Lights On?

I took my wife's car to the store this evening. It's a late model so the headlights come on whenever the car is running. I am just about to leave the parking lot when I realize that instrument lights are not on: I haven't turned the lights on yet. I turn them on and proceed on my way. Now I'm wondering how often this happens to people and they don't snap to it. Then I realize that the taillights on the car I am following are not illuminated. Well, that answers that question.

If you don't look at the dash, you would have no clue that your taillights are not on. I look at the dash, but I suspect it's because I am more of a nerd than most people, or maybe it's a habit. But I can see where it would be easy to get in the habit of ignoring the dashboard. I mean is there anything there you really need?

Now I am wondering if I could get by with just my parking lights. I mean, what's the difference between driving with just your parking lights on in a car that has it's headlights on all the time, and turning on your headlights? Not much. The headlights are brighter when turned on, dimmer in daylight mode, but for around town it's perfectly adequate. So now we have a solution to my request for dimmer headlights for around town driving, but we also have a problem with cars with no taillights. I am not sure this is such a good deal.