Gloomy foggy weather and no lights
Discussion
J4CKO said:
Or the ones that only have one light because the other one failed last winter.
I think the Police should use it as a revenue generator, say £30 fine for a bulb being out but that gets you a voucher to take it to various car spares type places and get it sorted, like a producer but you have to go to Halfords and not the local Police station.
See the same cars on the way to work, week in week out with a bulb out, I have two headlights on my push bike ffs !
Front or rear? Some German cars only have 1 rear fog light. I think the Police should use it as a revenue generator, say £30 fine for a bulb being out but that gets you a voucher to take it to various car spares type places and get it sorted, like a producer but you have to go to Halfords and not the local Police station.
See the same cars on the way to work, week in week out with a bulb out, I have two headlights on my push bike ffs !
SuperchargedVR6 said:
J4CKO said:
Or the ones that only have one light because the other one failed last winter.
I think the Police should use it as a revenue generator, say £30 fine for a bulb being out but that gets you a voucher to take it to various car spares type places and get it sorted, like a producer but you have to go to Halfords and not the local Police station.
See the same cars on the way to work, week in week out with a bulb out, I have two headlights on my push bike ffs !
Front or rear? Some German cars only have 1 rear fog light. I think the Police should use it as a revenue generator, say £30 fine for a bulb being out but that gets you a voucher to take it to various car spares type places and get it sorted, like a producer but you have to go to Halfords and not the local Police station.
See the same cars on the way to work, week in week out with a bulb out, I have two headlights on my push bike ffs !
SuperchargedVR6 said:
codenamecueball said:
paulrockliffe said:
They should remove sidelights, they serve absolutely no purpose and enable people to drive without their headlights on.
the highway code said:
Rule 249
All vehicles MUST display parking lights when parked on a road or a lay-by on a road with a speed limit greater than 30 mph (48 km/h).
All vehicles MUST display parking lights when parked on a road or a lay-by on a road with a speed limit greater than 30 mph (48 km/h).
And are parking lights not different to 'sidelights'?
funkyrobot said:
bungz said:
One that does me is people using front fogs instead of dipped lights, what the hell is that about 
Cool, innit.I'm seeing more and more cars being driven by morons doing that. Sidelight and foglight combo. Great!
Or are you talking about people who do this all the time in clear conditions?
Perhaps it's just me, but I don't get blinded by oncoming traffic using just their bumper 'fog' lights. I don't even find it an inconvenience due to there being a low cut off of the bulbs (edit: compared to dipped or main beams)
I recall the someone saying on here many (many) years ago that the Police would start prosecuting these drivers, until Merc/Kia/Everyone started putting their DRLs in the same section which are arguably much brighter.
Is it just me?
I recall the someone saying on here many (many) years ago that the Police would start prosecuting these drivers, until Merc/Kia/Everyone started putting their DRLs in the same section which are arguably much brighter.
Is it just me?
Edited by Koan on Wednesday 7th December 15:29
Koan said:
Perhaps it's just me, but I don't get blinded by oncoming traffic using just their bumper 'fog' lights. I don't even find it an inconvenience due to there being a low cut off of the bulbs (edit: compared to dipped or main beams)
I recall the someone saying on here many (many) years ago that the Police would start prosecuting these drivers, until Merc/Kia/Everyone started putting their DRLs in the same section which are arguably much brighter.
Is it just me?
Bumping this thread as it's important.I recall the someone saying on here many (many) years ago that the Police would start prosecuting these drivers, until Merc/Kia/Everyone started putting their DRLs in the same section which are arguably much brighter.
Is it just me?
Edited by Koan on Wednesday 7th December 15:29
For me, more lights the better (except rear fog as they mask brake lights a bit).
Front fog light are of no issue for me. High beam is another matter (curse them)
I commute on a motorbike and I'm fed up of riding in drizzle, visor fogging up, covered in spray, on grey mornings, with silver cars driving around with no lights on. At times, very hard to see.
You need your lights on when it's dark, foggy, rainy, dusk, even when it's sunny. Ever tried driving towards the sun. Somtimes other drivers lights is pretty much all you can see.
Even more dangerouse are stationary vehicles on motorways, at the back of a queue with no lights on. Contributes to lots of crashes, partciulary when people are disctracted by phones!!!
Lights are one of the only defenses you have against other drivers who are ot paying attention.
Why not have them on all the time?
With advent of very bright rear LED lights most modern cars don't need fogs in all but extreme conditions, but there seems to be two other groups.
The ones who feel the need to be lit up like a international airport's landing strip at night and the ones that prefer the stealth approach and take pride in the fact they are hardly visible with just one dim rear light even in the worst of conditions, old land rover defenders and transits seem to be the worst for this.
The ones who feel the need to be lit up like a international airport's landing strip at night and the ones that prefer the stealth approach and take pride in the fact they are hardly visible with just one dim rear light even in the worst of conditions, old land rover defenders and transits seem to be the worst for this.
I recognise that this seemingly goes against the prevailing view, but to my mind people are too quick to put their headlights on. The extra-bright headlights on modern cars can cause considerable glare, which itself creates a risk as the eyes of drivers take time to re-adjust once the vehicle has passed.
Headlights are for seeing in the dark, sidelights are for being seen when it is dusk or dull or rainy. If you can look up the road and easily make out other vehicles in the distance regardless of whether or not they have any lights on, then you shouldn't have your headlights on (motorcycles excepted). If its not dark but just a bit dull, sidelights are more appropriate than headlights, in my view.
Also, if it's VERY foggy, you might well be justified in using just sidelights and foglights, if your headlights are reflecting back off the fog and reducing your ability to see.
Headlights are for seeing in the dark, sidelights are for being seen when it is dusk or dull or rainy. If you can look up the road and easily make out other vehicles in the distance regardless of whether or not they have any lights on, then you shouldn't have your headlights on (motorcycles excepted). If its not dark but just a bit dull, sidelights are more appropriate than headlights, in my view.
Also, if it's VERY foggy, you might well be justified in using just sidelights and foglights, if your headlights are reflecting back off the fog and reducing your ability to see.
Lil'RedGTO said:
to my mind people are too quick to put their headlights on
Although I understand your point, dips that are too high are irritating (agreed), but I wouldn't expect this to cause an accident.Not being seen however can be a very different story.
During the day, glare from headlights isn't an issue as your eye's are adjusted to day light conditions.
Given the above, I see net positive in always having your lights on.
The drawbacks are only minor irritations.
montyjohn said:
Lil'RedGTO said:
to my mind people are too quick to put their headlights on
Although I understand your point, dips that are too high are irritating (agreed), but I wouldn't expect this to cause an accident.Not being seen however can be a very different story.
During the day, glare from headlights isn't an issue as your eye's are adjusted to day light conditions.
Given the above, I see net positive in always having your lights on.
The drawbacks are only minor irritations.
There was a drawback though- made it noticeably slower.
funkyrobot said:
bungz said:
One that does me is people using front fogs instead of dipped lights, what the hell is that about
Cool, innit.I'm seeing more and more cars being driven by morons doing that. Sidelight and foglight combo. Great!
Secondly, when it's not foggy but merely gloomy/a bit dull...does it really matter if the front foglights are on instead of the headlights? The end result is that the car is illuminated by two lights at the front, just lower in the bumper, that's all. I know lots of people get riled up about front foglight use, but when you really think about it, is it really that much of a problem?
If the choice is no lights or foglights, I know I'd prefer people went for the latter nearly every time, at least on my dull, dismal winter commutes.
EDIT: Just realised, I quoted and commented on the exact same pair of posts 2 months ago. Didn't realise this was an old thread, sorry
Edited by Conscript on Friday 10th February 13:38
SuperchargedVR6 said:
Who actually does that? Some cars also have left or right parking lights from the indicator stalk when the car is off. Again, I've not seen one person use that function, EVER!
And are parking lights not different to 'sidelights'?
Me, everytime I park (briefly) facing the wrong-way at night.And are parking lights not different to 'sidelights'?
ukaskew said:
SuperchargedVR6 said:
Some cars also have left or right parking lights from the indicator stalk when the car is off. Again, I've not seen one person use that function, EVER!
Maybe they aren't as common as you think? I've never driven a car with this feature.Eth2312 said:
Sorry to admit this but I realised I was doing this the other day. I have automatic lights and assumed they would be on, but for some reason in the gloomy foggy weather the light sensor didn't detect this and didn't turn my main lights on, so I just had my DRL's on. Only realised after about the 5th person flashed me as I thought something was a drift...doh!
This is probably the case for quite a few, I've got automatic lights so they come on when they are needed right?I've almost re ended a Mercedes appearing out of the fog in front of me. Silver car with no lights on in thick fog.
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