So around here it could be described as "a little misty" with around 1/2 - 3/4 mile visibility. Why then at the first possible sign of other than blue skies do a proportion of motorists find the on switch for their incredibly bright rear fog lamps? Indeed they find the "On" function and only discover the off function on a hot summers day in July! Surely if you are paying attention to road conditions the use of such lights should be appropriate? or are these the same motorists who will be "caught out" by the forthcoming snows? just askin
They are for Chavs and Audi drivers. Would love to wander around ASDA car park with a ball peen hammer and smash them all
Do you mean the ones low down? So the feckin car has 4 blazing headlights to dazzle you???? Yes I'd like to can can round the car park taking those out
Good thread Pharty:smile:. Very hard to see brake lights when a big stupid fog light is melting the eyeballs !
I have also wondered this as well, they are in name "Fog Lights" (or similar) but again they come on when it is raining so completely dazzle the drivers behind, this does my head in. Just don't get me started on roundabouts! high blood pressure and swearing every time i go near one, i thought people had to do a test to drive a car, but i do sometimes wonder
Dunno about you, but I find rear fog lights incredibly useful in heavy rain on a motorway. Cars that have them on a are visible, cars which don't aren't. When I can't see the cars in front, I turn mine on. More to the point, have you ever wondered why lorries - the biggest and slowest moving vehicles - rarely seem to have working fog lights. They are typically the vehicles you are likely to run into the back of in poor visibility, too. You might also wonder why they don't have huge mud flaps, or why designers don't address the issue of the massive and blinding amounts of spray they throw up. It can't be that difficult to sort out, it's not as if aesthetics have to be top of the designers' list.
All trucks made after the mid/late Nineties are fitted with spray suppression,usiully mudflaps with a textured inner surface extending to within a couple of inches of the floor.One of mine has ultra-expensive cats-whisker type extensions which almost touch the floor.I appreciate you may not be that old,but the spray off trucks is nowhere near as bad as it used to be,honestly. As far as foglights go,must truckies won't use them unless there is seriously reduced visibility in fog,as this is what the lights are designed for,and experience shows that they can,"override",brake lights. The unnecessary use of foglights in good visibility was a major factor in a multi-vehicle fatal crash on the M4 a few years back,(10 killed)....(I learned that today on a 3 point avoiding speed awareness course) Sorry to hijack the thread
When I can't see the vehicle in front, due to bad weather, I drive nearer to the back of them. That way I have good visibility of said vehicle. When I am King, I would have cars fitted with a system that turns fog-lights off after the ign is turned of. That way you would have to turn the lights back on when you use the car again.
Ice of the mist sensible eu laws (which we do not subscribe to) is that you can only have one rear fog light, between the centre line and off side of the vehicle, and no higher than the tail lights. This does make it easy to spot the difference between fog and brake lights. The same lighting laws also demand a 3rd brake light higher than the tail lights. Front fog lights should be made to auto cancel, it seems most European cars do, but most Japanese cars don't.
I'm not aware of the self cancelling fog lights. I was under the impression that they are manual, for the reason if you were to use the car again in fog, say stopped for fuel, then driven off, the fog lights are still lit without remembering to turn them back on. Of course, it works out badly when the fogs gone.
Some fords (the transit is the only one I know for sure) operate the front fogs by pulling the rotary headlight switch out. There is a cam in it, so when you turn the lights off the fogs get pulled back into the off position. Simple but effective. My alfa operated its fogs from a push to cancel button on the dash (like a heated rear window) so once power was cut the relay unlatched and the fogs were off until the button was pushed again. All of my Japanese cars have had switches that are either rotary on the indicator stalk, or latching push buttons on the dash that remain in the on position even when off, re powering the circuit when the car is turned back on.
My dislike is mainly for the rear facing red fogs. In light rain when they are left on they are a nightmare! I have no issue whatsoever with appropriate use of fitted lights, its the failure to turn the bloody things off when conditions are clearly inappropriate that grinds my gears. Oh and another thing, with the forthcoming onset of cold weather, those individuals who think its perfectly safe to drive having cleared a "peep hole" in the frosted / snow covered windscreen.
MY Alfa from 2000 - a 156 - has self cancelling fog lights, both front and rear. When you turn off the ignition, the lights go off, when you turn it on again, they are still off. It also only has one rear fog lamp and a third brake light on the top of the hatch. A remarkably well-thought out vehicle! I use the fog lamps in the appropriate conditions (not just fog) but I'm aware when I use them. If in rain, I turn them off for sections of Shellcoat where there is little spray and turn them back on when the spray reappears and the vehicles disappear. Even in fog, I tend to turn them off at traffic lights so as not to blind the guy behind, and back on, if necessary, when we all move off again. Often in town, it's not necessary to have them on, and despite there being fog at night, at night you almost never need a fog lamp. But then I just am a remarkably considerate driver. :wink:
Yep rear fogs and indeed front fogs are a rain pain. I will only use them in very poor visibility and by that I mean I cant see 100m in front of me. Fogs lights should be banned for inner city use IMO. Dont get be started on the people who use the double flash hazard when they've parked up. If I cant see your massive van in the first place I dont think the s1tty little yellow lights are going to help (doubly annoying when somebody parks behind them, so it looks like they want to pull out) A-holes!
To be honest I have much more of a problem with the drivers who don't bother putting any of their lights on in fog, rain or darkness! If you are lucky you might get side lights... Riding around London at late twilight is a scary experience even on a dry, fog free day.
