Fog Lights (rant)

[bi0boy]

Fog Lights (a rant)

Why is it that so many people don't seem to be able to use fog lights appropriately?

Having front fog lights on in addition to headlights do not help you be seen! They may help you see in very dense fog where there are no streetlights. However they may also dazzle other people and may give someone the impression that you are two cars instead of one.

The law says you should not use front fog lights when:

a) Used so as to cause undue dazzle or discomfort to other persons using
the road.

b) Used so as to be lit at any time other than in conditions of
seriously reduced visibility (<100 meters according to highway code)


Rear fog lights help you be seen, but they are only useful when visibility of your normal rear lights is less than the stopping distance of the car traveling behind. However they may be mistaken for brake lights, might make your real brake lights less easy to see, and can dazzle those traveling behind. They are of little use in urban settings or when you can see a car traveling behind you at the same speed.

The law says that rear fog lights should not be used when:

a) Used so as to cause undue dazzle or discomfort to the driver of a
following vehicle.

b) Used so as to be lit at any time other than in conditions of
seriously reduced visibility. (<100 meters according to highway code)


So if you can see a cars headlights 100 meters away you should not have your fog lights on.

 

[Herbsman.]

i didnt know any of that, so i reckon 95% of UK drivers dont know any of that either

face it, you hardly have to do fuck all to pass a driving test. i never got asked any questions about fog lights. most people arent gonna bother learning stiff like that...

 

[cybertect]

Yep.

e2a: @ OP, not Herbsman. Though he could be right too.

 

[nonamenopackdrill]

I couldn't see cars 100m away today - but I still didn't put them on because I can't see when others do.

 

[chio]

I was following an airport taxi with its foglights on all the way back the other day - so annoying!

 

[geminisnake]

What annoys me is when people insist on leaving their foglights on despite it not having been foggy for the last day/two dyas/ enter appropriate time here

And if people can't be arsed to learn basic law and manners should they be driving??

 

[alstan]

Usually they`re the same gits that dont use their indicators.

 

[Herbsman.]

Usually they`re the same gits that dont use their indicators.

that pisses me off so badly that words can't describe it. it causes me to froth at the mouth.

 

[Mikey77]

Rear fog lights help you be seen, but they are only useful when visibility of your normal rear lights is less than the stopping distance of the car traveling behind. However they may be mistaken for brake lights, might make your real brake lights less easy to see, and can dazzle those traveling behind. They are of little use in urban settings or when you can see a car traveling behind you at the same speed.

I agree they are litte use in London, but the Europeans have the right idea with a single rear fog light so that they are not mistaken for brake lights. The MOT in the UK only requires one rear fog light.

 

[chio]

What annoys me is when people insist on leaving their foglights on despite it not having been foggy for the last day/two dyas/ enter appropriate time here

And if people can't be arsed to learn basic law and manners should they be driving??

It wasn't even foggy in Manchester the day I ended up getting dazzled for miles by the bloody taxi, but of course the radio (probably that god-awful rolling panic station Radio 5) was blaring out rubbish about fog travel chaos down south so the idiot thought "I know! I'll put my fog lights on! It'll be safe..."

 

[xes]

that pisses me off so badly that words can't describe it. it causes me to froth at the mouth.

yeah,definatly a worse offence than fog light abuse. They just like the element of supprise.

 

[longdog]

Fog lights should go on in October and of again in May.

Any fool knows that

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

i'd like to see it as a form of secondardy test if you cannot judge when they should or should nto be on then you are banned from driving for life with risk of foot amputation if you dare drive once banned. thsi way we save the enviroment and many many many morons being on the roads are removed once and for all also releaving congestion and accidents etc.

 

[Sweetpea]

Look to Peter Purves for guidance...

Beware of Rear Dazzle

 

[tommers]

blimey. some of you need to have some soothing herbal tea or something.

 

[Errol's son]

I think many drivers don't care whether fog lights help or hinder them or others. They just think their BMW or Vauxhall Nova looks a bit cooler with all the lights on and that is why they drive with their fog lights on.

 

[gentlegreen]

Look to Peter Purves for guidance...

Beware of Rear Dazzle

Oops, maybe I need to reinstate my idea for a "dipped" rear light for my pushbike

(I used a 12 volt 21 watt fog light for years and reckon my 59 red LEDs are as bright )

 

[1927]

i didnt know any of that, so i reckon 95% of UK drivers dont know any of that either

face it, you hardly have to do fuck all to pass a driving test. i never got asked any questions about fog lights. most people arent gonna bother learning stiff like that...

Dont judge others by your own ignorance. Fact is its in the Highway Code and if you learn to drive you should have learnt it, simple as. Its hardly rocket science is it?

What really pisses me off are people who insist on putting fog lights on as soon as it gets dark, or as soon as they see a spot of rain on the windscreen!

 

[i_hate_beckham]

I've alweays been careful with my fog lights after dad got pulled over and bollocked for having them on when it wasnt foggy.

 

[f for fake]

sorry when its foggy and the visablibilty goes to a few hundred yards, then i am going to put it on. Driving on the motorway with the other car just about visable in the fog, then with the car in front fog light on it helps me see it, it can also help me drive safer by being able to see ahead,

yer i drive to the road conditions but any other info to help me drive safer i am going to use and hope other people use.

so then do you indicate at night when you cant see anyone ???

 

[i_hate_beckham]

sorry when its foggy and the visablibilty goes to a few hundred yards, then i am going to put it on. Driving on the motorway with the other car just about visable in the fog, then with the car in front fog light on it helps me see it, it can also help me drive safer by being able to see ahead,

I dont think anyone is saying you shouldn't put them on in that situation.

 

[Space Girl]

I do a lot of motorway drving and in fog spend most of my time turning my fog lights on and off, if a car is a distance away behind me then the lights are on but as soon as they get closer the lights go off, nothing worst than driving close to a car with their bloody lights on, do they think I can't see them?

but the worst I think is when it's raining and people put their fog lights on, that's when it becomes dangerous to me

 

[gentlegreen]

if a car is a distance away behind me then the lights are on but as soon as they get closer the lights go off, nothing worst than driving close to a car with their bloody lights on, do they think I can't see them?

Fog, safe distance ?

Never mind fog lights, when people get up close and personal I use the brake light a lot and slow down to an appropriate speed for the distance the lemmings have chosen.

 

[f for fake]

Fog, safe distance ?

Never mind fog lights, when people get up close and personal I use the brake light a lot and slow down to an appropriate speed for the distance the lemmings have chosen.

yer i fucking hate it when the car behind me is soo close i can see the spots on his face in my mirror. Worst is on the motorway is when, even in the middle lane, i keep my distance from the car infront and a fucker moves into it. okay i admit at times i have done the whole tailgating thing myslef at times, on the long run you turn in to a zombie mind.
But nowerdays i am trying to stop that, its the directors in there ive a small cock cars and sales men who drive up your arse pisses me off.

 

[Wilson]

Oops, maybe I need to reinstate my idea for a "dipped" rear light for my pushbike

(I used a 12 volt 21 watt fog light for years and reckon my 59 red LEDs are as bright )

theres only 48 led's there

 

[gentlegreen]

theres only 48 led's there

If I ever went into production I would do a better job

I just checked and that one's now OK but another one's out

 

[sojourner]

So, err, these fog lights then...where would a person find them, if they didn't know where they were at all? Are they the ones that are halfway to full beam then? Just asking cos my friend wants to know

 

[gentlegreen]

So, err, these fog lights then...where would a person find them, if they didn't know where they were at all? Are they the ones that are halfway to full beam then? Just asking cos my friend wants to know

The rear ones add two 21 watt lamps (same wattage as brake lights) to the normal two 5 watt tail lights.

Come to think of it, I don't know what the front ones on my old Peugeot are ....

 

[sojourner]

The rear ones add two 21 watt lamps (same wattage as brake lights) to the normal two 5 watt tail lights.

Come to think of it, I don't know what the front ones on my old Peugeot are ....

Yes but my friend doesn't know where they are located by the steering wheel - on the knobs and stick bits, that you have to manipulate in order to get said fog lights to work, you see


She's going to have to RTFM, isn't she?

 

[gentlegreen]

In my old Peugeot there are three switches above the heater controls in the central console - one for hazard flashers, one for fog lights and the other for demister.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?s...en-GB&q=fog light switch&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi