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Fog - please leave your cars at home - P3t3r

I was driving in dense fog last night on a motorway and couldn't believe the number of people who overtook me at much higher speeds. My speed varied between 50mph and 65mph depending on how bad the visibility was. There were times when I felt that my speed was relatively high for the visibility and people would fly past at 80+mph. In good conditions, 80mph is illegal, but in dense fog it's just crazy!

If visibility is so poor that you need your fog lights on, then visibility clearly isn't good enough for 80mph! Do people just think it's safe because they have their fog lights on?

Fog - please leave your cars at home - Doc

Even at 50mph you are travelling at 73 feet per second (about 5 car lengths)

Someting to think about!

Fog - please leave your cars at home - 72 dudes

I would imagine it's macho to drive fast in fog. They obviously have much more skill in driving than us mere mortals. Private ambulance anyone?

I also noticed too many cars driving around with NO lights on, the vast majority were females of all ages.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - Vitesse6

I also noticed too many cars driving around with NO lights on, the vast majority were females of all ages.

Is this a symptom of automatic lights on cars and people not thinking that they need to turn them on in poor visibility when it isn't dark?

Fog - please leave your cars at home - Engineer Andy

I also noticed too many cars driving around with NO lights on, the vast majority were females of all ages.

Is this a symptom of automatic lights on cars and people not thinking that they need to turn them on in poor visibility when it isn't dark?

Its not just that - I often see drivers forget to put their car's lights on because they are in well lit areas (normally modern white light street lights, not sodium yellow/orange).

Fog - please leave your cars at home - galileo

I also noticed too many cars driving around with NO lights on, the vast majority were females of all ages.

Is this a symptom of automatic lights on cars and people not thinking that they need to turn them on in poor visibility when it isn't dark?

Its not just that - I often see drivers forget to put their car's lights on because they are in well lit areas (normally modern white light street lights, not sodium yellow/orange).

The brain dead committee that decided that DRLs do not turn any rear lights on wrongly assumed buyers had enough sense to turn lights on when necessary.

I see many blissfully trundling around solely illuminated by DRLs at the front, nothing at the back.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - NARU

I was driving in dense fog last night on a motorway and couldn't believe the number of people who overtook me at much higher speeds. My speed varied between 50mph and 65mph depending on how bad the visibility was. There were times when I felt that my speed was relatively high for the visibility and people would fly past at 80+mph. In good conditions, 80mph is illegal, but in dense fog it's just crazy!

If visibility is so poor that you need your fog lights on, then visibility clearly isn't good enough for 80mph! Do people just think it's safe because they have their fog lights on?

If you could do 50-65, the fog obviously wasn't that bad!

Were you clearing your windscreen regularly? I find that makes all the difference. Probably every 5 minutes when driving in fog.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - Sofa Spud

Fog is one of those great levellers. It doesn't matter how powerful or fast your car is or how perfect your eyesight is, you still can't see any further than the fog will allow.

The only things that might enable drivers to go faster in fog would be reliable collision avoidance technology and / or fog vision techology. Even with those things, a driver would need to be constantly aware that most other vehicles wouldn't be fitted with this stuff.

Edited by Sofa Spud on 18/12/2016 at 14:22

Fog - please leave your cars at home - gordonbennet

The only things that might enable drivers to go faster in fog would be reliable collision avoidance technology and / or fog vision techology. Even with those things, a driver would need to be constantly aware that most other vehicles wouldn't be fitted with this stuff.

Yes fog is one valid reason for this new equipment, however i'm none too sure about it all in practice, in lorry world with two makes in particular there are just too many reports of full emergency braking being applied automatically for no reason, from braking when the lorry has seen a motorway bridge it doesn't like, to my colleague's artic stopping dead in a village because it didn't like the look of some keep left bollards, plus many other circs reported.

I have no doubt things will improve, but the thought of when we all trundling along on packed snow and black ice at 25 mph just trying to keep the wheels rolling, and one of more of these systems having the jitters and braking for no reason at all fills me with confidence...i am not looking forward to my new lorry next year equipped with this stuff, which i've managed perfectly well without over about 4 million miles ta.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - expat

i am not looking forward to my new lorry next year equipped with this stuff, which i've managed perfectly well without over about 4 million miles ta.

When you get the new truck spend your lunch break going through the drivers manual and see if you can find out how to switch the stuff off. Perhaps there is a menu option buried somewhere down half a dozen levels that can disable it. With anything involving computers you need to look at every single option so you can customise it the way you want it.

On the other hand disabling it might cause problems with your insurance if you did get involved in an accident. When it gets a dealer service it will no doubt get a software update which will reset all your changes to defaults so you will need to keep notes on how you have changed it so you can redo it when needed (also so you can undo it if the boss gets stroppy).

Fog - please leave your cars at home - Bolt

GB I think you worry too much, modern tech I know, most people do not like on motors, but I have found has come in handy once or twice.

collision mitigation system that some motors have, actually prevented me getting a written off car, sundridge ave bromley has a mini roundabout which one exit goes into a blind steep hill,as you come to the roundabout you can only see one car waiting(if there is any) the rest are open.

I started to cross and did not see a Merc travelling at speed down the hill, but didnt slow down for the roundabout untill it was by the front nearside wing, the CMS braked for me and stopped me, the Merc went up the kerb straightened back up and accelerated away

I discovered my dashcam had a faulty SD card in it so didnt record the incident otherwise I would have reported the car,though It happened so quick all I see was a white flash

Not sure what would have happened in foggy conditions, possibly wrote my car off if CMS didnt work?

Fog - please leave your cars at home - P3t3r

Fog is one of those great levellers. It doesn't matter how powerful or fast your car is or how perfect your eyesight is, you still can't see any further than the fog will allow.

The only things that might enable drivers to go faster in fog would be reliable collision avoidance technology and / or fog vision techology. Even with those things, a driver would need to be constantly aware that most other vehicles wouldn't be fitted with this stuff.

Technology like that would be good, but I suspect fog will block more than just visible light. Then we will have people who think they can do 100+mph because their cars will stop for them.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - hillman

There have always been drivers who lead a charmed life while driving in fog.

The densest fog we get nowadays is just thick mist compared with smog of 50 years ago. I remember taking the windscreen off my motorcle combination and puttering along at about 5 mph guided by the kerb. I soon gathered a convoy of vehicles following me, one of them being a bus. There was an urban myth about drivers who knew the road and turned into their driveway had been shunted in the rear by somebody following them.

I was once puttered along a lonely stretch of the A56 between Sale and Stretford, where the motorway is now, passing behing a new Ford top-of-the-range car that was at right angles to the road. I was treated to a display of power and good driving as the car straightened out and began following me.

In the densest smog if you held out your arm you had difficulty seeing your fingers.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - gordonbennet
In the densest smog if you held out your arm you had difficulty seeing your fingers.

I've only a handful of times driven in fog like that, one evening probably 1972/3, i was driving a Transit van from Daventry back across Northampton and on home, as you say the lights and your own sight could barely penetrate and 10 mph was literally as fast as you could possibly go, truly frightening and in the swirling fog after a while you started to see things that weren't there, exhausting.

Another evening around the same years returning back to my digs after visiting my parents, thick fog which suddenly turned freezing, i wasn't aware of this till i almost missed the Bedford turn off the A1 at Sandy, braked and slithered straight past the junction inmy Hillman Super Minx estate, just to put a timeline on it.

A few times also on my regular runs in the mid 70's when i first started driving artics, i used to run from Northants up to Leeds and back, thick fogs the entire journey, almost in a state of hallucinations by the time i got back in the small hours.

Thank goodness we don't get fogs like that anymore.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - RT

There have always been drivers who lead a charmed life while driving in fog.

The densest fog we get nowadays is just thick mist compared with smog of 50 years ago. I remember taking the windscreen off my motorcle combination and puttering along at about 5 mph guided by the kerb. I soon gathered a convoy of vehicles following me, one of them being a bus. There was an urban myth about drivers who knew the road and turned into their driveway had been shunted in the rear by somebody following them.

I was once puttered along a lonely stretch of the A56 between Sale and Stretford, where the motorway is now, passing behing a new Ford top-of-the-range car that was at right angles to the road. I was treated to a display of power and good driving as the car straightened out and began following me.

In the densest smog if you held out your arm you had difficulty seeing your fingers.

I remember "pea-soupers" in the Black Country in the late '60s - you could see nothing beyond the end of the bonnet so passenger had to watch kerb and driver watch the white centre line - and panic on a roundabout where we lost sight of both sides at the same time.

I've also driven, well stopped of neccessity, in falling snow so heavy you couldn't even see the end of the bonnet - 9" fell in 20 mins, then it just stopped and the sun came out - suureal to say the least.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - corax
Technology like that would be good, but I suspect fog will block more than just visible light. Then we will have people who think they can do 100+mph because their cars will stop for them.

We need to go back to rear wheel drive, leaf spring suspension and drum brakes, that should concentrate peoples minds.

They can keep the modern body shell protection though, I'm not that cruel.

There are so many things now helping people from helping themselves that pretty soon they'll be moving around like Davros from Dr Who because they will have lost the use of their limbs.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - Andrew-T

In fog one needs strong rear lights and weak front ones. I have no idea what it must be like in a 'modern' car with huge candlepower facing forwards, lighting up the fog to make it more impenetrable. Reflective centre and edge markings are a godsend in fog, as long as they haven't worn thin or got covered in road muck.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - RT

If visibility is so poor that you need your fog lights on, then visibility clearly isn't good enough for 80mph! Do people just think it's safe because they have their fog lights on?

The stopping distance from 70mph is 96m - the arbitrary definition of fog is "visibility less than 100m" - dense fog is much less.

But facts, logic and common sense pass right over the heads of the numpties.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - hillman

Fog and freezing weather sometimes go together. By the time you see a hazard you are too close to it to stop.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - Cluedo
I have been staggered by the number of people driving around with no lights in the fog - because they have them set on auto they think it is all taken care of without realising the damn things don't know when it's foggy
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Fog - please leave your cars at home - Bolt
I have been staggered by the number of people driving around with no lights in the fog - because they have them set on auto they think it is all taken care of without realising the damn things don't know when it's foggy .

Yes its amazing how many are without lights in fog, but they should know as the dash shows the lights being off/on.

DRL`s at the front dont seem to have any effect as bright as they are, but look like a halo around headlight area, so they dont actually do anything

Fog - please leave your cars at home - P3t3r

If visibility is so poor that you need your fog lights on, then visibility clearly isn't good enough for 80mph! Do people just think it's safe because they have their fog lights on?

The stopping distance from 70mph is 96m - the arbitrary definition of fog is "visibility less than 100m" - dense fog is much less.

But facts, logic and common sense pass right over the heads of the numpties.

It's all relative really. It's rare to have fog so dense that we need fog lights and to reduce our speed. If you can't do 70mph then it's relatively dense in my opinion.

Fog - please leave your cars at home - RT

If visibility is so poor that you need your fog lights on, then visibility clearly isn't good enough for 80mph! Do people just think it's safe because they have their fog lights on?

The stopping distance from 70mph is 96m - the arbitrary definition of fog is "visibility less than 100m" - dense fog is much less.

But facts, logic and common sense pass right over the heads of the numpties.

It's all relative really. It's rare to have fog so dense that we need fog lights and to reduce our speed. If you can't do 70mph then it's relatively dense in my opinion.

If visibility less than 100m, then speed MUST be less than 70mph as it takes 96m to stop at that speed.

If visibility is more than 100m, it's not foggy!

Fog - please leave your cars at home - Smileyman

There is no doubt that as a motorist fog worries me more than any other weather condition - inability to see scares me - not because I can't drive safely in such conditions (man with red flag would be appropriate) but because so many motorists don't know how to behave in these conditions, the need to consider not just what can be seen but to allow for other motorists who may be driving too quickly or with poorly illimunated vehicles or both.

I know you can see me because I have my front and rear fog lights on (a stupid single rear fog light is better than none), but will you see me in time to react to my presence (if you need to) and just when will I see you - no fog lights means very late on indeed.

Are your windows really clear & clean, adding your own level of fog with misted or dirtly inside / outside windows (or both) just compounds the problem.

In these conditions worrying about speed cameras may become academic - will the image actually capture the number plate? - but again perhaps the motorway lane cameras will be close enough to overcome this problem.

Getting to your business meeting / school pickup / the shops etc by a certain time really is not as important as not getting there and ending up in hospital instead, or worse still causing some other innocent poor blighter to end up in hospital. I do hope delivery drivers and their bosses realise this, and behave accordingly. The week before Xmas may be peak season, loads of deliveries etc, but observing safe driving and sensible working hours will ensure that there is someone available to make tomorrow's deliveries too.