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Legal advice - use of fog lights

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Comments

  • waterbaby
    waterbaby Posts: 500 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Midas wrote:
    Its good if the police are pulling people over for this as awareness needs to be raised.

    So do some people really think that it is ok to have their fog lights on if its not foggy? I just assumed that everybody knew that it wasn't, and people with them inappropriately on had forgotten.

    Midas wrote:
    don't you just hate people who go round with their full beam headlights on oblivious to the fact that they are dazzling other drivers, ESPECIALLY when they have those annoying bluey-coloured headlights you sometimes see these days...

    Seconded.
  • w1zz0
    w1zz0 Posts: 2 Newbie
    Have to agree with this, but I think I know the answer. Most of the bikes in the UK are imports. Imports are set up to drive on the right hand side of the road, and therefore the headlights point into the right.

    I can't agree that most bikes are imports, the vast majority are still bought through the official channels. Also a lot of bikes nowadays have headlights with a totally flat beam so do not need adjustment either way whether an official UK bike being ridden abroad or an import being ridden in the UK. It's just bad manners to use full beam.
  • maggie1976
    maggie1976 Posts: 97 Forumite
    waterbaby wrote:
    So do some people really think that it is ok to have their fog lights on if its not foggy? I just assumed that everybody knew that it wasn't, and people with them inappropriately on had forgotten.

    I know someone who used to drive with his fog lights on because he thought it made his car look 'better' :rotfl: Until I told him he could be stopped by the police for it, that was!
    Baby #1 due December '05 :)
  • Murphy_The_Cat
    Murphy_The_Cat Posts: 20,968 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    apparently front fog lights being on all the time is standard equipment on a BMW ! also as standard is cruising down lane 3 (or perish the thought lane 2) on a motorway, never indicating, using the national speed limit as a target to reach in the quickest time and then never dropping below it, waiting for the very last moment before sweeping across from lane 3 to a slip road, tailgating, flashing headlights at car in front etc, etc

    the list goes on

    MTC
  • BWZN93
    BWZN93 Posts: 2,182 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    soolin wrote:
    And have you noticed that it is the same drivers who use fog lights all the time that then travel down the middle lane of empty motorways...arggghhh.

    Soo


    I agree - I got dazzled coming home from work the other night because the other driver was in a world of his f**king own, on a country road, and didnt turn them off when I was approaching. I went through a hedge, and the a$$hole didnt stop, just blazed away doing 60 in a 30 zone.

    To all those boys who think it is cool to put your fogs on - it is so not cool.

    Jo xx
    #KiamaHouse
  • Midget_Karen
    Midget_Karen Posts: 127 Forumite
    Slightly aside from the OP,
    I also find it hard to drive infront of a 4x4 at night even when they only have their standard lights on.
    Because they are so much higher from the ground than my own car the dipped headlights still reflect very brightly in my mirrors making me squint! Although I can "flip" the rear-view mirror to reduce the problem, i can't do that with the wing mirrors and have to drive along / sit at traffic lights etc with my eyes half shut.

    (or wearing sunglasses......)

    anyone else find this?
    Proud to have become an Ocean Rower in 2010 (crossed the Atlantic in a crew of 4 ladies and had the best 77 days of my life!)
  • AP
    AP Posts: 412 Forumite
    100 Posts
    As I understand, you are only allowed to put fog lamps on (front or rear) when visibility is down to less than 100 metres.

    On the subject of motorbikes, I don't understand why some of them have full main beam headlamps on during a bright sunny day. Perhaps they are trying to intimidate other drivers to get out of their way? However, this never works on me as I always keep my position on the road and continue to drive at the same speed no matter how many motorbikes with main beam headlamps on are behind me!
  • JimArnold
    JimArnold Posts: 519 Forumite
    Well my rather old copy of the highway code stated that foglights should only be used in fog or falling snow when the visibilty is very bad

    IIRC any non fog front light centre must be 2ft high and the edge must be within 18inches (?) of the vehicle edge

    The random use of fog lights seems to be on the increase and using them does seem to reduce accidents - everyone knows that they have to avoid cars with foglights on as there is probably an idiot behind the wheel
    TANSTAAFL !
  • FJSRiDER
    FJSRiDER Posts: 155 Forumite
    AP wrote:
    On the subject of motorbikes, I don't understand why some of them have full main beam headlamps on during a bright sunny day. Perhaps they are trying to intimidate other drivers to get out of their way? However, this never works on me as I always keep my position on the road and continue to drive at the same speed no matter how many motorbikes with main beam headlamps on are behind me!
    They do it for a multitude of reasons.

    One being that bikes are only sold with headlights on these days - it is a sop to 'safety' and a misguided belief that it enables them to somehow be seen 'better'. I think this is positively dangerous.

    However some riders think that riding with main beams will make them even safer (that is they follow the logic that if dipped beams are safe then full beams are safer :rolleyes: ). This is total balony - it can make the bike difficult to differentiate from the background and harder to judge the approach speed.

    Bikes headlights are quite difficult to adjust properly when the bike is loaded or has a passenger as well as the attitude of the bike changes as it accelerates and slows - so sometime the main beam is nothing of the sort, simply a badly adjusted dipped headlight.

    I also believe that other drivers can be mistaken by seeing bike headlights bobbing towards them and they may misinterpret what they see as a 'headlight flash' (please pull out...) when the rider was not expecting anything of the sort!

    However this is a HUGE subject and as a motorcycle rider I'm pretty passionate about people understanding the problems of their unthinking promotion of something they truly believe is for their 'safety'. Sadly bike incidents have not depreciated significantly since the introduction of AHO (automatic headlight on) and a recent report to the Government has even suggested that this practice should be stopped! It is not a legislative requirement that bike be used with headlights - but a manufacturers agreement. :rolleyes:
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