Side lights while towing

[CustardAvenger]

My 245 was built in Belgium and the unreliability and rust came gratis. Three Volvos but never again, one SAAB wish they were still made.

My Volvo V50 was built at Ghent, (and so was my XC60, C30 & V40 they were fine) it was somewhat of a Friday afternoon car. It had some electrical gremlins, but ultimately it's Peugeot derived 2.0D engine let go and I stopped financing it, but otherwise a solid car.

This car was pre-UK DRL mandate but it's light settings were On/Less on/On. The position switch in 'Off' meant dipped beam was ON, "Sidelights": just turned off dipped beam, 'Dipped Beam', gave you the same as 'Off', but you could toggle full beam on.

Needless to say I went through more H7 bulbs with that car than all the other cars I've ever owned put together. Luckily Volvo made the bulb swap so easy I could do it in less than 5mins. [The fact the headlights were abysmal is another matter]

 

[Raywood]

Before we had cars with lights coming on whenever you started the engine I never used any when towing in daylight. Most caravans are white and clearly show up against the car when towing so I never assumed anyone would miss mine.
I always drive with the lights on auto as this means I do not have to worry about missing them when I should be switching them on. They have never flashed when I am driving so the idea this might happen and cause others confusion is a non starter to me. I do accept though that on going under a few wider bridges they have come on, but this is always more than a quick flash. This happens most on a bridge near us, but you are going under six lanes of motorway and two hard shoulders.

 

[otherclive]

Before we had cars with lights coming on whenever you started the engine I never used any when towing in daylight. Most caravans are white and clearly show up against the car when towing so I never assumed anyone would miss mine.
I always drive with the lights on auto as this means I do not have to worry about missing them when I should be switching them on. They have never flashed when I am driving so the idea this might happen and cause others confusion is a non starter to me. I do accept though that on going under a few wider bridges they have come on, but this is always more than a quick flash. This happens most on a bridge near us, but you are going under six lanes of motorway and two hard shoulders.

I didn’t say that I was concerned that the headlights would flash. It was their coming on in poor conditions that another road user might mistake for a “come on” flash because they were so keyed up to make a manoeuvre or action. Small probability I admit.

 

[bertieboy1]

Never have put sidelights on when towing, although aren't sidelights frowned upon, rather no lights or headlights. But of course the use of DRL give some attention to on coming traffic, but then it is no different solo or towing. Like you though I have used the high reflectivity stickers on mirrors, and around the caravan. Only small ones though about 5-10p size but they do reflect at night really well.

DRL= another unknown abreviation,what does it mean?

 

[Dustydog]

Daytime running lamp

 

[Buckman]

Daytime Running Lights.