Argh... fog lights!=rain/spray lights.

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arimus

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Location
Caerphilly
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ML270 CDI Auto (2002)
When will people learn what fog lights actually are for? One more idiot passes me @ 90 in this rain on the M4 with their fog lights on and I'll call an airstrike on them.
 
When will people learn what fog lights actually are for? One more idiot passes me @ 90 in this rain on the M4 with their fog lights on and I'll call an airstrike on them.

<quote=Highway Code>
226

You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves</quote>

the highway code says they are for use when visibility is below 100 metres. was visibility low? if so, then the use of fogs was appropriate. if not then fair point.

dave
 
Use of fog-lights should also have a large modicum of common sense!

Ah poo, what the hell am I saying?!!

Common sense..... on UK roads....... don't be so bl00dy daft!

lol
 
<quote=Highway Code>
226

You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves</quote>

the highway code says they are for use when visibility is below 100 metres. was visibility low? if so, then the use of fogs was appropriate. if not then fair point.

dave

id assume not as they were still steaming past at 90
 
the highway code says they are for use when visibility is below 100 metres.
In reality visibility to ordinary tail lights (rather than unlit objects) is rarely below 100m (and when it is you are going that much slower anyway). Certainly on my section of the M4 this morning there was some mist, however I could always see ordinary tail lights until the next bend/horizon and general traffic speed was unaffected - still a dozen or so cars with their fogs on though.

Simple rule really - if I can see the ordinary tail lights of the car in front (or next few cars depending on road/speed) fog light aren't needed (unelss you are tail-end charlie - but then turn them off when someone joins behind you.) Personally in a queue in fog the thing I want to be able to see is brake lights coming on - much less noticeable when there's a sea of fog lights to deal with.
 
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Simple rule really - if I can see the ordinary tail lights of the car in front (or next few cars depending on road/speed) fog light aren't needed (unelss you are tail-end charlie - but then turn them off when someone joins behind you.) Personally in a queue in fog the thing I want to be able to see is brake lights coming on - much less noticeable when there's a sea of fog lights to deal with.

Agree totally - you must have read my rule book!!!
 
Simple rule really - if I can see the ordinary tail lights of the car in front (or next few cars depending on road/speed) fog light aren't needed (unelss you are tail-end charlie - but then turn them off when someone joins behind you.) Personally in a queue in fog the thing I want to be able to see is brake lights coming on - much less noticeable when there's a sea of fog lights to deal with.

My rule too.

Not clear whether the OP was about front or rear fogs though. There are a lot of morons who drive around with the front fogs on permanently. And I mean permanently ... there's one guy I see at the station every night in a big 4x4, sitting parked with the front fogs on waiting for his wife - I have never seen that car without the foglights on.
 
Yep; and the name of the lights does kind of give away their purpose...

(We have side lights, driving lights, main beam, fog lights, brake lights and according to a vicious rumour indicators (but I rarely see cars around here fitted with them) - the name of each does kind of give a clue to what they're for)
 
My rule too.

Not clear whether the OP was about front or rear fogs though. There are a lot of morons who drive around with the front fogs on permanently. And I mean permanently ... there's one guy I see at the station every night in a big 4x4, sitting parked with the front fogs on waiting for his wife - I have never seen that car without the foglights on.

Both actually but its the rear fog lights that bug me in spray - I'd rather see brake lights than a sea of bright red fogs.
 
Not clear whether the OP was about front or rear fogs though. There are a lot of morons who drive around with the front fogs on permanently. And I mean permanently ... there's one guy I see at the station every night in a big 4x4, sitting parked with the front fogs on waiting for his wife - I have never seen that car without the foglights on.

I have a word, no, several words for people like that................












.......but am way too polite to repeat them on here! :D
 
Question - would it be a valid (valid as in no fault found) argument if you accidentily rear-ended someone to say "I could not see their brake lights, as I was being dazzeled by their fog lights in clear conditions at night/dusk" ?

And no, I'm not going to try it.......
 
I would be very very suprised if you managed that trick.

A friend of mine went around a bend straight into an unlit trailer a farmer had left in the road - guess who the insurance company blamed :(
 
Question - would it be a valid (valid as in no fault found) argument if you accidentily rear-ended someone to say "I could not see their brake lights, as I was being dazzeled by their fog lights in clear conditions at night/dusk" ?

And no, I'm not going to try it.......

I doubt it, the fog lights should be a good indicator to stay back whether it really is foggy or not.
 
When will people learn what fog lights actually are for? One more idiot passes me @ 90 in this rain on the M4 with their fog lights on and I'll call an airstrike on them.

Eh ?

They are not "fog" lights, they are for use in difficult visibility situations (fog, or heavy rain for example) - it is better to be seen than not surely ?
 
I'd rather see brake lights - and when I can still a fair distance regardless of the spray there is no need for them as the visibility is not that seriously reduced.
 
i think the car manufacturers shoulder a little of the blame here. i think its a design fault that the fog lights are incorporated into the headlight control switch at all. the switches for front and back fogs should be separate from each other and from the main headlight control but nearby.

TBH i find the present "turn and pull" or "turn further for front and even further for rear" clumsy and counter intuitive. It should be simple to have a series of switches that means that you can have any combination of headlights, front and rear foglights and be able to switch pretty quickly between the options without looking into the car.

and why cant they have come up for an icon for front fogs and rear fogs that aren't so easy to mix up?
 
remove 'em from cars altogether frankly, job done. so much traffic these days, when was the last time you were back of queue in thick (and I mean really dense) fog?

I'm not convinced front 'fogs' do anything useful to aid driving, and rear fogs seem to be used so inappropriately and with complete disregard they are a total PITA
 
Agree. Or if we must have rear fog lights make it a single central low mounted light as on the old style Mazda 5's...
 
right, time to barge in.

Fog lights are actaully high visibilty lights. 100m or less visiblity will be in the region of 3 street lamps. if you can't see that far, the car behind you can't see you either. hence the higher visibility light. generally, vis only drops to that in Fog.

So education is needed.

However, I do fully disagree with the idea of the siwtch being seperate. Count how many times you see a car with a misted up rear window and a fog light on. You will find that the switch next to the fog light, was the rear heated window.

Mercedes, and most other German cars, have only 1 rear light connected to this switch, so at least it gives you a fighting chance of seeing the brake lights. The 3rd high level light should help here too.

But I still go back to the fact that drivers need educating.

They used to run adverts that told you how to signal round a roundabout (remember them?) so why not bring them back? They tell you about speeding and its dangers, drink driving and its dangers? about time we got some reminders about lights and uses of them?


Thats me. I have no more.
 

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