Should the position lights be turned on during the day?

[OLandon]

Position lights do not need to be turned on during the day. Position lights are mainly used to indicate the presence and approximate width of a vehicle, alerting oncoming and following vehicles to facilitate their judgment during encounters and overtaking. They are installed along the edges of the car's roof, with white lights at the front and red lights at the rear. Below are the main uses of position lights: 1. When temporarily parked by the roadside at night, position lights should be illuminated; 2. On well-lit roads, they can serve as driving lights without the need for headlights; 3. During rain, snow, fog, nighttime, or other conditions with poor visibility, position lights should be turned on to alert passing vehicles.

[VanArabella]

I remember specifically checking the traffic laws, and currently, most cities in China don’t mandate the use of daytime running lights. However, last time I encountered heavy rain on the highway, I turned on the parking lights, and other drivers did notice my car more easily. A traffic police friend mentioned that using parking lights in low visibility can reduce the risk of rear-end collisions. Some European countries enforce daytime running lights, and my friend’s Volvo came with automatic daytime running lights. If a car doesn’t have daytime running lights, turning on the parking lights during dusk is a safe practice, especially for darker-colored vehicles that might blend into shaded areas, making their outlines harder to see.

[CassandraLynn]

As a veteran driver with ten years of night shift trucking experience, my advice is that you don't need to turn on the position lights in clear weather. However, when driving on mountain roads at dawn or during dim evening light, keeping the position lights on does provide extra peace of mind. Once when driving a container truck through a shadowy underpass, a sedan suddenly changed lanes in front of me - if my position lights hadn't been on, the other driver might not have noticed this big rig. Older vehicles' electrical systems are prone to issues, so I check the position light bulbs every quarter and replace them if I notice the filaments turning black. I still remember failing an inspection once due to poor contact in the position lights, which cost me half a day's work.

[KyleFitz]

Last month, while on a road trip with my kids, we encountered a patch of dense fog with visibility less than a hundred meters. I immediately turned on the width lights and fog lights, and only breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the red lights of the car behind me light up in the rearview mirror. Nowadays, many new cars integrate the width lights into the daytime running lights—my domestic SUV automatically turns on white lights when ignited. A colleague's Tesla is even smarter, with light sensors that automatically switch the lights when detecting a tunnel. If you're driving an older model, it's best to manually turn on the lights before entering a tunnel and remember to turn them off after exiting, to avoid wasting electricity and shortening the bulb's lifespan.

[Briella]

Just went through the car manual, the parking lights are mainly used for temporary roadside parking at night. But last time when entering the underground garage, the administrator specifically reminded me to turn on the parking lights in advance. Some veteran drivers prefer to keep their lights on all day during cloudy or rainy weather. My Japanese car has been modified with LED daytime running light strips, which are three times brighter than the factory bulbs. The vehicle inspector said to pay attention to the power when modifying, as he has seen cases of circuits being burnt out by inferior LED beads. Now during the rainy season, I've developed the habit of turning on the automatic headlights as soon as I start the car, and the central control screen can display the lighting status in real time.

[Elmer]

As a car owner with five years of driving experience, my advice is to turn on the parking lights half an hour earlier than turning on the headlights at dusk for maximum safety. Especially when driving a gray car on tree-lined roads, I've noticed that the following distance from vehicles behind significantly increases after turning on the amber parking lights. When my colleague's Audi got rear-ended, the traffic police determined it was related to the other driver not turning on their lights in time. In our residential garage, about 30% of cars forget to turn on their lights every time, and once I almost collided with a black car that suddenly reversed. Now I always turn on my lights when entering underground parking—this habit might have saved me several times.