Parking Lights - Why do people insist on driving on them?

csirl said:

Parking lights are the single white lights at the rear of vehicles that come on when people put the car in reverse i.e are doing a parking manouvre.

The small lights at the front are called side lights.

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Exactly.

Disagree, they are reversing lights, you are not necessarily parking when in reverse. Parking lights are put on when you are parked. Anyway whatever you call them, they arent enough in the wet.

username123 said:

Anyway whatever you call them, they arent enough in the wet.

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Totally! Once visibility is reduced the dipped headlights need to be used. its not about you seeing objects - its about others (pedestrians, cyclists and motorists) seeing you.

I'm confused - you're meant to leave your lights on when parked? Would this not drain the battery?

csirl said:

Parking lights are the single white lights at the rear of vehicles that come on when people put the car in reverse i.e are doing a parking manouvre.

The small lights at the front are called side lights.

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Ok so the OP is complaining about people who drive around in the dark with their reverse lights on? I don't think so . . . .

Deas said:

... you're meant to leave your lights on when parked? Would this not drain the battery?

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In the absence of street lights etc, it may be appropriate to leave your parking lights illuminated for safety reasons.

This will not usually drain your battery. On certain high-spec, high-tech cars ( ), if the indicator stalk fails to self-cancel with the car parked, the front and rear parking lights on that side of the car will remain illuminated (but not the indicator), even with the light-switch in the "Off" position. An irritating buzz / beep will alert you to this when you remove the key from the ignition.