"Fog - Use Dipped Beams"
Discussion
...proclaimed the matrix sign on the A127 last week.
Early morning, fairly light fog to be fair (certainly not requiring foglights) but visibility not the best.
With such early morning greyness my default setting would be dipped beams anyway (as it has been for the last few months).
Of course, there were still a multitude of vehicles sans any kind of lights (not even sidelights) which on a fairly fast dual carriageway is an inconvenience for others.
This is not uncommon on the daily grind, especially on the M25. Despite heavy rain and spray, I will often see approx 40-50% of cars not using lights at all, which is quite frankly very dangerous.
Have we really come to this, that people can't think for themselves and need to be told when to turn on their lights? Is this the reason auto-lights and DRLs are being introduced - lowest common denominator motoring?
It makes me sad.
Early morning, fairly light fog to be fair (certainly not requiring foglights) but visibility not the best.
With such early morning greyness my default setting would be dipped beams anyway (as it has been for the last few months).
Of course, there were still a multitude of vehicles sans any kind of lights (not even sidelights) which on a fairly fast dual carriageway is an inconvenience for others.
This is not uncommon on the daily grind, especially on the M25. Despite heavy rain and spray, I will often see approx 40-50% of cars not using lights at all, which is quite frankly very dangerous.
Have we really come to this, that people can't think for themselves and need to be told when to turn on their lights? Is this the reason auto-lights and DRLs are being introduced - lowest common denominator motoring?
It makes me sad.
It would seem this is now endemic even from school age. When I were a lad (sic) we were taught the syllabus, and come year end you were handed an exam paper on whatever they deemed would adequately test your knowledge on the subject. Nowadays, I'm told kids are warned what to expect in the tests, and this is apparently the similar case at uni.
Spoon-feeding starts at an early age and doesn't seem to have a termination date in current society.
Spoon-feeding starts at an early age and doesn't seem to have a termination date in current society.
carlingofblack said:
I would also wager there are many drivers who don't even know what dipped beams actually means....
hell yeri spoke to a bird last night in an audi Q7 thing, she had her full beams on while following me, at lights i asked her why and she said they come on when dark and go off when light, its a factory setting, i told her to turn beams off but she said not its factory, fick cow, gave up and let her pull round me so she could do the blok in front and kept being flashed by on comming cars
Fleckers said:
carlingofblack said:
I would also wager there are many drivers who don't even know what dipped beams actually means....
hell yeri spoke to a bird last night in an audi Q7 thing, she had her full beams on while following me, at lights i asked her why and she said they come on when dark and go off when light, its a factory setting, i told her to turn beams off but she said not its factory, fick cow, gave up and let her pull round me so she could do the blok in front and kept being flashed by on comming cars
I refer you to my thread of a month or two back, should they let stupid people drive? Seems to me some basic common sense test is in order.
Fleckers said:
hell yer
i spoke to a bird last night in an audi Q7 thing, she had her full beams on while following me, at lights i asked her why and she said they come on when dark and go off when light, its a factory setting, i told her to turn beams off but she said not its factory, fick cow, gave up and let her pull round me so she could do the blok in front and kept being flashed by on comming cars
Had a similar experience some years ago. Woman driving with rear fog light glowing while I sat behind her in a queue. Asked her to cancel the rear fog. She hadn't a clue - hubby had switched it on when using the car in fog earlier and she had no idea where the switch was. i spoke to a bird last night in an audi Q7 thing, she had her full beams on while following me, at lights i asked her why and she said they come on when dark and go off when light, its a factory setting, i told her to turn beams off but she said not its factory, fick cow, gave up and let her pull round me so she could do the blok in front and kept being flashed by on comming cars
Several years ago, before automatic lights were common, one of my work colleagues was stopped by the police for driving at night with no lights.
When they pointed this out her response was "don't they come on automatically?".
Amazingly the BiB told her they didn't and showed her where the switch was.
Next day she was telling everyone about it...
Proof that a PhD doesn't make you smart!
When they pointed this out her response was "don't they come on automatically?".
Amazingly the BiB told her they didn't and showed her where the switch was.
Next day she was telling everyone about it...
Proof that a PhD doesn't make you smart!
Engineer1 said:
My car the fog lamps only turn on if the main beam is on, as the switch is the next stage on beyond a stop.
I think you will be mistaken about that. If the extra lights only come on with main beam they will be driving lights not fog lights. AFAIK it is illegal for fog lights to be able to be on at the same time as main beam. Similarly driving lights can only be on with main beam.I wonder if part of the problem (the part that's not caused by the general downturn in intelligence) is that most cars seem to have about a million buttons in them these days, printed with some bizarre glyph which would do the ancient Egyptians proud. Not to mention the current trend away from actual buttons into "soft buttons", which move around according to whether you're programming the radio, the air-con, the next-door neighbour's electric garage door, etc...
Bring back the simple, ergonomic dashboard IMHO, where all the buttons stay where they're damn well put.
Bring back the simple, ergonomic dashboard IMHO, where all the buttons stay where they're damn well put.
Engineer1 said:
My car the fog lamps only turn on if the main beam is on, as the switch is the next stage on beyond a stop.
Sounds like an Audi? In which case, IIRC, you have off/sides/dipped/dipped+front fogs. Main beam is still controlled on the stalk, and I think your fogs go off if you put main beam on, and back on when you return to dipped.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff