fast.

Beth

I agree with this. We turn it off very quickly and only turn it on for important things.
WatchingThemGrow
10-31-2009, 09:53 PM
We have a possessed Ford Windstar. From almost the day we brought it home (definitely within a month of purchase) the dang interior lights have had a mind of their own. They will randomly start turning on and off at will...usually at night, while I'm driving alone. While absolutely infuriating, I can only imagine how it must look to other drivers.


:hysterical: That must have given you a really creepy feeling those first few times!
Piglet
10-31-2009, 10:07 PM
Having just had a nearly dead battery thanks to DS2 playing with his lights and forgetting to turn them off, I vote NO! I turn off the master switch on our van so that no one gets lights and not even the doors will cause them to turn on. Too many dead batteries in my past. As a driver it is WAY too distracting!
HannaAddict
10-31-2009, 10:24 PM
It is illegal in our state. It does make it harder to see, a scientifict fact and is not something to keep on just because. I love the red light interiors of some cars, BMWs come to mind, the necessary lighting is like a fighter jet and easy on the eyes!
vonfirmath
10-31-2009, 11:27 PM
For things like this, we've got a rule -- the driver makes the rules. So if it bothers the driver, it stays off. If the driver doesn't mind, they can choose to let it go on.

But since the driver is the most important person not to distract in the car (or sometimes to distract enough to keep awake), the drivers gets to make the rules about lights, CDs, music choices, air conditioning, everything
Ceepa
10-31-2009, 11:31 PM
Big no-no in our cars.
MontrealMum
10-31-2009, 11:34 PM
I too thought it was illegal. Hmmmm. I find it VERY distracting.

:yeahthat: