Please don't put your rear fog lights on when it's raining

DoaM

AdrianC wrote: »

But what we're talking about here is their use when NOT required.

Scrapit wrote: »

It's not what we are talking about at all but you crack on.

Ahem ... perhaps read the thread from the start again?

Sea_Shell

I've often wondered why front fogs don't come on automatically with full beam to make use of all available light.

Surely if there is no one oncoming or ahead, you're not dazzling anyone, and they do light up the verge nicely.

unforeseen

Sea_Shell wrote: »

I've often wondered why front fogs don't come on automatically with full beam to make use of all available light.

Surely if there is no one oncoming or ahead, you're not dazzling anyone, and they do light up the verge nicely.

If you can use main beam then it is not the weather for fog lights

Fog lights give a low flat beam to prevent the driver just seeing a wall of fog due to back scatter.

AdrianC

unforeseen wrote: »

If you can use main beam then it is not the weather for fog lights

Fog lights give a low flat beam to prevent the driver just seeing a wall of fog due to back scatter.

While that's true, they also fill in nicely the short-range bit of road underneath main beam.

Sea_Shell

unforeseen wrote: »

If you can use main beam then it is not the weather for fog lights

Fog lights give a low flat beam to prevent the driver just seeing a wall of fog due to back scatter.

Yes, I understand that. You don't use main beam in the fog. So, yes, you would need to be able to switch on front fogs independently of full beam.

However, why not ADD front fogs to the main beam circuit?? Surely when full beam is appropriate, more light the better!!!

(Remembers additional high-power front spots, rally style, back in the day)

jimbo6977

I have a 2016 Ssangyong that does not have a dash light to tell me the dipped beams are on.
It's the only car I've ever had without such a dash light.
It's not the only odd thing about the car....

unholyangel

Its not just the rear fog lights. I see far too many muppets with their full beams on. Last night on my way home, about 1 in 10 cars had their full beams on. Including someone coming up a well lit slip road onto a motorway!

Of course no doubt some of those are people like my mum. Who was driving for over a decade before she found out the "blue light" on her dash was not dipped headlights, like she had thought it was.

Don't get me started on auto lights. They might work on straight roads with no obstructions, don't work in all situations though. Or those who drive with front fog lights on regardless of visibility or natural light "because it looks cool".

reeac

NBLondon wrote: »

I'm intrigued - what's the '58 that has variable dash lights? Classic Yank Tank of some sort?

It's a Mark 1 MGA 1500 roadster ....prettiest sports car ever. They did some minor styling changes to the Mark2 which were all for the worst.

NBLondon

I agree - way better looking than the Triumph TRs and the B was a disappointment afterwards - but better than the Jaguar XK120/140/150 ?

On the topic - I can think of a handful of times when I've found myself driving in thick fog or falling snow and needed the front fogs to light the road underneath because headlights were scattering back. It might be useful to have them for extra lighting of the roadway if you are on a rutted country lane at night. I did have rally spots on my Astra Mk1 in the 80s (and go faster stripes as well!) but I only ever needed them on unlit rural roads in the early hours of the morning.

Not on suburban roads on drizzle:mad:

hollie.weimeraner

facade wrote: »

In The Olden Days we used to have proper thick fog- probably because of all the air pollution in those days. The last proper thick fog I recall round here was around 1980 (because I remember the car I was driving) I remember having to drive along at walking pace, following the white line and all the time ready to stop if a parked car loomed up in front.


The stuff we get now is more like a light mist, and the way drivers react to it you'd think it was a cataclysmic event.

Trying not to be pedantic the air pollution caused Smog (Man-made smog is derived from coal combustion emissions, vehicular emissions, industrial emissions) Fog (a cloud that touches the ground.) is a natural occurrence and if you haven't seen one for years I'm surprised as there have been numerous airport closures caused by it over the years.

I regularly encounter it travelling over the A57 snake pass with visibility almost down to 10 to 15 metres.

But yes I agree people don't know how to use fog lights along with other bad driving habits.

This could easily have been opened in the rants forum