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This is literally the reason for high-beams. If the road is not illuminated enough you turn those on and drive as fast as you are comfortable being able to full

This is literally the reason for high-beams. If the road is not illuminated enough you turn those on and drive as fast as you are comfortable being able to fully stop if a deer jumps out of left field (or in this case, a pedestrian is walking across the road).

pdonis 9y ago
> This is literally the reason for high-beams. I agree. From the video it doesn't look like they were on in this incident.
- user5994461 9y ago
  Is it allowed in the US to have high beams on when there are other cars on the road?
  - pdonis 9y ago
    > Is it allowed in the US to have high beams on when there are other cars on the road? You're supposed to shut them off if it would impair the vision of oncoming traffic. But there are plenty of situations where that won't be the case.
    - robryan 9y ago
      A self driving car should be far better than a human at turning them on and off. In Australia it is relatively common in semi rural areas with similarly sparse street lights that you would turn high beams on and off depending on oncoming traffic.
hcknwscommenter 9y ago
And I have literally never had to use high beams on a road with street lights. In my opinion, the camera footage vastly under-indicates the amount of visibility available to the human eye between the lighted areas.
- pdonis 9y ago
  > I have literally never had to use high beams on a road with street lights. I have, plenty of times. Not all road streetlights are optimally placed. > the camera footage vastly under-indicates the amount of visibility available to the human eye I agree with this; it's pretty much always going to be true for a visible light video camera under nighttime conditions. But I don't think that means a human driver, without high beams, would necessarily have been able to see the pedestrian. (As I've commented elsewhere in this thread, I think I would have been using high beams on this street, streetlights notwithstanding; the gaps between the lights look too long for good visibility.)
extrapickles 9y ago
It's typically illegal[0] and otherwise a bad idea to operate high beams when there is other traffic around as you can blind other drivers. [0]: Page 46 of https://www.azdot.gov/docs/default-source/mvd-forms-pubs/99-0117.pdf https://www.azdot.gov/docs/default-source/mvd-forms-pubs/99-... Other states have similar laws, such as California: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=24409.&lawCode=VEH http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection...

pdonis 9y ago

> This is literally the reason for high-beams. I agree. From the video it doesn't look like they were on in this incident.

user5994461 9y ago
Is it allowed in the US to have high beams on when there are other cars on the road?
- pdonis 9y ago
  > Is it allowed in the US to have high beams on when there are other cars on the road? You're supposed to shut them off if it would impair the vision of oncoming traffic. But there are plenty of situations where that won't be the case.
  - robryan 9y ago
    A self driving car should be far better than a human at turning them on and off. In Australia it is relatively common in semi rural areas with similarly sparse street lights that you would turn high beams on and off depending on oncoming traffic.

hcknwscommenter 9y ago

And I have literally never had to use high beams on a road with street lights. In my opinion, the camera footage vastly under-indicates the amount of visibility available to the human eye between the lighted areas.

pdonis 9y ago
> I have literally never had to use high beams on a road with street lights. I have, plenty of times. Not all road streetlights are optimally placed. > the camera footage vastly under-indicates the amount of visibility available to the human eye I agree with this; it's pretty much always going to be true for a visible light video camera under nighttime conditions. But I don't think that means a human driver, without high beams, would necessarily have been able to see the pedestrian. (As I've commented elsewhere in this thread, I think I would have been using high beams on this street, streetlights notwithstanding; the gaps between the lights look too long for good visibility.)

extrapickles 9y ago

It's typically illegal[0] and otherwise a bad idea to operate high beams when there is other traffic around as you can blind other drivers. [0]: Page 46 of https://www.azdot.gov/docs/default-source/mvd-forms-pubs/99-0117.pdf https://www.azdot.gov/docs/default-source/mvd-forms-pubs/99-... Other states have similar laws, such as California: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=24409.&lawCode=VEH http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection...