Having suffered damaged retinas from numerous fellow commuters insisting on using rear fog lights even though visability was c300yds in medium mist, I wondered what the law said about the use of rear fog lights? ie how bad the visability needed to be to warrant their use.

WHY do people switch on their fog lights as soon as there is a bit of mist?? is it just a god given right to use a seldom required button on the dashboard?? Do they think Fog lights actually help clear the fog by some mystical means??? Or are they just stupid, and miss the point completely????

Incidentally over use of fog lights looked the most likely cause of an 8-car pile up on the motorway this morning, as brake lights could hardly be seen - about time the motorway police started diverting attention from catching speeders to preventing the real casue of accidents


On a separate, but connected note - I saw a Citroen Saxo VTR/S last night WITHOUT the front fog lights on - do you think the fuse had blown

 

Gary,

Yesterday was a nightmare for people using fogs when it wasnt necessary.. I have a tendency to return fire with the driving lights + PIAA headlights, usually gets the point accross

Alex

 

At the opposite end of the scale, I encountered three cars this morning (patchy fog from < 100yrds to about 1 mile) with only side lights on. On one occaion driving down a country A road, I saw the lights of a car come around a corner towards me then dissaper. It was only as I got closer (about 100yrds) that I saw that there was another car in front of the one I had saw, but he only had his side lights on.

Do these people think that the use of lights is only to light up the road, rather than to make themselves visible to other road users??? I hate to think what would happen if a driver at a juction pull out across him because they did not see the car.

[This message has been edited by Nimbus (edited 02 February 2001).]

 

On balance I would say that fog lamps CAUSE more accidents than they prevent. I VERY rarely use them unless I think that a car behind me simply wouldn't be able to see me without them.

As for front fogs - don't the tossers who use them realise that again they are for use in FOG, and in these circumstances you are supposed to switch off your main beam to avoid dazzling yourself with light being reflected back by the FOG. They are there to allow oncoming road users see you not to make your car look low slung and sporty.

I think that it would be a safer world if fog lamps were banned from cars.

As for Police attending to the real cause of accidents - what a simple utopian view of the world you have. Next you'll be suggesting that politicians should begin to formulate policies to help the people of this country rather than line their own pockets and keep them and their ilk in power.

 

I'm frequently behind people in traffic jams with their foglights still on!

'Lack of awareness at all times' seems to be a massively popular driving style

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by DrEvil:
<B>Gary,

Yesterday was a nightmare for people using fogs when it wasnt necessary.. I have a tendency to return fire with the driving lights + PIAA headlights, usually gets the point accross

Alex[/quote]

Hee Hee naughty boy - living up to your name again. My preferred strategy also!!

 

Just a point, but I have on occasions inadvertantly forgotten to turn off the old fogs. Reason being the warning lights are on the switches... out of sight and therefore out of mind.

My old 5 turbo had the warning lights on the dashboard.... a more suitable place for a warning light me thinks!!!

Other than that it annoys me imensely as well.

Dave

 

Agree 100% they are used too often, I cool my anger by thinking "mmmm must be foggy in their heads are there is no fog out here !!!" . Makes me laugh then I give em the full beam.....d1ckheads.

 

Don't you have to switch the rear fogs off when a car come's up behind you by law??? Don't know what the deal is with the fronts tho.

StuartH maybe you could enlighten (no pun )

 

I was on the M6 in Cheshire yesterday and it was jam packed with traffic moving about 60mph. I was in the outside lane and just behind a green S-reg Scoob who had his rear fog on. I drifted past...to find his front fogs were on as well!!

Green Scoob, Gold wheels, anyone on the list?

As I passed him I winked my fogs on and off a few times, but it fell on deaf ears (blind eyes?).

Steve

(Driving a company 406 estate yesterday)

 

I had the most amazing experience on the road yesterday. Came up behind an Astra GTE with its rear fogs on. Flashed once. Waited 10 seconds and then flashed again. The Astra driver then turned his fogs off. I almost drove off the road I was so shocked.

 

Talking of no fog lights...

We have a chap in our village who goes for a run every morning down the unlit country road that I take to work. Dresses in a dark track-suit with a hood. No reflective bits at all. Hard to see at the best of times

Nearly hit him in the fog day before yesterday

I'm going to buy him a reflective sam-browne...

 

I think that fogs lights should only be used in really thick fog, because in even quite thick fog putting on fog lights makes visibility worse.

so why do people and the law insist on using them

and whats it with the to$$ers who put them on when its raining. do they think this is reduced visibilty, can't they see that cars following just get a red road and burnt eyes, thats without mentioning loss of visibilty.

from now on they will be getting 120w of PIAA
TO$$ERS

 

Hutton_d
A 205 only has one rear foglight - the other is a blanking cover - which you can replace with a LHD fog to give two - which I did to mine years ago to annoy the "don't dip when behind you until your boot paint is blistering" brigade