Lum's guide to proper fog light use

prowla

maninthestreet wrote: »

There are some people who will insist on using their front fog lights as a matter of course when it's dark, because they mistakenly believe they are driving lights.

Front fog lights used to bug me too, but then I thought - what is the actual harm they are causing?

SLITHER99

I just turn em on all the time. My car looks way cooler that way!

Joe_Horner

Great post, Lum, althouth there's one point I'd question. If visibility really is reduced enough to have fog lights on, then turning them off when someone approaches from behind and "has seen you" can be a mistake.

A lot of drivers follow too close anyway, and in fog, even more have a nasty habit of "following the lights ahead". Because they can still see your fogs from further back, that means they're likely to stay further back than if you switch to sides.

If you do switch to sides, they'll probably end up too close to react to anything in order to keep that nice warm safety blankie feeling of being able to see you.

The answer to being dazzled by rear fogs in fog is for the following driver to back off until they're not dazzled anymore

neilmcl

maninthestreet wrote: »

There are some people who will insist on using their front fog lights as a matter of course when it's dark, because they mistakenly believe they are driving lights.

Seem to be getting quite common.

Fog lights ARE NOT daytime running lights, stop using them as such!

If you want DRLs then buy a car that has them fitted and also remember they're called "daytime" running lights for a reason.

Norman_Castle

Imaginary answer from a wrongly fog lit car driver,
"I always put the rear fog lights on if I can't see through the back window because its foggy behind me. I'm not sure which button it is so I just press all of them. If it's wrong the MOT man will fix it when he services my car. My revometer tells me how many pressures to put in my tyre."

fivetide

Pretty sure it's nothing to do with the time of year anymore, topic seems to come up every few months.

VW are annoying me most at the moment, designing their day running lights next to the fog lights, thus giving all the sidelight/foglight idiots further justification in being muppets.

And Nissan Juke owners, seriously - three sets of lights on the front with the fogs on. For christsake eat more carrots or something!

bugslet

Joe_Horner wrote: »

The answer to being dazzled by rear fogs in fog is for the following driver to back off until they're not dazzled anymore

Quite right. However, we know another muppet will then flirt into that space, probably with their fog lights on as well, so you drop back. And whilst in theory that is what you should do, it's flipping irking.

davidlizard

Look on the positive side - if you see some numpty driving along with their fog lights on when there is no need, it sends out the message that they are incompetent so serves as a handy warning.

After all, if they cannot use the correct lighting for the conditions, then what other key motoring skills do they lack?

In approx 20 years of driving here and abroad, I probably struggle to think of more than half a dozen occasions where I have needed to use rear fog lights. Rarely is the fog *that* thick, and if it is, then traffic density usually means I have someone a few yards from my rear who probably does not want their retina burnt out.

Lum

About the front fogs, it depends a lot on the design. If they're proper ones that point downwards then they wont cause a problem most of the time, only when you crest a hill.

Problem is many of them don't point downwards like this any more and these do dazzle people.

then you have ones like mine. They are yellow and cover an area similar to the main beam. They work very well, better than you would expect, for letting you see through the mist, hence the sides+fogs suggestion for that type of light. But I still have to turn them off for oncoming cars to avoid dazzling.

Oh and just to annoy muckybutt, my car also has cornering lights, however they're bolted into the side of the front bumper as a completely separate unit rather than lighting up the foglights.

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Great post, Lum, althouth there's one point I'd question. If visibility really is reduced enough to have fog lights on, then turning them off when someone approaches from behind and "has seen you" can be a mistake.

A lot of drivers follow too close anyway, and in fog, even more have a nasty habit of "following the lights ahead". Because they can still see your fogs from further back, that means they're likely to stay further back than if you switch to sides.

You can always turn them back on again if the car behind does this?

janet_oggy

davidlizard wrote: »

Look on the positive side - if you see some numpty driving along with their fog lights on when there is no need, it sends out the message that they are incompetent so serves as a handy warning.

After all, if they cannot use the correct lighting for the conditions, then what other key motoring skills do they lack?

In approx 20 years of driving here and abroad, I probably struggle to think of more than half a dozen occasions where I have needed to use rear fog lights. Rarely is the fog *that* thick, and if it is, then traffic density usually means I have someone a few yards from my rear who probably does not want their retina burnt out.

:T:T:T...... well said...agree 100%.