SHE SAYS...

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31124, 29 July 1966, Page 11

SHE SAYS...

i ... recent correspondence about lighting-up times brings to mind the unlit cycles crowding the roads these winter mornings and evenings. Of course, one often sees many unlit cars on the roads during the same periods. On week mornings, when I travel out of the city area on a busy thoroughfare, I often meet both unlit cars and cycles looming suddenly out of the gloom.

The early winter evenings bring their own visibility problems, but yet another is caused by fog and mist. Irrespective of the time of day, a vehicle should have its lights on if conditions make it necessary, and this obviously applies in some of our heavy winter fogs. Drivers seem to forget that, in these circumstances, the headlights are required not so much to light the way as to make the vehicle visible to other drivers. Car colours affect the

situation, too, and those which are painted very light colours are most difficult to see in fog. Darker cars, particularly those with dulled chrome, are hardest to see in the evenings, especially on the open road where they seem to merge deceptively with such backgrounds as plantations or dark hills. Yet often these seem to be the very vehicles which are unlit. Tail-lights are also important, in both darkness and fog. In bad visibility a stationary car with no taillights, or tail-lights thoroughly plastered with mud, can be quite a hazard. Sometimes I have heard women say that they use their lights as little as possible to avoid running down the battery; but unless the electrical system of the car is faulty, using the lights with the engine running should certainly not do this.