Anti-Foglight Brigade

BinnsY said:
Fog lights. Its all in the name.

As others have said, they can dazzle other drivers and unless visibility is less than 100M there is no need for them. In my 5 years of driving I can count the times I have genuinely needed fog lights on one hand.
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I don't believe some of you are using the "they're are called fog lights" argument. You do realise that there are more things than fog which can cause reduced visibility, right? Like for instance....heavy rain?

By your logic, should I only use my sidelights when driving sideways?
 
Conscript said:
Yes, rear fogs on as well. I didn't turn them on to increase how far I could see, simply to make sure I was more visible.



I find it hard to believe that you would be that dazzled by the foglights of a following car in daylight on a rain sodden road that you would have to dip your mirror (unless it's because the Elise is that low, but even so I cant see that being a problem unless the following car is very close - which it wouldn't be in these sort of conditions).

As above I had several cars behind me with their front foglights on. Not once was I dazzled. It only made them easier to see in my mirror. Please don't make out that my motives were selfish. Visibility was severely impaired and I use some extra lighting to ensure my car was as visible as possible. I wasn't doing it for kicks...
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I'm just thinking back to last time I drove in similar scenario, that's all. As you know it gets very dark, the daylight is certainly gone. And yes that time I did have to dip my mirror. Not nice really.
 
Vigoro said:
That just says to use headlights, fog lights are optional to use.
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"Use common sense when it comes to fog lights. Some drivers are worried about dazzling other motorists, and some simply don't know how to turn them on."

This I did. Visibility was severely impaired so I use my fog lights to make the car more visible to other road users.

The same common sense that made me realise that a light designed to increase the visibility of your car in fog could also be used to increase your visibility in other types of water vapour.
 
Conscript said:
Seriously?
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Yes.

I've seen my fair share of torrential rain while doing the Manchester-Glasgow run and never once needed front fog lights.

I've used them twice in the last 10 years. Both times it was very foggy.

Front fog lights are not to make you more visible to other motorists - they have a wide and short beam to light up kerbs and other road furniture.
 
The thing is you still have to slow down regardless, as others have said they give off omni directional light and can dazzle other drivers. Your normal headlights and taillights should give off more than enough light in heavy rain.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting#Front_fog_lamps said:
Front fog lamps

Front fog lamps provide a wide, bar-shaped beam of light with a sharp cutoff at the top, and are generally aimed and mounted low.[10][11][12] They may be either white or selective yellow. They are intended for use at low speed to increase the illumination directed towards the road surface and verges in conditions of poor visibility due to rain, fog, dust or snow. As such, they are often most effectively used in place of dipped-beam headlamps, reducing the glareback from fog or falling snow, although the legality varies by jurisdiction of using front fog lamps without low beam headlamps.
Use of the front fog lamps when visibility is not seriously reduced is often prohibited (for example in the United Kingdom), as they can cause increased glare to other drivers, particularly in wet pavement conditions, as well as harming the driver's own vision due to excessive foreground illumination.[13]
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Sums it up quite accurately.
 
fog lights + rain is a real pain, seriously dazzling especially on country lanes.
rain makes it worse because each drop on your windscreen reflects it.

if you could see and make out a blue saab around 60m behind you do you really think you needed fog lights? really?
 
MagicBoy said:
Front fog lights are not to make you more visible to other motorists - they have a wide and short beam to light up kerbs and other road furniture.
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As above I had several cars behind me with their front foglights on. Not once was I dazzled. It only made them easier to see in my mirror.
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The point of their design is moot. In this instance, I was glad of cars behind me using theirs.

BinnsY said:
The thing is you still have to slow down regardless, as others have said they give off omni directional light and can dazzle other drivers. Your normal headlights and taillights should give off more than enough light in heavy rain.
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I repeat my statement that I find it hard to believe you would be dazzled by foglights during daylight. Night time, fine, I'd agree, but even on an overcast rainy day it was not dark enough that the contrast would be enough for a foglight to be dazzling. I was not dazzled by anyone elses foglight, and I repeat, they simply made the other cars on the road more visible.
 
NathanE said:
What's the point of this thread if you're just going to reject all the advice?
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Because whilst I understand fog light hatred and usually agree that they are overused by some, in this instance, I was surprised that someone would start flashing me for using them in a reasonable fashion.
 
I don't know where people get on their high horses when he's said it was reduced visibility and apparently fog lights by design point down not omni-directional. Hmmm
 
GolfNovember90 said:
just re-read the OP, hadnt realized you were talking about today, why did you need them at all in daylight? :S i dont get it
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NathanE said:
True. If the downpour was THAT bad, it wouldn't be daylight at all. At least in my experience, but I'm no meteorologist :D
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Conscript said:
The spray on the A2 is incredibly bad as the tarmac is poor grade in areas - a car without lights could easily be rendered invisible int he downpour we've just had. .
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Christ.

The road is poorly surfaced. And very busy, with heavy traffic. This means that there is a huge amount of spray kicked up even when the rain has eased. The issue was not so much the rain, but the water on the road caused by the earlier downpours.

As you will notice, I also said that I turned off the fogs the moment I left the motorway. That is because as soon as you get on the slip road, visibility is much much better. Seriously, it's that much of a difference - pull off the carriageway and the spray is gone. Indeed, by the time I got off the A2 the rain was much lighter and clearing. But the motorway was still tremendously wet, hence the problems with spray and visibility.
 
Conscript said:
Christ.

The road is poorly surfaced. And very busy, with heavy traffic. This means that there is a huge amount of spray kicked up even when the rain has eased. The issue was not so much the rain, but the water on the road caused by the earlier downpours.
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i still fail to see how putting on your fogs helped at all?
 
L0rdMike said:
I don't have a problem with people having fogs on in rain if visibility is extremely poor.
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Same.

Can't say that I've ever been blinded by fog lights (plenty of times by full beams though! :mad:). I personally find that the front fog lights illuminate the edges of the road, which are missed by the normal dipped headlights.
 
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