CAM Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Ranting here instead of BTRD because I want it publicly visible... I just ranted about this on Twitter, it is thick fog and for once it is a legitimate reason in the South East to use fog lights thanks to utterly dire visibility. Dipped headlights only fair enough, not everyone is sure if they should use them but they can still be seen, although fogs would be preferred. But then we get the idiots who have made the conscious decision to put their lights on, only the switch never got past sidelights which will do nothing in this weather. And then we get the suicidal utter who think lights are optional and drive round in thick fog with absolutely no lights whatsoever even though everyone else around them has fogs on. There really is no excuse, lights aren't there for you to see they are there for others to see you. I'd love to see every single one of the morons who think it is OK to whizz round morning rush hour in this pea soup get pulled over and have their licence dragged out of their hands and into a shredder because they are nothing short of a danger to other road users. I hope the Police are nice and busy this morning... 2
Dos_Box Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 All good points. However we now have to suffer two months of people driving around with fog lights on because they have either forgot they are on or can't figure out how to turn them off!
Andrew_C Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 AARGHHH!!!! Me too! Thick, patchy fog here; the number of w:censored: with no lights is unbelievable!
Roberto Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Got stuck behind some idiot in a merc this morning with no lights on. A nice silver merc, so blended in really well with the thick fog here. When I got in front of them I found out that it was worse than that: They had their front spotlights/foglights on so they could see where they were going, but no other lights on at all. It takes a stunning level of stupidity to do that.
sparkeh Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Can I add: a few wisps of fog does not mean you have to immediately hit the fog lights! 1
sippo Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 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 (see Rule 236). Law RVLR regs 25 & 27 This is from the highway code. A lot of drivers have not got a clue how to use their lights in this country. We have very poor driving standards on todays roads. I did not use my fog lights once this morning, as I was behind someone and someone was behind me. There is no need for fog lights in this situation.
jonnykewell1 Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Don't forget drivers who drive around with just fogs on and no main lights...when there is no fog.
SYNACK Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Feel free to correct but in heavy fog I though the best bet was dipped or no head lights and fog lights as they are lower and don't throwback to much light so you can actually see and be seen. Don't think I have ever had a car with fogs that could be on without at least dipped headlights, have seen some mental Japanese ones where the fogs are bigger and brighter than the headlights plus can go on without the headlights though which look silly - Mitsubishi Mirage or Subaru Impreza anyone.
Bompalompalomp Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Had a wonderful time walking two miles across roads full of people who've forgotten to turn their brains and/or lights on this morning.
localzuk Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Feel free to correct but in heavy fog I though the best bet was dipped or no head lights and fog lights as they are lower and don't throwback to much light so you can actually see and be seen. You've gotta have headlights on, dipped. Otherwise nobody will see you coming!
abillybob Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 (edited) I don't have fog lights except for the rear, not every car has them fitted to the front, I always keep my dipped beam on though in fog, it doesn't really bother me if I pull out because they don't have their lights on and they smash into the side of me it's their fault a bit of compo would do nicely around this time !!! Police never do all around here there have been a few times especially when a Taxi driver was drunk got out of his car blocking me in and ran at my car with a pole. They never even bothered coming out at this point I was only 17 and only passed 2 months before, when they called me back 4 days later I told them to forget it as they couldn't do anything about it now, I was very cross as my girlfriend was also in the car who was 16 at the time! Though they did stop me one night as the were susupicious of me driving to carefully and gave my car a whole check over even to the extent whether or not I had water in my washer bottle, ridiculous. Edited March 14, 2014 by ZeroHour
Andrew_C Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 (edited) Feel free to correct but in heavy fog I though the best bet was dipped or no head lights and fog lights as they are lower and don't throwback to much light so you can actually see and be seen. Don't think I have ever had a car with fogs that could be on without at least dipped headlights, have seen some mental Japanese ones where the fogs are bigger and brighter than the headlights plus can go on without the headlights though which look silly - Mitsubishi Mirage or Subaru Impreza anyone.In general, front fogs are only better than headlights when visibility is so seriously reduced that you are crawling along following the curbstones. For example, in thick fog at night. In this sort of scenario you do get so much flare from the fog you can see feck-all if you use headlights. My Mitsubishi will let you switch front fogs on whenever you want, but it turns sides & rear on for you if you do. @localzuk - No, not if you have front fogs on. See above for the really rare scenario. Edited March 13, 2014 by Andrew_C
abillybob Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Not many cars have front fogs that I've seen! This is true, mum doesn't, I don't, Girlfriend doesn't, I could go on... Normally they are an expensive added extra on cars nowadays!
Andrew_C Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Not many; but a significant minority do. The owners seldom know what they are for!
Griff Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 I have front fogs on my car use them all the time because they look good even when its not foggy...oh yeah sexy lights......... IM JOKING!!!!!!!!! anyway cycling in this morning was pretty interesting I wore a flashing helmet light and had my front and back lights on flashing away took it really easy as a few people didn't see me coming. I was surprised even in the centre of town the fog build up was still quite bad...
CAM Posted March 13, 2014 Author Posted March 13, 2014 Mine lets me switch front fogs on and off. But I should add there was far from "a few wisps of fog" today and I saw plenty of idiots driving at the front of a line of traffic with no lighting on whatsoever.
sparkeh Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 This is true, mum doesn't, I don't, Girlfriend doesn't, I could go on... Normally they are an expensive added extra on cars nowadays! Well, if we are just going on personal experience: my car does, my Dad's car does, the Father-in-Law's does... But yes, they are not that common (usually as optional extras or on higher end models) but I found them flippin' useful in thick fog. Again though you see idiots using them in all conditions, sometimes I think its a "Hey I got a top end model, look at the fog lights!" kind of deal.
Tesla Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 dipped headlights for me, although weirdly my car has front fog lights, but the stalk in my car only has rear! it would seem my car came originally came with no front fogs, and has had its bumper replaced at some point before i owned it. really irritates me!
abillybob Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 dipped headlights for me, although weirdly my car has front fog lights, but the stalk in my car only has rear! it would seem my car came originally came with no front fogs, and has had its bumper replaced at some point before i owned it. really irritates me! Wire them up and install a simple push to switch on switch in your car to turn them on, it's so easy trust me!
sonofsanta Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Not many; but a significant minority do. The owners seldom know what they are for! They're for making your car look like a rally car. Duh! Plenty of silver Audis with no lights on for me this morning, not a surprise. In fact the only surprise for me was that no-one tried to overtake in all the thick fog - usually the 40mph crawl winds someone up enough for them to try and dive past everyone when there's not even 50m of visibility.
Tesla Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 have a list of things as long as my arm to do to my car, for the amount of times it is actually foggy it probably sits near the bottom of said list!
crc-ict Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Wire them up and install a simple push to switch on switch in your car to turn them on, it's so easy trust me! You really need to wire fog lights through a relay - they pull quite a lot of power. Otherwise, you need a really meaty switch and have to run heavy cables right through into the car. And if the cables aren't heavy enough, they will get hot and be a potential fire risk. Much safer to wire through a relay in the engine compartment with short wires from the battery to fogs via relay and then use lighter cable and a smaller switch wired into the car to control the relay to switch the fogs.
Andrew_C Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 Wire them up and install a simple push to switch on switch in your car to turn them on, it's so easy trust me!It must have an indicator lamp either wired with it, or part of it. Edit - +1 for the relay! In fact the only surprise for me was that no-one tried to overtake in all the thick fog I was behind a tractor & trailer. 20mph in and out of banks of thick stuff... I would dearly liked to have got past, but couldn't trust that there wasn't a lightless moron coming out of the next bank!
scotyboy56 Posted March 13, 2014 Posted March 13, 2014 I have no idea how to even turn my fog lights on tbh :S
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