Front fog lights

[oldfatfool]

Illegal too and car should not even be wired to allow this configuration. My car cannot even do this.

Are you sure, can you link to that law please?

 

[Archie_tect]

Back around 1978 Volvo 200 series were, I think, the first to have daylight running lights (then they were just switched on side lights then)
For fun we used to flash the drivers and watch them get really irate as they were often flashed trying to tell them they had left their lights on. Mostly they waved their arms about and you could see them shouting "I know!!".
Fairly quickly the drivers seemed to have the daylight lights disconnected as they all then seemed to not have them on after a while.

Then there was beeping at any car that was reversing and seeing them slam on their brakes and looking round for a car.

So that was you was it.... never got irate mind or turned them off Sweden's dark through the winter it made sense .... so is the NE from 3.30pm til 8am.... life's too short to bother with arm waving shouty people. And as for causing mayhem when people are reversing for fun... you should know better OTH

 

[smokeysmoo]

FYI Peugeot and Citroen electrical systems automatically default such items to their off position when the ignition is switched off.

So if you have had your fog light(s) on and forget to switch them off they will not come on when you re-start the engine. Same applies to the windscreen wipers and rear wiper for instance.

My point? If you see someone driving a French car, (I don't count Renault's as they are just odd), and they have their fog light(s) turned on in inappropriate conditions, then you can be sure that the driver is a cock womble and then you can give them a wide berth.

Front fogs are feckin' uselss in anything other than a full on pea souper, and even then only if you believe yourself to be the only car around, ie: if you are in a line of traffic and you can see the rear lights of the car in front, turn the feckers off

 

[snailracer]

I have to admit that I do occasionally use them when its not foggy because the dipped headlights on our Z4 are pathetic: they are properly adjusted, bulbs are good, but maybe because they are so low to the ground they don't really illuminate the sides of the road very well.....

Good headlights aren't supposed to light up the road near the car, they are supposed to illuminate things in the distance. Lighting the road near the car actually degrades your night vision, so you are more likely to miss seeing something that is less brightly illuminated in the distance.

...So on winding country roads in the dark I tend to use them to give better visibility as there's usually quite a bit of traffic so full beams aren't an option. They do get turned off again once I'm back on a a road with street lights. I know it annoys some people, but as it isn't actually affecting them and it keeps me a bit safer then I don't see what the problem is.

You don't know that.

 

[Over The Hill]

So that was you was it.... never got irate mind or turned them off Sweden's dark through the winter it made sense .... so is the NE from 3.30pm til 8am.... life's too short to bother with arm waving shouty people. And as for causing mayhem when people are reversing for fun... you should know better OTH

I was young and not over the hill back then.
Also on buying a car (some heap of rust usually) it was always the done thing to see how fast it would go. Friends police spec Granada did 130.
I am dreamig of my Dolomite Sprint now

 

[Over The Hill]

Not according to Kitchin's Road Transport Law.

I thought it was a requirement but it is not (looked up myself)

BUT when could you legally use fog lights with side lights? If foggy you are required to have main beams on (fogs dont repace this requirement). If not foggy then you must not have the fogs on.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I thought it was a requirement but it is not (looked up myself)

BUT when could you legally use fog lights with side lights? If foggy you are required to have main beams on (fogs dont repace this requirement). If not foggy then you must not have the fogs on.

I think it must be an odd legal quirk. My understanding from reading Kitchin is that front fog lights are an acceptable substitute for dipped headlights (it lays out the regs if you use them like this).

Of course, my copy is not up to date so the detail of the law might have changed.

 

[Archie_tect]

I'm sure you don't need a bloke with a red flag in front of steam engines.

 

[Crankarm]

My old KA doesn’t have any fog lights on the front, just one on the back, like others on here I don't get the fog lights on when there's no fog thing.

By having them on when it is not foggy these drivers are telling other road users - bellend approaching.

 

[Paul.G.]

Its imply because these drivers are either morons or complete c**ks , if you get the angle right, a good blast with the main beam gives them a taste of their own medicine. I know two wrongs don't make a right but it certainly makes me feel that little bit better!!

 

[Peteaud]

The current VW polo early models the "fog lights" are on all the time as driving lights. Later this changed to the headlights being on, however, the fogs then act as cornering lights and go on when the steering wheel is turned.

My honda has fogs, they have about the same power as a small candle, so its not worth turning them on.

 

[Accy cyclist]

It is illegal to use fog lights when it isnt foggy.

Yeah but nobody does anything about it! These fog light (in no fog) pillocks will be the same ones who call cyclists for having "illegal" flashing rear lights!

 

[snorri]

I have to admit that I do occasionally use them when its not foggy because the dipped headlights on our Z4 are pathetic:
they are properly adjusted, bulbs are good, but maybe because they are so low to the ground they don't really illuminate the sides of the road very well. So on winding country roads in the dark I tend to use them to give better visibility as there's usually quite a bit of traffic so full beams aren't an option. They do get turned off again once I'm back on a a road with street lights. I know it annoys some people, but as it isn't actually affecting them and it keeps me a bit safer then I don't see what the problem is.

If you feel a need to improve visibility, you may neeed an eye check, or to drop your speed a bit. Just because others are driving at similar speeds does not mean they are seeing adequately either.
.Fog lights DO affect others, by distracting attention from other potential dangers.
It is an indication of a selfish attitude to admit you are using fog lights as an act of self preservation at the expense of the safety of other road users.

 

[Over The Hill]

If you feel a need to improve visibility, you may neeed an eye check, or to drop your speed a bit. Just because others are driving at similar speeds does not mean they are seeing adequately either.
.Fog lights DO affect others, by distracting attention from other potential dangers.
It is an indication of a selfish attitude to admit you are using fog lights as an act of self preservation at the expense of the safety of other road users.

Agreed. I had a rant on this last night. But do note the author is driving a BMW so you do need to lower your expectations somewhat.

 

[Over The Hill]

Its imply because these drivers are either morons or complete c**ks , if you get the angle right, a good blast with the main beam gives them a taste of their own medicine. I know two wrongs don't make a right but it certainly makes me feel that little bit better!!

You have to get the timing right to flick to main beam soon enough to blind them back but not too soon that they put on their main beams too!
I dont see it as mean doing this. I am telling a driver that he is blinding me while driving twoards him. I do think that they should be keen to know this for their own safety.