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Do people need to be re-educated in the use of their fog lamps, the amount of times that I have been blinded by some plonker driving with his fog lamps on, even though visibility isnt reduced by climatic conditions !!!! Being a member of one of the emergency services (Not police) I am shocked at the number of drivers who mis-use their fog lamps. Do we need for these drivers to be given on the spot fines to make them obey the rules for other drivers ???
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Completely agree about inappropriate use of fog lamps. Typically I do a motorway run on Friday evenings and the return leg on Sunday evenings, and I have lost count of the number of times I've been blinded. As I tend to chug along, I can get stuck behind for long periods - and flashing them makes no difference! Grrr! Not sure about the fines, maybe using the electronic signs overhead to remind drivers *might* work?
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I'm a bit puzzled here. I thought fog lights had a sharp cutoff below the horizontal so all the light went down to illuminate the road, not bounce back off the fog. Are you being blinded by poorly aligned fog lights, or by the light bouncing off the wet road? I fully agree with the sentiment, either use nothing in bright conditions, or headlights in poor visibility (without fog). In fog, turn on the rear lamps, and if you can't see where you're going use the front fogs. And don't forget to turn them all off when the fog clears... That's what I did, anyway.
You're lucky, over here (New Zealand) people don't bother to turn their headlights on until it's fairly dark, so I've had the odd near miss. Oh, and we don't have any rear fog lights on our cars (NZ or Japan market), only on private European imports. More room for really large stop lights, hee hee... My Mitsubishi has four tail/stop lamps across the back, and a high centreline one at the top of the hatch. Lights up very nicely, and so far, no being rear-ended as happened twice when I was living in the UK.
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My New Year's Resolution is to never again discuss the use (or misuse) of foglights. I'm getting some practice in by starting early!
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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True, but the azimuth of the light is such that the glare is higher to oncoming drivers, foglights are also often poorly aligned as there is no MOT check, and they are mounted in flimsy plastic spoilers, some of them are retrofitted by Chavs too.
I think these people switch them on to show people that they can afford a car that has *extra lights* they are the same people who are draped in argos jewellery.
I think there is a market just waiting to be tapped for H3 and H1 foglamp bulbs but with a 5w filament so that these people can think they are *cool* without everyone else thinking they are buffoons.
You may see some trucks with rows of lamps on the grille/roof, but with 5w bulbs in them.
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Pete, the original two posts are talking about rear lights not front lights so the issue of alignment is not relevant. Rears are blinding whatever.
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No disrespect to your much valued job but:
>Being a member of one of the emergency services (Not police)
Why is it then Ambulances and Fire engines alway seem to have their front fog lights on, especially when answering an emergency call??
Please enlighten us.
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Front and rear foglights-let's not get hung up on just the front fog light issue (as bad as it is). People still have rear fog lights on from fog 2 weeks ago.
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No disrespect Charles, but doesn't the obvious answer prove the initial point - to be more visible?
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IMHO this just proves that the police and others are not just out to take money off the driving public - if they were all they need to do is pick a road and ticket every driver with fog lamps on - no expensive equipment required - just a plod and a notebook!
Sooner we have zero tolerance policing the better!
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I would rather go for the drivers who run on only one headlight.
It's easy enough to tell if one of your heads isn't working but I estimate that around 1 in 20 or 25 cars has one headlight out.
Apart from making them more difficult to see and easier to mistake for a motorbike, the lack of lighting usually ends up with the culprit at the head of a convoy because they can't see well enough to travel at the speed the road should be suitable for.
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One very good reason fog lights are used on fire engines, for one, it seems when I am driving, my blue lights,siren,two tone horns, flashing lamps at ever corner of the vehicle, flashing headlamps, bull horn, bright red paintwork, reflective strips on every side and the word FIRE don`t seem to be enough for drivers to see and pull aside, so the use of fog lights is just something added to the long list of audible and visual warnings, warning people that we wish to pass. Please pull over in good time and always be on the look out for emergencey vehicles, Thank you.
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All for driver education at £30.00 per lesson.
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then again some of the drivers that are around when you have blues and two's going (Blue lights and sounds) that seem totally oblivious to them !!! I have seen them move to the right hand side of the road into oncoming traffic, I have seen them disappearing into hedges in panic. Why cant drivers pull over to the side of the road and let the emergency vehicles pass.....
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when you have blues and two's going (Blue lights and sounds)
So that's what it means. I've often wondered.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Charles, Im not one of them either lol....!!! Cant be hard, since there are only 4 emergency services and you have removed 4 lol
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Getting back to the original question - the fundamental point is that there is a fallacy in the wording. People no longer think of them as "fog lights" - to those who use them incorrectly, they are simply spotlights or auxillary headlights, so they see no reason not to join in the trend and leave them on all the time. Like those rows of lights on the roll-over bars of 4wd trucks, the more lights, the cooler.
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>>Re-educating the use of fog lights !!!>>
Too deeply ingrained in drivers' minds unfortunately...
It's a style thing in my area - especially with BMW owners.
Incidentally every one of our local Arriva buses displays dipped headlights permanently whatever the time of day or period of the year. Presumably it's a management instruction....:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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This is a serious issue ,which no-one seesm to be doing anything about. At this time of year , on a long evening drive, eyes get tired enough without the completely unecessary fogs .
If they are properly adjusted, they shine on the road immediately in front of the vehicle so are only useful if it moving at under 20mph ( which, in fog, would be right ) . If improperly adjusted they blind others .
Probably tops marks for being a moron should go to the people who have them wired to be on with parking lights, so are not illuminating the forward area at all . They are managing to break 2 of the lighting regs at the same time.
Agree totally re the one-light people .On one recent journey I counted 25% of vehicles with a defective light .
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Agree totally re the one-light people .On one recent journey I counted 25% of vehicles with a defective light .
Certain manufacturers must take some of the blame here. On a lot of cars now, to change a bulb is quite an involved process, beyond the capabilites of some people and certainly beyond the practicalities of doing a quick bulb change by the side of the road.
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Given the requirement in certain countries to carry a set of spare bulbs, what's the point if you have to take it to a garage or call out the breakdown services to get the job done?
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Certain manufacturers must take some of the blame here. On a lot of cars now, to change a bulb is quite an involved process, beyond the capabilites of some people and certainly beyond the practicalities of doing a quick bulb change by the side of the road.
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Sure is.
To change a bulb on my 98 Mondeo.
1. Remove three plastic plugs to remove the bonnet lock shroud.
2. Two screws to release the grill.
3. Release two clips and pull off the grill.
4. Remove two screws and loosen a third for each unit.
5. Pull light unit forward to gain access to the bulbs.
6. Change bulb and reassemble
Basically an easy job in daylight on the front drive but Ford "You cannot be serious" in producing engineering like this.
I carry a FULL set of bulbs that I have checked out to be all correct.
Ford changed the main beam bulb type about the time my car was made. This means that very often there is confusion on what bulb is required.
Guess what? My Owners guide is wrong.
If other cars are designed like mine then no wonder so many have lights not working.
P.S. Focus and Mondeo both have light switches that force you to put on front fogs BEFORE rear fogs.
Well done again Ford.
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Not heard it for some time, but in the days when a foglamp was something you bought from Joe Lucas at colossal expense, and bolted underneath the chrome bumper, the French called them 'brouillard et virages' -- fog and bends. Have we forgotten that a foglamp, with its wide beam-spread seeing across a bend can be useful on certain twisty country roads? Maybe more of France is out among the stinging nettles.
The one time when fog lamps are indispensable, though, is in falling snow, and that may not be too far off.
Such lamps do have other uses than fog but yes, they absolutely must be properly aligned.
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It is actually illegal to use foglights except in conditions of SERIOUSLY reduced visibility.
There are 3 offences involved.
1/ as above.
2/ To cause dazzle to other drivers.
3/ To "inconvenience?" other drivers.
Some drivers claim their foglights are "driving lights" or "spotlights". They are still illegal. Spotlights and "driving lights" MUST be extinguished when headlights are dipped.
Perhaps it is an ego thing. "Look at me, my car has foglights"
Or is it a macho thing "I am short in the trouser department so I make up for it with my car"
They don't realise how stupid they look, driving around on a sunny day with headlights and foglights blazing, And why do they need all those lights in town with all the street illumination? A visit to Specsavers, perhaps?
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I agree completely with the point about foglights being used in non-foggy conditions - they are indeed completely unnecessary. I do disagree with the headlights bit though. I use mine (dipped) 24 hours a day even on sunny days for reasons of increased visibility (perfectly legal as I understand it). Amazingly, some people still feel the need to 'flash' me for it...
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Is there a need for education or better laws and installation of aftermarket fog and driving lamps or all of the above
Below is a recap of the British Columbia. M.V regs in question format
(1) May we use fog lamps on high beam lamp operations ??
ans. No only auxiliary driving lamps are allowed on high beam operations M.V Reg 409.3
and for proper control of auxillary driving lamps on high beam an illuminated on/off control switch with additional relay and proper fusing is recommended to ensure the main light circuit is not overloaded
(2) May we use fog lamps instead of low beam lamps ??
ans. Yes providing the unit has the fog lamps wired up so that the tail lamps, marker lamps and park lamps are operating
M.V regs 411.3
This is normally done with an extra relay and fuse so that the fog lamps operate on the first park lamp position of the main switch.
(3) May we operate the fog lamps along with low beam lamp operations??
ans . Yes providing the fog lamps can be switched off when the weather is CLEAR
M.V Regs 411.4
This is normally accomplished with the installation of a relay and illuminated on/off switch
c/w proper fusing and a feature that prevents the fog lamps from operating on high beam
(4) how do we ensure that our vehicle is fitted properly ? BJ
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It would be very simple to reduce misuse of foglights and blown lamps by introducing a fixed penalty and then enforcing it. If anyone who misused their fogs or drove with a blown lamp was hit with, say, a 50 quid fine we would see a very rapid reduction in the problem.
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Totally agree, However politics seems to get into the picture
and when this happens the laws become rubbery and useless
Nothing like a hit in the wallet to get someones attention
You got my vote for president or Top dog for vehicle enforcement laws
Have a nice weekend
BJ
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