High Beams

I was driving home from a restaurant with my high beams on because there are no street lights at all where I live so we can see the stars in our area at night because we are far enough away from a major city to actually do that next to the ocean. So, often you can see the whole Milky Way Galaxy on a clear night when there is no high or low fog or rain or rain clouds around.

And I began to think back about how the American Cars and trucks from the 1920s and 1930s and 1940s that were still on the road (or on a farm) that still ran then in the 1950s operated. Often there was no heater on board and often there no long might be even a rubber matt on the floorboards so they literally were in some cases floorboards. Often in old trucks there would be a 2 or 3 inch foot button somewhere next to the gas pedal and often then the hinge on the gas pedal was on the floor with the top moving instead of a rod coming down from above that the pedal is suspended on like now. I also remember the early 1950s VW bugs with no gas gauge and instead a little metal switch on the floor that could be moved over like a gas cock on a motorcycle from regualar gas to reserve when you  ran out of gas. So, on an early VW Bug you would be driving along and the engine would sputter and you had to know to push the lever to reserve gas and then drive (usually within 30 to 40 miles) to the nearest gas station or you were out of luck.

Then also with Starter buttons on the floor on old trucks often you had a key on the dashboard but no starter connected to the key. It only lined up the electrical but the floor button (usually 2 or 3 inches high) actually started the motor. Also, if your car or truck had high beams and it was made in the U.S. the high beam button (until the 1960s or 1970s on most American Cars) was on the floor either to the left of the clutch pedal or brake pedal if it was an automatic. But, since people tended to customize there cars about 100% more than they tend to now, often when people would put in non-stock carpets (usually like one might put in their living room) or indoor outdoor carpets, people often got into trouble because sometimes the carpets interfered with turning their high beams off. Simultaneously, in Europe smaller cars like Fiats, Renaults, Triumphs etc. as well as Japanese cars mostly had their hgih beams as a button like device on the turn indicator lever. Because of head on colisions with the Floor button when carpets or feet got in the way eventually most or all American Manufacturers moved to the turn indicator and eventually they all realized pushing the turn indicator lever forwards for high beams and backward to take if off high beams was the safest way to do this because of custom carpeting and the positions (different positions) people often had their feet in. However, you left hand is always ready to put on your high beams or to take them off so this has worked out the best so literally every car that I know of now uses this method.

The same is true to some degree now with cruise control. Often in the past cruise control was separate from the steering wheel but now, more and more companies are putting cruise control directly on the steering wheel which is also likely safer for the driver, his or her passengers and anyone else on the road with them.

Headlights when I was growing up were very dim and it was hard to see with them. As they have evolved and become brighter and often hurt your eyes when they are coming at you now through halogens and other non-Sun types of spectrums this is also more difficult for drivers to negotiate too. In some ways I liked the dimmer lights on cars especially in cities. Because to me nothing is as annoying as some of the eye hurting headlights coming at me whether they are on low beam or high beam. So, as lights get brighter this is becoming more of a problem for all drivers as the years go by. But, the thing to know as a driver so you don't get blinded temporarily is to look to the right as bright or painful headlights come towards you towards the side of the road so when they pass you aren't suddenly not able to see forwards because of their brightness effect on your eyes. This usually allows your eyes to survive the bright lights in low beam. When someone forgets to lower their beams just put your left hand (or right hand over the lights in front of your eyes so you don't lose your vision as they pass by. In this way likely you won't crash into them or a tree or other car from being blinded by their brights.