If it's illegal to drive with parking lights on, why have them?

Question

All cars have emergency flashers, so if you need to make your car visible when stopped you use those. "Parking Lights" are of no use whatsoever, and worse, they tempt people to drive with them on, which is illegal and unsafe. So what the heck good are they?

Answer 1

When you parallel park, some times you need to back in to the spot. On a 2 way street, your headlights would blind oncoming traffic as you turn in. When you have just your parking lights on, all your marker lights, including your license plate lights are on. You still can display a directional signal light to claim the parking spot and let people know your intentions. When you have your 4 way flashers on, you can not signal.

Answer 2

My 03 VW doesn't have parking lights.

They are being removed from new cars.

Answer 3

they are call marker lights they outline the auto I don't know where you got you info but the are not illegal and they are not useless and definitely not unsafe and the emergency flashers are just that for emergencies and when you are moving slow

Answer 4

I didn't know it was illegal to do that. There are alotta weird laws that make no sense at all.

Answer 5

They're called Parking lights for a reason.  Not driving lights.

Answer 6

They are of some use if you are parked on the street.  Displaying emergency flashers when there is nothing wrong is a bad idea.

Answer 7

In the US they are what is called "conspicuity" lamps.  They are required to be lit when the headlamps are lit to provide a signature visual cue that the car is coming toward you, and to define the corner of the car in case of a headlight burnout.

"Parking lights" are still needed anyway on most cars because they are sold in many different markets, some of which still allow driving with them on (They were once required to be used in place of headlights in residential areas in Germany.), and removing them would be an expensive running change in the manufacturing process.

There are ways manufacturers could link the parking light switch to the transmission or speedometer, and automatically switch to headlights when the vehicle is in "Drive" or has started to move (much like the automatic "headlights on" linked to a photocell on many cars).  That might help the idiot factor, for those too dim to know it's illegal.

Answer 8

Who says that driving with parking lights only is illegal? Not in my state. I live in Ma.