I ride a motorbike, as well as drive a car, fog lights are a real danger, as anyone who rides a motorbike will tell you. When a car with foglights on approachs me on my bike and it is raining the light from the car hits the water dropplets on the visor and refracts the light all over the visor causing very limited vision and is very uncomfy. So in my own opinon fog lights should not be fitted to cars at all, my car as fog lights fitted I have never used them for real,I used them once on a empty road to see what the fuss is all about and they give no imnprovement to the driving safety of the car, I could still drive it perfectly with them off. So now I know why drivers use them, If female then they probably dont even know they have them on, and if male they are probably using the wifes car and dont know how to turn them off.Or is it just vanity??
I agree with this. I have tried fog lights in foggy conditions and the improvement they give is very marginal, to say the least.
I very dense fog they may help you see the centre line and edge of the road a little better.
IMHO many are now fitted more as a styling feature than for practical purposes.
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I'm seriously considering removing the front fogs from my car to allow for a larger intercooler (and therefore more power! Haaahahahahaha!)
Does that make me uncool?
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I ride a motorbike, as well as drive a car, fog lights are a real danger, as anyone who rides a motorbike will tell you. When a car with foglights on approachs me on my bike and it is raining the light from the car hits the water dropplets on the visor and refracts the light all over the visor causing very limited vision and is very uncomfy. So in my own opinon fog lights should not be fitted to cars at all.
I drive a car, and bike headlights are a real danger. When a bike with healights on approaches me in my car, and it is raining or not the light from the bike hits my eyes and refracts all over the retina causing very limited vision and is very uncomfy. So in my opinion headlights should not be fitted to bikes at all.
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Now before everyone rises to CM's bait, wander outside and grab a pinch of salt from passing gritter lorry.....
No Dosh
mailto:Alan_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
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Perhaps the moderators might consider deleting all new threads about foglights, or am I the only person who is sick and tired of this subject being raised again and again? Change the record!
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Perhaps the moderators might consider deleting all new threads about foglights,
I'm still contemplating a "Foglight" thread. Watch this space.
DD, BR Moderator.
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Oh dear.I'm ever so sorry Joe for bringing up such a boring old issue. please feel free to ignore this thread and go and concentrate your intellect on something a little more taxing.
Regards,
Alf
Thanks for all the interesting angleson this one guys.
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Alf
No offence intended to you.
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Now before everyone rises to CM's bait, wander outside and grab a pinch of salt from passing gritter lorry..... No Dosh mailto:Alan_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
Apologies......
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Front fogs often cause dazzling at night on wet roads.
Fog lamps which are mounted low, are at the perfect azimuth angle to reflect off a wet road at approaching drivers.
They're also cheap and of poor optical quality, mounted in flimsy plastic trim which is easy to damage, not inspected for aim at the MOT. They're rubbish and so are the people who missuse them.
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Sounds as though the mere act of driving a motorbike in the rain is not much short of suicidal if you cannot see what is happening...
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Why do people talk so much rubbish about fog lights? It is illegal to use them in clear conditions, so advocating or admitting to their use on a public forum is not clever.
They might not dazzle you, but some people have more light-sensitive eyes than others. We're not all the same. Older drivers can be susceptible to glare. Driving with fogs on doubles the amount of light emitted, causing problems for some drivers. That makes it a selfish act. The user believes he can see better, but at the expense of on-coming drivers being able to see less clearly.
Anyone who insists on using foglights in clear weather should be pulled over and fined. Take it from me, you really don't make anyone think you're cool by using them. Everyone else thinks you're a p.f.d.
If you can't see well enough with just dipped headlights, try slowing down a bit.
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Travelling home from work tonight, many people thought that their fog lights have suddenly become snow lights (perhaps I should move this to the snow/ice thread). Anyhow, tonight I drove most of my journey home on sidelights as my whole journey consisted of bumper to bumper traffic moving at no more than 5 mph - if I was lucky, and took me nearly 3 hrs to travel 6 miles. Interesting to see how many headlights dimmed when cars came to a complete standstill due to the power consumption taken by powering these new snow lights. Me, I was quite happy tootling along on side lights, conserving battery power for the heater blower and rear window demister. Visibility wasn't a problem as the snow had made everything that much lighter to see.
Some muppets even had their rear snow lights on as well as the front ones.
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Travelling home from work tonight, many people thought that their fog lights have suddenly become snow lights (perhaps I should move this to the snow/ice thread). Anyhow, tonight I drove most of my journey home on sidelights as my whole journey consisted of bumper to bumper traffic moving at no more than 5 mph - if I was lucky, and took me nearly 3 hrs to travel 6 miles. Interesting to see how many headlights dimmed when cars came to a complete standstill due to the power consumption taken by powering these new snow lights. Me, I was quite happy tootling along on side lights, conserving battery power for the heater blower and rear window demister. Visibility wasn't a problem as the snow had made everything that much lighter to see. Some muppets even had their rear snow lights on as well as the front ones.
Dave
I did the same on my 12mile/4hour journey last night.
Was surprised how many people were crawling at 2mph with front fogs on; some even had read high-intensity fogs on too! Absolutely astonishing.
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Why do people talk so much rubbish about fog lights? It is illegal to use them in clear conditions, so advocating or admitting to their use on a public forum is not clever. They might not dazzle you, but some people have more light-sensitive eyes than others. We're not all the same. Older drivers can be susceptible to glare. Driving with fogs on doubles the amount of light emitted, causing problems for some drivers. That makes it a selfish act. The user believes he can see better, but at the expense of on-coming drivers being able to see less clearly. Anyone who insists on using foglights in clear weather should be pulled over and fined. Take it from me, you really don't make anyone think you're cool by using them. Everyone else thinks you're a p.f.d. If you can't see well enough with just dipped headlights, try slowing down a bit.
GrumpyOldGit, your post says it all. I'm with you 100%.
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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If you can\'t see well enough with just dipped headlights, try slowing down a bit.
Or pop down to Boots for an eye test (there half price at the moment)
(Glass-Tech)
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Apologies......
No need!
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Have to agree DD, we had heavy sleet here, which proptly froze caking everything in 1/2" of ice, including the car! Grrrrr!
The roads became polished ice, and a certain ilk of people thought it would be great to switch the fog lights on to make the ice sparkle and dazzle people coming the other way. These are the same people who wander aimlessly around town in tracksuits with a bag of chips on a saturday afternoon.
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I don't think I'm particularly cool or showy, but on occasions I admit to using my front fogs when the law says I shouldn't.
Most of my driving is in the dark unlit Highlands of Scotland. There are certain stretches of road which are renowned for their deer who have never learnt the 'green cross code'.
On these stretches only, I use my foglights as well just to give me that little extra edge.
A full grown stag coming through your windscreen, antlers and all could really ruin your day...terminally.
I hope that Plod sees it my way when he eventually catches up with me.
While I'm at it, I'll confess to also using my hazard warning lights when slowing down to a stop on these open stretches and leaving them on until I'm sure the driver who appears behind me has clicked that I have stopped in his path (Roadworks traffic lights etc.)
Regards,
Alf
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not sure I follow what the "edge" is? If foglights are mounted correctly they are on;y useful at low speed, and very close to the vehicle. Otherwise you are using them as driving lights: i.e. a main beam supplement. So either they are driving lights mounted too low, or fog lights angled too high, blinding the deer into submission:)
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I don't think I'm particularly cool or showy, but on occasions I admit to using my front fogs when the law says I shouldn't. Most of my driving is in the dark unlit Highlands of Scotland. There are certain stretches of road which are renowned for their deer who have never learnt the 'green cross code'. On these stretches only, I use my foglights as well just to give me that little extra edge. A full grown stag coming through your windscreen, antlers and all could really ruin your day...terminally.
Alf
Front fogs are not going to be much use to you. You need a set of long-range 'driving lamps'. Wire them to switch on from your main-beam circuit via a relay.
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Alf, I too use my front fog lights for the benfit of deer. (I drive a short distance through a deer park on a private road each day.) The difference is that as it's a private road I'm not breaking the law, and I switch my headlights off and use only fogs so the deer are not dazzled. That way they don't stand in the road staring at the car, or suddenly run across in panic as they can still see their surroundings. (I will only be driving at 15mph though, so have enough light from the fogs to stay on the road.)
Fog lights are really only of any use if it's foggy, dark, and there is not another vehicle in front of you.
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Most of my driving is in the dark unlit Highlands of Scotland. There are certain stretches of road which are renowned for their deer who have never learnt the 'green cross code'. On these stretches only, I use my foglights as well just to give me that little extra edge. A full grown stag coming through your windscreen, antlers and all could really ruin your day...terminally.
I used to live/work in the south west of France and there were many problems with deer (and I myself knocked one down - delicious eating though). I know that some people used to put an ultrasonic whistle on their car which the deer could pick up and move off. Not sure how effective it was but I am sure that it would do a better job than foggies.
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Work it out
Properly adjusted fog lights , mounted low will light the road tops 40 yards in front of the vehicle .
At any speed above about 20 mph most people and most vehicles will not have the reactions to avoid something picked out in that range .
So their help in driving, except in foggy conditions ( when you might well be doing 20 or less, or should be ) is an illusion .
When we drive in night conditions our eyes are constantly having to adjust to darkness, light and back to darkness .
People who drive on sidelights or foglights make this problem even greater.
So anything that increases the range of reaction makes this tiring problem worse .
Overall if there is little or no real value to the fog-light user, but distraction to other road users , it should be stopped.
Sadly it seems to be getting worse . I can't understand why- I have driven at night in other countries and can't remember this problem occuring.
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I used to live/work in the south west of France and there were many problems with deer (and I myself knocked one down - delicious eating though). I know that some people used to put an ultrasonic whistle on their car which the deer could pick up and move off. Not sure how effective it was but I am sure that it would do a better job than foggies.
I can see the replies now: "I was driving to work this morning, not a deer in sight and this bloke's driving towards me with his whistle switched on - completely drowned out the Phil Collins CD and upset the dog in the back - they should be fined"....
TIC guys :)
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If it's foggy, switch on your foglights.
If it's not, don't.
Er... that's it really. Not brain surgery is it?
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Ah, but what qualifies as foggy? A bit of mist in the field next to the road? A pea-souper?
Splodgeface
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Ah, but what qualifies as foggy?
When visibility is less than 100 metres.
www.highwaycode.gov.uk/21.shtml#201
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Interesting that they are sold here....
We had a major roo collision problem on the observatory cars in rural NSW.
These whistles are also sold in Oz for warning Roos that you are approaching, we did a blind test on the Observatory cars (lots of dusk time driving) and fitted them all with these whistles...but half had their internals removed without telling the drivers which ones.
After 6 months we removed them all....the cars with a working whistle had twice the Roo strike rate. Since the cars get shuffled every few days between shift staff we didnt think it was a driver effect but probably that it was more likely that the Roo would be startled and jump into the path of a car.
regards
Ian
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