Whose fault was this one?

Wongsky

derrick wrote: »

See my post below yours, if you can easily see the vehicle, then no lights are required, so side lights do not cut it, either mentally or legally.

Just for poignance - how many watts are your sidelight bulbs, and how many for taillight bulbs (not stop / tail, just tail).

How many watts is the bulb in your rear fog light. How many watts is the bulb for your dipped beam.

brat

derrick wrote: »

See my post below yours, if you can easily see the vehicle, then no lights are required, so side lights do not cut it, either mentally or legally.

.

If the extent of your view is less than 100 metres because of seriously reduced visibility then

1. You must switch on your headlights
2. You should switch on rear foglights
3. You may switch on front foglights

If the extent of your view is more than 100 metres then

1. You must switch off your front and rear foglights
2. You may use sidelights or headlights as appropriate, as long as you don't dazzle other road users.

You obviously misunderstand the RVLRs but I hope this makes it nice and clear.

Jamie_Carter

Lum wrote: »

Corsa B drivers seem to be quite common offenders for this (and not even the chavved up Corsas either) no I'm not sure this is always the case.

Isn't that being Corsa-ist??

Lum wrote: »

Perhaps if every car driver in this video was just on sidelights, and the motorbike was using headlights, then the driver would have seen them a bit sooner and this accident wouldn't have happened.

The car driver was probably looking the other way, going by the evidence. It wouldn't matter if the the bike had blue flashing lights, they still wouldn't have seen him.

Jamie_Carter

Wongsky wrote: »

Sidelights should be perfectly adequate for making vehicles at least visible in reasonable conditions.

On some vehcles maybe, especially those with DLR's. But on many vehicles they aren't.

Wongsky wrote: »

It's largely the front-fog-light mentality that's contributed to the vehicle-lighting-arms-race - as it shall be known from here on out. More light is better, and bright lights are cool.

It is illegal to use fog lights when visibility isn't reduced.

Jamie_Carter

Wongsky wrote: »

Just for poignance - how many watts are your sidelight bulbs, and how many for taillight bulbs (not stop / tail, just tail).

How many watts is the bulb in your rear fog light. How many watts is the bulb for your dipped beam.

From what I remember Side and tail lights are 5W, fog lights are 21W. But dipped beam headlights can vary depending on the vehicle, but are usually at least 21W.

Wongsky

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

On some vehcles maybe, especially those with DLR's. But on many vehicles they aren't.

How so? What's the wattage for taillight bulbs, and what's the wattage for sidelight bulbs. Both are there to be seen with.

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

It is illegal to use fog lights when visibility isn't reduced.

Doesn't seem to stop the Top-Gear-indoctrinated muppets, though.

Jamie_Carter

brat wrote: »

If the extent of your view is less than 100 metres because of seriously reduced visibility then

1. You must switch on your headlights
2. You should switch on rear foglights
3. You may switch on front foglights

If the extent of your view is more than 100 metres then

1. You must switch off your front and rear foglights
2. You may use sidelights or headlights as appropriate, as long as you don't dazzle other road users.

You obviously misunderstand the RVLRs but I hope this makes it nice and clear.

The thing is, you are talking about visibility reduced by fog or snow.

Visibility can also be seriously reduced by low light. For example, on a country road at night you may not be able to see more than 10m without your lights on, or even with your sidelights on. But with your headlights on you may be able to see 500m. So with fog lights on you would be breaking the law.

Wongsky

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

From what I remember Side and tail lights are 5W, fog lights are 21W. But dipped beam headlights can vary depending on the vehicle, but are usually at least 21W.

So, then, side and tail bulbs are 5W - ignoring when you're braking, and when your rear fogs are on, that's 5W bulbs to be seen with from the rear.

Uncannily, 5W bulbs in your sidelights to be seen with...

Brake and rear fog tend to be 21W.

My dipped beam bulbs (H7s) are 55W. And my main-beam bulbs (H7) are 55W - albeit I suspect they have a different beam / reflector pattern in the main beam unit.

brat

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

The thing is, you are talking about visibility reduced by fog or snow.

Visibility can also be seriously reduced by low light. For example, on a country road at night you may not be able to see more than 10m without your lights on, or even with your sidelights on. But with your headlights on you may be able to see 500m. So with fog lights on you would be breaking the law.

The legislation specifically differentiates between 'seriously reduced visibility' Reg 25(1)(a) and 'hours of darkness' Reg25(1)(b).

Many people legally put more lights on than the law requires. That's sometimes a good thing, certainly not always.

Jamie_Carter

Wongsky wrote: »

How so? What's the wattage for taillight bulbs, and what's the wattage for sidelight bulbs. Both are there to be seen with.

Because a 5w red light is far easier to see than a 5w white light.

It's all down to visibilty of different colours in the spectrum. A good example would be if you see an older emergency vehicle, the blue lights often aren't as visible in sunlight. This is because UV light has faded the lense, so the light emitted is closer to white in the colour spectrum. It isn't because the bulb is any dimmer.

Wongsky wrote: »

Doesn't seem to stop the Top-Gear-indoctrinated muppets, though.

What's it got to do with Top Gear?