The Pointless Page

3. Parking at night (248 to 252)
248
You MUST NOT park on a road at night facing against the direction of the traffic flow unless in a recognised parking space. Laws CUR reg 101 & RVLR reg 24

249
All vehicles MUST display parking lights when parked on a road or a lay-by on a road with a speed limit greater than 30 mph (48 km/h).
Law RVLR reg 24

250
Cars, goods vehicles not exceeding 1525 kg unladen weight, invalid carriages, motorcycles and pedal cycles may be parked without lights on a road (or lay-by) with a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) or less if they are

at least 10 metres (32 feet) away from any junction, close to the kerb and facing in the direction of the traffic flow
in a recognised parking place or lay-by.
Other vehicles and trailers, and all vehicles with projecting loads,MUST NOT be left on a road at night without lights.
Laws RVLR reg 24 & CUR reg 82(7)

251
Parking in fog. It is especially dangerous to park on the road in fog. If it is unavoidable, leave your parking lights or sidelights on.

What about driving at night in well lit areas, is it really necessary to use dipped headlights thereby running down the battery of an EV and reducing its range when sidelights are sufficient to be seen?

Car lights are not just so you can see where you are going, they are so other drivers can see you. Piffling little glow worms are not enough.

Thank  you  for  the  legal  quotes   cariadon  between  us  our  memory ( x 2 ) got  it  right  !!

I wish more drivers thought about this, there are far too many idiots driving around with no or insufficient lights in poor visibility.

And as for the EU rules re daylight running lights......which idiot decided they should only be at the front?  It is equally important that you can see cars ahead of you.

Malcolm.....sidelights are NEVER sufficient to be seen.  And certainly not at night or in poor visibility.

Yes but if you put your side lights on, you still have the daylight running lights as well as the rear red lights. These are sufficient lights for other drivers to see you, surely? 

Not all cars have the daylight running lights, only newer cars.

 When you turn on your sidelights, the DRLs will go off as these sidelights are not intended to be used when driving.   So to have proper lighting front and rear, you need to turn on what I would call the driving lights.

On older cars the sidelights are often extremely feeble.

The problem is that in for instance fog like we had recently, the idiots think that they do not need to do anything to be seen.

On a 3 mile trip to our daughter's house  the other day OH counted 50 cars which had either only feeble sidelights or no lights at all on.

And in addition,there were quite a few that had only lights at the front due to the stupid DRL decision. You even see them driving like this in the dark!

So.....you will need to turn on decent lights at night.

If you have to think about driving on sidelights to save battery power then it might be pointless in you buying a EV. Another option might be to buy big light torches and use them instead.

I rather be seen than dead.

Have you actually checked that Malcolm? On my car the daylight running lights go off as soon as I switch to the normal lighting. 

David