Is VA requiring headlights on at all times?

[Anonymous]

I've already searched online re: VA headlight laws etc., to no avail, so I'm asking here:

Is there a reason why, very recently--as in the past few weeks--I'm noticing that many people are driving with headlights on at all times of day, in fair weather? .It's definitely a change; I don't think I'm just now noticing something that's been around a long time. My DH and adult DC have noticed this as well. I"m all for it, I'm just wondering why there seems to be a big increase in this.

Just driving this morning, most cars I passed had headlights on in our suburb at 10 a.m. on a clear day. It wasn't early morning, so it's not like they were driving in the dark and left them on.

Is there some new VA law or regulation about this that I missed? I know that years ago there was talk about changing law to require headlights on at all times. It's fine by me, I just can't seem to find out if that's what's happened. Thanks in advance....

[Anonymous]

I don’t know the answer about any law but my car has an auto lights function, which leaves daytime running lights on automatically. So you could be seeing just standard day lights.

[Anonymous]

Newer cars have daytime running lights automatically. In Virginia you are only required to have them on in the daytime if its raining.

[Anonymous]

Common sense says to keep some lights on at all times. It's a lot easier to see oncoming cars with lights on.

I do think a lot of newer cars do this automatically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know the answer about any law but my car has an auto lights function, which leaves daytime running lights on automatically. So you could be seeing just standard day lights.

Not seeing just running lights -- these are full headlights, the kind you'd have on for visibility at night.

Before the past month or so, this just didn't seem to be as common as it suddenly is, to me. Like I said, my DH and DC have noticed it as well. I can't quite believe that suddenly most folks in NOVA got newer cars with automatic light functions just this summer but maybe that's what's going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Common sense says to keep some lights on at all times. It's a lot easier to see oncoming cars with lights on.

I do think a lot of newer cars do this automatically.

Oh, I agree, it's good to have lights on whenever the car's on, just as a matter of basic safety. I"m all for it. Just wondering why, on 10-minute drives through our town (so not the highway etc.) I'm seeing probably 80 percent of cars at mid-morning or mid-afternoon with headlights (not just running lights) on when that wasn't the case previously. I knew that a few years ago there was a proposal to make daytime headlights a VA law, and just wondered if that had happened. .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Common sense says to keep some lights on at all times. It's a lot easier to see oncoming cars with lights on.

I do think a lot of newer cars do this automatically.

+1

Too many texting morons around here. Plus, thanks to the dems, half the drivers in the DMV are stoned too.

[Anonymous]

It’s been overcast. Maybe the sensors are keeping the lights one as a result.

[Anonymous]

My car always has daytime running lights and it is SUPER senstivie to overcast conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know the answer about any law but my car has an auto lights function, which leaves daytime running lights on automatically. So you could be seeing just standard day lights.

Not seeing just running lights -- these are full headlights, the kind you'd have on for visibility at night.

Before the past month or so, this just didn't seem to be as common as it suddenly is, to me. Like I said, my DH and DC have noticed it as well. I can't quite believe that suddenly most folks in NOVA got newer cars with automatic light functions just this summer but maybe that's what's going on.

Mine are the same brightness day or night.

[Anonymous]

§ 46.2-1030. When lights to be lighted; number of lights to be lighted at any time; use of warning lights. (2023 updated section)
A. Every vehicle in operation on a highway in the Commonwealth shall display lighted headlights and illuminating devices as required by this article (i) from sunset to sunrise; (ii) during any other time when, because of rain, smoke, fog, snow, sleet, insufficient light, or other unfavorable atmospheric conditions, visibility is reduced to a degree whereby persons or vehicles on the highway are not clearly discernible at a distance of 500 feet; and (iii) whenever windshield wipers are in use as a result of fog, rain, sleet, or snow. The provisions of this subsection, however, shall not apply to instances when windshield wipers are used intermittently in misting rain, sleet, or snow.

B. Not more than four lights used to provide general illumination ahead of the vehicle, including at least two headlights and any other combination of fog lights or other auxiliary lights approved by the Superintendent, shall be lighted at any time. However, motorcycles may be equipped with and use not more than five approved lights in order to provide general illumination ahead of the motorcycle. These limitations shall not preclude the display of warning lights authorized in §§ 46.2-1020 through 46.2-1027, or other lights as may be authorized by the Superintendent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Common sense says to keep some lights on at all times. It's a lot easier to see oncoming cars with lights on.

I do think a lot of newer cars do this automatically.

+1

Too many texting morons around here. Plus, thanks to the dems, half the drivers in the DMV are stoned too.

Yeah, real excited about my rates going up once insurance actuaries recalculate their tables to account for all the new stoners on the road. An entire generation’s worth of work by MADD and other groups to turn drunk driving from a casual joke into a social stigma, all undone by elected democrat idiots in one legislative session.