To drive with rear fogs on when it's raining

(don't get me going on front fogs :mad:)

The bloody idiots still have them on when the traffic's stopped and the car behind is a couple of foot from their bumper.

Yesterday, I saw a Civic driving at night with just the front fogs on

Rears are bad, although recently I've taken to using the fronts on my early pre dawn drives to illuminate the dire road edges of the Peak district roads. Ideally I want better lights but the standard dipped beam is dire. More so when the road is wet.

But I turn them off when away from the needy roads.

Dont they teach it now in heavy spray?

For your Information:

The law, as presented by The Highway Code, states that front and rear fog lights must not be used unless visibility is seriously reduced - which generally means when you cannot see further than 100 metres (328 feet) - and that they must be switched off once the visibility improves.

Oh how I love to Whinge !!!

"Where visibility is reduced" is the general thought, as far as I was aware.

yea if you cant see the car infronts rears that well then I use mine but soon as i can see 200m ish then I turn it off, I just flash ppl that kleep them on and if they dont turn them off I go infront and put mine on and off a few times see if they get the Fin msg!

fronts I dont really care about that much but the rears are a pain as they dazzle you really bad specially if they dont just get the hell on with it and f&^% off

must be a lot of blind drivers who suffer from reduced visibility then..... i know its been raining a lot reccently but even when its been clear there have been loads of fools with front fogs on. saw a civic type r on the mancunian way this morning with front fogs on weaving in and out of really slow traffic. when he came past he had a hoody pulled up.....now if you want to increase visibilty surely it would make sense to put the hood down. It was clear and light....he was showing off think:mad:

problem is i have seen a couple of cops reccently with em on when clear.....dark but clear

I saw a woman last night with front + rear fogs + full beam!

Clear weather, but some surface spary and unlit section. She also had her nose glued to the windscreen.

Mrs magoo?

My missus doesn't know how to switch between dipped & full beam, doesn't know what the difference is and seems completely oblivious to the 'new' blue light illuminated in the middle of the clocks...:rotz::rotz:

I'd be happy to clear up the confusion except I want a quiet life and quite enjoy having my tea cooked for me when I get home...!

I get the impression that a lot of wimmin are completely unaware whether they've got fogs on or not, whereas most blokes who do it are tryin to look all sporty, like. I dunno which is worst, personally.

My missus doesn't know how to switch between dipped & full beam, doesn't know what the difference is and seems completely oblivious to the 'new' blue light illuminated in the middle of the clocks...:rotz::rotz:

I'd be happy to clear up the confusion except I want a quiet life and quite enjoy having my tea cooked for me when I get home...!

I get the impression that a lot of wimmin are completely unaware whether they've got fogs on or not, whereas most blokes who do it are tryin to look all sporty, like. I dunno which is worst, personally.

Erm...does she have a licence?

If so (and I'm sorry, but I'm not not going to bother sticking around for the flak this is surely going to create), then she probably shouldn't.

Got to agree with you on the last point there!

I think a lot of the rear fog brigade might just be the "put in any bulb that fits, because 5w and 21w are the same right?" lot.

Seen a fair few cars, with separate fog lights and still what looks like a fog light on.

Em, 5w and 21w capped bulbs don't physically fit in each other's bulbholders. You can force a 5/21w dual filament bulb into a plain 21w bulbholder with enough brutality.

Can I add people who leave their foglights on in town?

As an aside, and at the risk of a massive flaming, I am finding 87% transmissivity yellow lenses to be very useful in all the dawn / dusk bad weather driving I've been having to do lately - not least because they take some of the blue out of xenon lights, which can be as bad as front fogs on a slow right-hander IME...

Yesterday, I saw a Civic driving at night with just the front fogs on

That shouldn't be possible. They should only activate when sidelights are on as a minimum.

I'm pretty sure a lot of it is down to a lack of training and/or awareness of the Highway Code. Saw a guy in a 09-plate A3 at the shops last night get in and start up, and fire the fogs up at the same time as his dipped. Think it's the attitude of, 'it's night, I'll put on as many lights as possible' - without knowing/considering when to use which set of lights. This was a perfectly ordinary middle-aged guy, i.e. not in the ch@v/boyracer category of 'look at me, I've got foglights'.

Still bloody annoying of course, but I think there are different issues to address with people's use of them. And even when it is actually applicable to use them (recently on some of the higher M6 sections for example), people then invariably don't turn them off again when conditions improve

Steve

Out of interest, if a car has autolights on, can you still turn the fog lights on without overiding the auto setting? (I have no idea how these systems work.)

And is it just me, or does this seem to be quite a recent trend/habit thing to do? Because I don't remember seeing loads of old women in Yaris'/Jazzs' etc driving round with foglights on before, so are they doing it by choice as well as the chavs?

Out of interest, if a car has autolights on, can you still turn the fog lights on without overiding the auto setting? (I have no idea how these systems work.)

On ours, you have to go manual to get the fogs on.

When I'm driving on unlit roads I usually put the front fogs on. They don't dazzle anyone and I want as much light as possible on the road ahead!

One could argue that the fact it is dark is 'seriously reduced visibility' from daylight!

I agree that rear fogs left on are dazzling though. One observation I have made in my vehicle is that the rear fogs have a dashboard warning light whereas the fronts do not, they just have a small green light on the switch itself.

Oh no not again!

For what honestly feels like the 2 millionth time, using front fog lights in the dark (wet or dry) actually dazzles you, because it puts a bright patch in your "near field" just in front of the bonnet line, and doesn't put any light down the road into your "far field" where you actually need it in order to see further.

Oh no not again!

For what honestly feels like the 2 millionth time, using front fog lights in the dark (wet or dry) actually dazzles you, because it puts a bright patch in your "near field" just in front of the bonnet line, and doesn't put any light down the road into your "far field" where you actually need it in order to see further.

Sorry Ken, this is not my experience. I am sure I would be aware if I was being dazzled by my own lights! AFAIK front fog lights are designed so as not to bounce back off the fog like headlights do? I am not a lighting professional, just my experience.

Sorry Ken, this is not my experience. I am sure I would be aware if I was being dazzled by my own lights! AFAIK front fog lights are designed so as not to bounce back off the fog like headlights do? I am not a lighting professional, just my experience.

After a quick trundle through Wikipedia, only to fail to find the human factors data I needed...Fog lights are designed to produce a broad, flat, short beam, whereas headlights produce a narrower, taller, and much longer beam. You can verify this for yourself by stopping on a quiet unlit road tonight, and dropping onto sidelights. Now turn the dipped headlights back on, and note the furthest point you can see reflecting the headlights. Now drop back onto sidelights, and turn the fogs on. See just how much shorter the reflective range is? That's why fos work to reduce reflective glare in dense fog. Now turn the dipped beam back on again, and look for the furthest you can actually see a reflection from again. Is it honestly even as far as when you were on dipped headlights alone? I'll be surprised if it is.

Years ago I was driving on the outskirts of Cambridge in heavy traffic at night. the car behind me had main beam on and even when the traffic came to a stop declined to dip them. I got out of my car and walked back to the offending car. the lady wound down the window wanting to know what the problem might be. I asked her politely to dip her headlamps, She fiddled with various switches in a panicky sort of way and then said that she could not do it. I looked at here aghast and suggested while smiling that she should have learnt these things before taking to the road. She asked how, so I just put my hand through her open window and dipped the lights for her and then retired back to my car and waited for the traffic to move off again.

My missus doesn't know how to switch between dipped & full beam, doesn't know what the difference is and seems completely oblivious to the 'new' blue light illuminated in the middle of the clocks...:rotz::rotz:

I'd be happy to clear up the confusion except I want a quiet life and quite enjoy having my tea cooked for me when I get home...!

I get the impression that a lot of wimmin are completely unaware whether they've got fogs on or not, whereas most blokes who do it are tryin to look all sporty, like. I dunno which is worst, personally.

In West wales the law is different than the rest of GB. Nearly every other car has their front fogs on when it has turned full dark. I say full dark because around her one does not need to put the lights on at all until one can hardly see the road ahead. or so it seems. If one runes around with dipped lights in near dark then their is a risk of being flashed to advise one to switch them off because obviously one has forgotten.

Mind you around here, double yellow lines mean park here for as long as you like, as do the hatched lines outside schools! Overtaking across double white lines is allowed. I was following an agricultural tractor past Cardigan, patiently waiting to reach the end of the double white lines, speed just short of about 30 mph. First one car then another overtook both me and the tractor against the white lines. The next car a police patrol car followed suit. I was convinced that he was after the other two drivers but no he just carried on behind them, as did the next car to overtake. So that proves it is legal.

Traffic controls are fun too here, Those signs that say you have the right of way where the road has been deliberately narrowed to slow traffic, Their a pain are they not? Here they are real fun. One approaches them with the right of way in your favor, then enter the constricted zone and with a little luck some indigenous cowboy will try to ram your vehicle and then get out of their car and remonstrate that you must reverse back because they are in a hurry. The policeman who had just driven through in the same manor seconds before apologized with an embarrassed wave, it was thought for not actually causing a collision then gets out of his car to watch the show too shy to intercede with the polite (not) debate.

It is a pain with so many cars having their front fogs on when it is unnecessary. With some cars the fog lights are correctly adjusted and in truth the lights cause little problem but the majority are either badly adjusted or cheap nasty original fit lamps that cause serious glare, that or Halfords specials. These are not only a pain but cause difficulties for the approaching car particularly in heavy rain on narrow twisting country roads. In some parts of Wales the police will actually prosecute and not bother with a warning, I knew some one who had been issued with a summons. Around here the police are just as ignorant as the rest and I have seen non traffic police doing just the same. That is hardly suppressing because around here, at some time or other, I have seen them commit many other motoring offenses also, most likely either in complete ignorance or just, a could not give a dam attitude, they are after all just a representation of the general public, If people insist on using fogs illegally, then get decent ones, like the rallying type Hella or Cibie, these have expensive well designed reflectors and have them properly adjusted with a beam setter. Position them at above pumper or at bumper hight because at bellow bumper hight they have no range so their is a tendency to elevate the angle, so blinding other road users. Preferably switch them off when approaching other users or not use them at all.

Rear fogs also seem to be used by many drivers in this region also.

Edited 24 November, 200916 yr by Anthony 1

Well... West Wales innit?

Not it is not the banjo or the violin but the harp for harpin-on