Fog light use

[Sheepshanks]

The Spruce goose said:

The only time I have found fog lights work is peasoup fog, and I was travelling at 20mph.I find in normal fog they make fall difference and othertimes they justlight up the sides a bit.

In 30+ yrs of driving the only time I found them genuinely useful was in heavy snow, when the headlamps just created a while "wall" in front of me.

Foglamps seem to have changed over the years - they used to throw some light forward and sideways but certainly on both our current cars, Merc C Class and Honda Jazz, you'd be hard pushed to tell they're on from the driving seat.

I notice when turning out of our village onto the main road in foggy conditions that front fogs are visible fractionally before headlamps. That's probably what they're supposed to be for now - indicating the vehicle's presence.

The Spruce goose said:

When people drive with them on in other conditions I just think knobber as they are just a linerage to the old spot lights people use to buy.

It used to bug me but with their use as DRLs and cornering lights it bothers me less these days.

[4rephill]

I'm far less bothered by drivers driving around with their fog-lights on than I am by the number of numb-nuts who think it's perfectly okay to drive in the rain/fog or snow with no bloody lights on at all! (And funnily enough, they usually tend to be driving either white or silver cars!).

And the new bug-bear for Me are the Morons driving around at night on DRL's, oblivious to the fact that they've got no rear lights illuminated! - Complete twts!

[gothatway]

Does the law make any distinction between fog lights and spot lights or "driving" lights ? Quoted extracts only seem to refer to fogs.

[motco]

CanAm said:

I'm pretty sure that when I was a learner (many years ago) the Highway Code specifically referred to "fog or falling snow".

Edited by CanAm on Saturday 22 August 09:47

You're right, I recall that too. Also the use of the whip held up above your head as a signal of your intention to change direction! Joking apart, it did say that then but now I believe it is seriously reduced and defined as <100m. All the cars I've had with front under bumper fogs have been so pathetic that you almost needed a torch to see that they were on.

[tr7v8]

gothatway said:

Does the law make any distinction between fog lights and spot lights or "driving" lights ? Quoted extracts only seem to refer to fogs.

Spots or driving lights can only come on with main beam & MUST go off when dipped. Construction & Use regs.

[mph1977]

gothatway said:

Does the law make any distinction between fog lights and spot lights or "driving" lights ? Quoted extracts only seem to refer to fogs.

fog lights re positioned below the bumper and provide lighting in seriously reduced visibility , 'spot lights' / 'driving lights' are additional Main beam headlights and present a light throw similar to main beams ...

never mind the muppets who don;t know what mean beams are for ...

[Cliftonite]

Stoofa said:

Monkeylegend said:

My front fog lights are DRL's and I keep them on all the time

However, as you know, when in "DRL mode" they are not at full brightness at night.

They are, however, ludicrously bright at night when the muppet behind them has failed to switch on his "Nighttime Running Lights"

[TheInsanity1234]

Sheepshanks said:

The Spruce goose said:

The only time I have found fog lights work is peasoup fog, and I was travelling at 20mph.I find in normal fog they make fall difference and othertimes they justlight up the sides a bit.

In 30+ yrs of driving the only time I found them genuinely useful was in heavy snow, when the headlamps just created a while "wall" in front of me.

Foglamps seem to have changed over the years - they used to throw some light forward and sideways but certainly on both our current cars, Merc C Class and Honda Jazz, you'd be hard pushed to tell they're on from the driving seat.

I notice when turning out of our village onto the main road in foggy conditions that front fogs are visible fractionally before headlamps. That's probably what they're supposed to be for now - indicating the vehicle's presence.

The Yeti we've got has fantastic fog lights, as when you put the front fogs on, they put out so much light around the front bumper that if you look on the road just in front of the bonnet, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's daytime. We had to use them when it was incredibly foggy around here, and they really made a difference, as we could switch off the dipped beam as all that did was to make a wall of white light in front of us.

I think the mistake people are making is to put the fog lights on while the dipped beam is still on, I think the purpose of them is to provide a low level source of light which will light up the edge of the road without reflecting off the fog back into your face, so you can switch off the dipped beam. The Yeti will allow you to run foglights with the sidelights, and I've noticed this ability on a lot of cars. It's an unusual car if it prevents you from operating foglights unless the dipped beam is on.

[eccles]

4rephill said:

I'm far less bothered by drivers driving around with their fog-lights on than I am by the number of numb-nuts who think it's perfectly okay to drive in the rain/fog or snow with no bloody lights on at all! (And funnily enough, they usually tend to be driving either white or silver cars!).

A lot of cars these days have an 'auto' setting on their headlights. Works fine in the dark or in heavy rain, but when it's foggy and relatively bright, your lights stay off. Sadly many numpties out there don't actually think for themselves and turn their lights on themselves!

[Cooperman]

When we used to get 'proper' fog in this country the recommendation was to use just fog lights and to turn the headlights off, leaving just fog lights & sidelights. The idea was that the low-set fog lights would get 'under' the fog and illuminate the sides of the road without causing vertical glare. These days dipped headlights have a better cut-off compared to the old Lucas headlights and fog lights are basically a 'fashion accessory'.

[motco]

When we used to have proper fog, in the fifties and sixties, London Transport buses had a single fog light (more like a spot actually) mounted very low on the nearside aimed at the kerb. It seemed to work.

Like this:

[davepoth]

Cooperman said:

When we used to get 'proper' fog in this country the recommendation was to use just fog lights and to turn the headlights off, leaving just fog lights & sidelights. The idea was that the low-set fog lights would get 'under' the fog and illuminate the sides of the road without causing vertical glare. These days dipped headlights have a better cut-off compared to the old Lucas headlights and fog lights are basically a 'fashion accessory'.

I've only had fog that bad once, and the foglights did indeed do the job when it was so dense I had to go to sidelights. Good thing they did too, as I would never have seen the deer standing in the middle of the road otherwise.

I turn them on at the same time as the rear fog in restricted visibility (spray on the motorway especially) - they don't dazzle, and more lights are better than fewer in those circumstances.

[Crush]

A few areas I drive through seem to have a lot of drivers using fog lights with side lights at night.

Some drivers seem to have added ultra-bright bulbs to where the fogs are too, the other night I couldn't see in front of me due to an oncoming fog-lighter until I put the spot lights on.

[anonymous-user]

motco said:

When we used to have proper fog, in the fifties and sixties, London Transport buses had a single fog light (more like a spot actually) mounted very low on the nearside aimed at the kerb. It seemed to work.

Like this:

I would surmise fogs light were invented for road position assistance and extra visibility to oncoming traffic.

Roads are better signed, painted nowadays, so they are less effective , I find front ones only good in very thick fog, other times there use just seems like vanity.

I imagine front ones where only effectively to be used 10-20mph due to the condition of visibility.

Edited by The Spruce goose on Sunday 23 August 22:08

[4rephill]

eccles said:

4rephill said:

I'm far less bothered by drivers driving around with their fog-lights on than I am by the number of numb-nuts who think it's perfectly okay to drive in the rain/fog or snow with no bloody lights on at all! (And funnily enough, they usually tend to be driving either white or silver cars!).

A lot of cars these days have an 'auto' setting on their headlights. Works fine in the dark or in heavy rain, but when it's foggy and relatively bright, your lights stay off. Sadly many numpties out there don't actually think for themselves and turn their lights on themselves!

That may be a part of the problem, but I think it's more a case of people not having enough basic common sense to understand their lights are not only for them to see where they are going, but also so that they can be seen by others.

'Auto' lights or not, sadly I think these people are just too stupid to turn their lights on!

[Osito]

I have only used fog lights once in my entire life. As a very young driver many years ago, I put my fog lights on because it was, er, foggy, driving on a dual carriageway at night time. I was probably driving 60 because of the conditions, but the more experienced drivers were obviously happy with 70-80, so I was being frequently overtaken. I have never ever had so many irate drivers flashing their headlights at me, as they drove past; it was well over 50% of the drivers flashed me. I even stopped to check my rear lights, thinking that maybe they weren't working. Never used fog lights since.

Of course, when people have their front fog lights on you can't really flash them ...

[Some Gump]

OP,
Regardless of the highway code perspective, you might want to consider the most important rule which is that fog lights = wker.

If you don't want people to presume you're a massive tosser, best leave them switched off.

[WD39]

Monkeylegend said:

My front fog lights are DRL's and I keep them on all the time

Sorry I'm Confused. My DRLs and fog lights are separate systems.DRLs come on automatcally when starting the engine and the fog lights illuminate when I switch them on.
Also, fog lights beam low down, almost at kerb level to aid vision, but you see DRLs at all positions low, high, vertical and horizontal. What gives man? (apologies, Old hippie)

[Hamish Finn]

WD39 said:

Monkeylegend said:

My front fog lights are DRL's and I keep them on all the time

Sorry I'm Confused. My DRLs and fog lights are separate systems.DRLs come on automatcally when starting the engine and the fog lights illuminate when I switch them on.
Also, fog lights beam low down, almost at kerb level to aid vision, but you see DRLs at all positions low, high, vertical and horizontal. What gives man? (apologies, Old hippie)

Don't be confused, he hasn't got front fog lights. It was (I think) an attempt at "humour"....

[davepoth]

Crush said:

A few areas I drive through seem to have a lot of drivers using fog lights with side lights at night.

That's usually due to blown dipped headlamp bulbs...