Parking lights are not meant for driving

A long-standing peeve of mine is people who drive with their parking lights on in lieu of their headlights.

Sometimes you'll see this phenomenon around dusk or dawn. I imagine that people are simply confused as to whether or not they should have their headlights on, and so they pick the choice in between full headlights and no headlights - parking lights.

The logic however is faulty, as it ignores the function of parking lights, as implied by the term "parking lights." Parking lights should be used only when the car is parked. They can be helpful when you are parked in your car, and want to tell people that your car is there, and that you do desire not to be hit.

They are not lights that illuminate the road, or help the driver of the car when driving. My rule of thumb is... if you have to ask yourself if you should have your headlights on, then you should turn them on.

Driving around with your parking lights on is a sure sign that you're an idiot... perhaps more of an idiot than if you were driving around in the dark without any lights on.