[seanmcdirmid]

Lights should block out your night time vision no matter what, that is unavoidable. It is only a matter of how much goes.

When driving in rural areas, I sometimes flip off the lights to see much more in my periphery than I could with the lights on. This is dangerous of course, as the lights are meant more to be seen than to see.

[kbutler]

> the lights are meant more to be seen than to see.

That's definitely false for headlights, fog lights, and for the extra light bars (well, maybe those are often installed as stylistic choices rather than utility).

Tail lights, running lights, turn signals are all more to be seen than to help the driver see.

[seanmcdirmid]

Try it, it actually works, especially when there is a full moon.

[kbutler]

I don't dispute that you can see more outside the beam of the light if the light is off.

You can see a surprising amount even just by starlight - but I wouldn't want to drive that way, knowing how I've stumbled over things a flashlight would have shown me.

Headlights are definitely to help the driver see (cloudy moonless nights, reflective road signs, etc.). Only at twilight or in fog would they be mostly to help you be seen. When it's really dark, running lights would be sufficient for that.

[seanmcdirmid]

When you are traveling in the high desert, going without headlights is a great way to see and avoid deer. The deer aren’t going to be dazed by your headlights, and you can see them before they dash out in front of you on the road.

But this isn’t recommended because if another car came along they wouldn’t immediately be able to see you! Light makes you much more visible, and it also allows you to better see a narrow part of the road (more if wide beams are used), but it hides a lot. Of course, being in the high desert in the middle of the night off a freeway, there aren’t many other cars around anyways, if any.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

I don't know what rural areas you're driving in, but on the roads to my house, flipping off the headlights would result in total darkness unless the moon's out. You won't see more in your periphery, you just won't see squat.

[seanmcdirmid]

The moon is usually out. I’m referring to eastern Washington scrub land. I’ve also done it when driving through the four corners in the middle of the night, and then it was because of deer.

[kgwgk]

> The moon is usually out.

Is it? Do you think that the sun is usually out as well? And note that often the moon is out during the day...

[seanmcdirmid]

For some definition of usually I guess. Whenever I tried this there was enough moon to make it work.

[kgwgk]

Probably you noticed that sometimes it was too dark to try :-)