I see the light!

[tomf]

I drive at night to work, some people forget to turn off their high beams, or wait until they are right on top of you. For every time I make this mistake I get hit ten times.
Now for my next whiny complaint; what is with the blue head lights, they hurt my eyes, I do not like them, I do not! Why do PU's and SUV's have to have so many bright lights, I know it is good to see a mile down the road but, how many is enough? In Oregon they do not check the angle of your head lights so there are a number of cars who have a headlamp pointing right into the oncoming lane.
Talking of lights, even at night I get stopped in the towns I drive through by lights with no one there. Are there invisible cars, or ghost cars we can not see? Or is the system set up poorly? Think of the time and gas, and CO2 we could save if the red lights worked well.
I know I am not the only one that finds this stuff annoying.

[Charlie MV]

I do not believe in headlights.

Not really, but I've spent years running boats at night and there is no place for headlights on boats. Pontoon manufacturers as well as runabouts started putting white lights on the front of their boats. Boating safety at night depends on the red, green, white placement on the boat. You can tell the bearing, heading and location of any boat by knowing where these lights belong.

A set of headlights on a boat wrecks the night vision of every boat skipper it passes. You also can't see the red and/or green lights on the bow to tell the boat is coming at you. It looks like you're approaching another boat from the rear. The only aft light that should ever be seen from a boat is the stern light. I'm really sure these things have killed people but boy the buying public thinks they're neato.

I don't like those blue lights on cars but we just bought our first new car in 15 years and I have no idea if it has them.

[tomf]

Charlie, in Oregon we have to get a boaters licence now. The course is crazy and has more stuff than it ever needs, then it tells you the same stuff over and over for each kind of boat. I even know how to read the markers for the inland water way where you live, what that has to do with using a boat in Oregon I do not know.

[Charlie MV]

Inland markers should be the same everywhere. Most lakes and rivers around here ,much like roads and streets are unmarked. My GPS has amazed me more than once by actually having the name of some back road I may be driving.

I'm ambivalent about licensing. I had my hundred ton masters when I was on the coast. The written test was based on the Coll regs and I'm sure not unlike the test you took. The biggest requirement was being able to document 400 hours involve in working on a boat in a given year. serious log keeping.

Coastal and inland require such different skill sets. On the coast you can be in pitch black. If you se a red light with a white light followed by another white light, you need to know that first red and white is one vessel moving across your bow left to right and the white light behind is a vessel in tow. If you aren't aware you can easily run right through the tow line.

Most lakes are pretty lit up. You can certainly use lights from radio towers or other objects as a heading guide to navigate. When some idiot passes you burning headlights your night vision is toasted for ten minutes or so. Licenses don't keep morons from swilling down booze so I just don't know.

Some of my favorite memories were sitting on the upper deck at night at our last marina. We were on the outermost dock and the marina bar was straight down the fairway behind us. Every boat coming or going had to pass us. It was no wake so rarely was their much danger. We say everything from sex to idiots just turning a hundred feet too soon and running aground. The lake police used to pull up and hold on to our boat waiting for wakers, drunks and lighting issues. We were 14 feet tall and 40 feet long and provided great cover.

Most of the time they would give boaters with broken lights these little red green or white glow lights to get home with. Drunks got tickets and the only time they went to jail was if there wasn't another driver aboard. Carting drunks to jail took the police off the lake for a few hours. Wakers got tickets. We clapped very loudly, usually a big crowd was clapping from our boat and those beside us.

[tomf]

Was he just giving you a hard time? You must have been a bit timid, so he was having a bit of fun with you. I would love to go on one of those cruses.

I know what you mean about lights on the water at night. On the Columbia river we have tugboats pulling large log rafts and people have tried to go between the tugboat and the raft at night with disastrous consequences.
As far as scoff laws go I feel the worst offenders are the jet skis, the way they buzz around boats we call them yellow jackets.
I have a little 20' Barefoot Sanger ski boat that I love. I got a new power head for it's outboard motor, I am replacing a 200HP outboard head with a 225hp rebuilt one. I am so looking forward to getting back on the water, there is just something about being on the water. My dad built a house on a lake in NH when I was young, and I grew up with boats, some of my best memories are from the lake. We have spent a good amount of time on the Columbia, it is a big river, a few miles across at some points. There are a number of islands on the river with nice sandy beaches we go to. In some places you can sit in the water looking at snow capped mountains. Heck; in the summer we have snow skied in the morning up on Hood and went to the river boating and swimming in the afternoon.

Back to red lights, how many MPG do you get at them?

[Dillbert]

there is nothing more unsettling at sea than a single white light . . . .

[imafan26]

The newer cars turn the lights on automatically, the driver has nothing to do with it. It even turns lights on in the daytime and automatically turns on the highlights.

What is the worst thing that I can think of is that trucks and cars that have been reconstructed and sit higher on the road have lights glaring right into your back window. There ought to be a law that requires headlights to be mounted a maximum distance from the ground.

[Dillbert]

giggle giggle gafaw . . .

>>requires headlights to be mounted a maximum distance from the ground.

how old you is?
remember back in the day headlights were round; low/high beam combined; burned out? stop at any gas station, one size / type fits all.

so then GM came up with the rectangular headlight. going for DOT approval they loudly pointed out all the advantages of a lower hood line, better driver visibility, etc etc etc.

so the rectangular form got approved, first thing GM did was double stack them.

[Charlie MV]

[quote="Dillbert"]there is nothing more unsettling at sea than a single white light . . . .[/quote]


Agreed. Especially if it's straight off the bow.

Marlengardener, all good skippers know the value of prayer when females take the helm. Some of us offer prayers of thanks, especially when we need to pee.

Tom, I won't start on jet skiers.

[tomf]

I know woman who are very good at boating, on is my wife can drive the boat better than most men, we go to a ski course and it takes a good driver to know how to do it. The boat has to stay inside of the center balls and not change speed, you need to do just the right turn around to go back into the course, and not everyone is good at that. When you have someone trying to make the balls they are doing over 60mph at the back of the boat and a bad driver can get them hurt. She puts it up on the trailer just right every time and knows how to handle the waves.

Now for trucks and cars with 4 sets of lights and a light bar and lights all over the place, blinded by the light!

[RamonaGS]

I hate those Blue halogen lights! And living in a rural area, so many people come driving in from the highways without switching off their high beams. So annoying...

[tomf]

I hate those Blue halogen lights! And living in a rural area, so many people come driving in from the highways without switching off their high beams. So annoying...

I live in a rural area as well, and go through the same thing. There are hills and corners where peopled on,t turn the of until they are right on top of you, if they do turn them off. Then there is the truck with a million lights.

[RamonaGS]

Oh yeah, the trucks with the stadium light set up! If you are so blind that you need that many lights to see...then don't drive at night! Unfortunately, I know it's a stupid ego thing and not visual impairment.