Use of fog lights when there is no fog?

goggles13 said :

fog lights can also be used in low visibility conditions – such as heavy rain during the day.

don’t get me started on the number of cars that don’t use their normal headlights during fog, rain etc, but their car is silver, grey or something else that blends in.

and also don’t get me started on those who think that it is cool to hog the right lane….move over when you see a faster car come up behind you! traffic in canberra is not so bad that you can’t move to the right lane if you have to turn right. just don’t be in the right lane for 10km preparing for the right turn!!

I agree that you should stay left unless overtaking (I do). However, if you are in less than an 80 zone and the person in the right land is doing the speed limit and you are wanting to pass them because you are speeding, they are doing nothing illegal, but you are. The right lane doesn’t give you the ability to drive at 15 k’s above the speed limit.

JC said :

Yep but they are not as bright as a fog light. The main difference between fogs and high beam is the fog light is angled to the ground to shine under the fog. Intensity wise though both are much the same. Running lights are not this bright.

I tend to agree. Those fog lights seem less bright than lob beam headlights. They don’t bother me. What really pisses me off is people with badly adjusted lights or the idiots who drive with their high beams on in daytime.

As far as driving skill goes, and complete disregard for road rules, Canberra drivers are no exception.

What, like flashing your highbeams to teach someone a lesson? 😉

Holden Caulfield said :

Some LED DRLs are pretty damn bright, especially the crude HSV ones. However, just as all DRLs are not created equally, nor are foglights. I find most foglights aren’t actually that bad in terms of distracting oncoming drivers and certainly no worse than some LED DRLs, which I generally have no dramas with.

The only foglights that have really pissed me off started around about the time of the VT Commodore SS. We used to have a 2001 Outback and the foglights on that were barely an improvement on a holding up a candle, haha.

Must admit for the most part running fogs at night just makes the drivers look like wankers, after all fogs are directed downwards so the only time they shine into the eyes is when you meet one coming over a rise in the road. But the law bans them because they can be distracting as my experience the other night showed. Who knows another driver may well have taken evasive action and ended up in the ditch on the side of the road.

“The driver of a vehicle fitted with front fog lights or rear fog lights must not operate the fog light unless the driver is driving in fog or other hazardous weather conditions causing reduced visibility.”

JC said :

As a test I turned the ones fitted to my car on the other night to see what they actually do with no fog around

Says it all really.

Every driver is a better driver than someone else, and nothing I do is wrong. That’s what’s wrong with most drivers. We’re all guilty of it.

Clown Killer said :

It’s a simple fact that if you find other drivers using for lights inappropriately a threat then your best bet would be to drive straight to the road transport office and hand in your drivers license and tell them that you’re simply too incompetent to drive a vehicle.

You have 100% control over what you do. None over what everyone else on the road is doing. End of story.

I hope you were really pissed when you wrote this story, Clown Killer.

“End of story” does not end with your “story”.

(Sorry).

Admittedly JC I used to drive of an evening with the low fog lights on to light up the car a little more in defence of collisions until my son told me it was against the law and unnecessary [teenager] LOL.

Some people owning their first vehicle with fog lights simply are totally unaware and allowances for those people should be taken into consideration and not disrespectfully termed ‘clowns’.

Very Busy said :

Just so I know, could you give me some examples of makes and models of cars that are fitted with DRL’s and are described as such in the owners handbook?

All new model Audi have DRL, but only models fitted with xenon headlights will have the brighter LED DRLs.

All new HSVs have LED DRLs.

Many new Mercedes models, likewise and all new Porsche models.

Some Skoda models have LED DRLs, and you’ll start to see a lot more on Volkswagens now, too, with the new Golf and Polo GTIs having LED DRLs. All Golfs now have DRLs, but if they have regular halgoen headlights, it’s just the inner globes that use a regular filament globe. They’re quite effective actually.

Some BMWs have DRLs, too, although mostly the angel eyes style and AFAIK none are yet fitted with LED style lighting. IT’ll only be a matter of time, though, I suspect.

As far as I’m concerned you can’t have too many lights on during the day, high beams and foglights aside, of course. Mandatory DRLs would at least cover for the fools that drive in poor daytime conditions, such as heavy cloud/rain, where visibility of other cars on the road is greatly affected.

yeah I have seen plod VW as well. Officer Wayne Kerr at wheel obviously. Seriously, these cool lights below the bumper are a pox needing to be erased. An irritating offence eaSIER TO DETECT THAN SPEEDING. FFS, why not do something about it? How about a zero tolerance month, like speeding.

Very Busy said :

Just so I know, could you give me some examples of makes and models of cars that are fitted with DRL’s and are described as such in the owners handbook?

Any new Holden HSV, Ford Performance Vehicle, Most sports cars, and most “medium cost’ european cars will have them (could be an extra).

If you run a search on google images for DRL you can see a range on different cars (some will be after-market).

Usually there are a strip of LEDs either around the headlight (in a line), or are bulked together where fog lights would usually be.

http://www.zcars.com.au/images/2010-hsv-eseries-2-r81.jpg

Holden Caulfield said :

I agree with the fog light theory, but the number of new cars fitted with daytime running lights is increasing. These lights are perfectly legal. On some cars the DRLs are fitted low-ish to the ground, where you might normally expect to see foglights.

Just so I know, could you give me some examples of makes and models of cars that are fitted with DRL’s and are described as such in the owners handbook?

Even if there is a car in Canberra with DRL’s, they shouldn’t be used at NIGHT which is what JC (the originator of this thread) has highlighted as a legitimate issue.

On another note, what hope do we have – I saw a police Volkswagon van driving around during a clear night recently with its fog lights on. Am I correct in thinking that these particular police vehicles are used for accident investigation work?

JC said :

Yep but they are not as bright as a fog light. The main difference between fogs and high beam is the fog light is angled to the ground to shine under the fog. Intensity wise though both are much the same. Running lights are not this bright.

Some LED DRLs are pretty damn bright, especially the crude HSV ones. However, just as all DRLs are not created equally, nor are foglights. I find most foglights aren’t actually that bad in terms of distracting oncoming drivers and certainly no worse than some LED DRLs, which I generally have no dramas with.

The only foglights that have really pissed me off started around about the time of the VT Commodore SS. We used to have a 2001 Outback and the foglights on that were barely an improvement on a holding up a candle, haha.

fog lights can also be used in low visibility conditions – such as heavy rain during the day.

don’t get me started on the number of cars that don’t use their normal headlights during fog, rain etc, but their car is silver, grey or something else that blends in.

and also don’t get me started on those who think that it is cool to hog the right lane….move over when you see a faster car come up behind you! traffic in canberra is not so bad that you can’t move to the right lane if you have to turn right. just don’t be in the right lane for 10km preparing for the right turn!!

With regards to DRL’s (Daytime Running Lights), and the Australian Design Rules……

The daytime running lamp shall switch OFF automatically when the front
fog lamps or headlamps are switched ON, except when the latter are
used to give intermittent luminous warnings at short intervals.

http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/LegislativeInstrumentCompilation1.nsf/0/AD0ABC1330FAE9BFCA2575FC0030BA3B/$file/ADR1300Am3Compilation.pdf

deye said :

Deref said :

If you’re referring to those low-mounted lights, I don’t think they’re fog lights, are they? Aren’t fog lights yellow?

newer ones can also be white.

All headlights are required to be white, yellow ones are not legal.

I have worked out that the people who use their fog lights when it’s not foggy are just morons who are making up for their small penis. They do not make you or your car any cooler, they only succeed in blinding other drivers when you’re not driving in fog.

I don’t see how you cannot know they are on as they are required to be separately switched from your main headlights. Plus given they’re almost all factory fitted these days, there is a warning light on your dash board to indicate you have them on (just like the high beam indicator).

Given seeing a police car on the road enforcing the law is the equivalent to winning lotto, there’s zero chance of changing people’s behaviour with fog lights, or any other road rule that are mostly just optional guidelines these days.

Holden Caulfield said :

I agree with the fog light theory, but the number of new cars fitted with daytime running lights is increasing. These lights are perfectly legal. On some cars the DRLs are fitted low-ish to the ground, where you might normally expect to see foglights.

Yep but they are not as bright as a fog light. The main difference between fogs and high beam is the fog light is angled to the ground to shine under the fog. Intensity wise though both are much the same. Running lights are not this bright.

Clown Killer said :

It’s a simple fact that if you find other drivers using for lights inappropriately a threat then your best bet would be to drive straight to the road transport office and hand in your drivers license and tell them that you’re simply too incompetent to drive a vehicle.

You have 100% control over what you do. None over what everyone else on the road is doing. End of story.

So let me get this right. Other driver does wrong thing, startles me and you are suggesting I hand my licence in? Hmmm why? I had full control over the car and handled the situation just fine, my point however was so many people seem to be using these things when they shouldn’t it isn’t funny. It won’t be long before someone actually causes an accident, I mean to say the road rules ban their use except in poor viability for a very good reason. I take it you don’t condone the use of high beams when close to other traffic, so why are fog lights any different?

PS what I am seeing is most certainly fog lights not day time running lights.

It’s a simple fact that if you find other drivers using for lights inappropriately a threat then your best bet would be to drive straight to the road transport office and hand in your drivers license and tell them that you’re simply too incompetent to drive a vehicle.

You have 100% control over what you do. None over what everyone else on the road is doing. End of story.

Don’t mix fog lights with DRL (daytime running lights), they wont be anywhere near as bright.

If you ever see someone with fog lights on, slow down, dont stare at the lights, focus on the road in front of you. I also flash them a few times with my high beams so they learn. I know two wrongs dont make a right, but they need to be reminded they’re doing something wrong.

As far as driving skill goes, and complete disregard for road rules, Canberra drivers are no exception. It was even proved on the last driving related note, that some riotACT members don’t know when/where to indicate on a roundabout.

I’m surprised there haven’t been many responses to the effect of “But my car has driving lights not foglights and I’m allowed to have them on blah blah bullshit”

If you’re vehicle is fitted with rear fog lights and there is someone behind you driving with their high-beams on, it probably because your rear fog lights are on and you are pissing them off.

I agree with the fog light theory, but the number of new cars fitted with daytime running lights is increasing. These lights are perfectly legal. On some cars the DRLs are fitted low-ish to the ground, where you might normally expect to see foglights.

Well my car has what i think is a good feature, which should be the standard

You have to consciously turn them on, as they automatically revert to the off state when turning the car on.

It certainly annoys me the number of people driving around with both fog lights and high beam on all the time.

Deref said :

If you’re referring to those low-mounted lights, I don’t think they’re fog lights, are they? Aren’t fog lights yellow?

newer ones can also be white.

Deref said :

If you’re referring to those low-mounted lights, I don’t think they’re fog lights, are they?

Yes, they’re fog lights.

Deref said :

Aren’t fog lights yellow?

They were in 1985, but technology has changed recently.

Rear-mounted fog-lights are just as bad, too. The only time I’ve seen them in use is at night time, and usually in the rain, causing a major visibility hazard (dazzling) to anyone following nearby.

Until there’s some fear of getting booked, nothing will change.

I agree wholeheartedly,JC. I’ve railed about these “wanker lights” on RA before. The fact that there is no enforcement action taken (I’ve seen many a cop car sail by these morons without a flicker of interest) show just how morally bankrupt the Stanhope govt is about road safety.

They can easily ping drivers a few k over the speed limit by robot speed cameras, all in the name of road safety, but not actually do anything about an easily-detected hazard that requires a cop presence and action.

Stanhope and the traffic authorities continued bleating about “speed kills” is hollow when these morons with wanker lights are allowed to continue endangering everyone else with absolute impunity.

Something that pisses me off also.

I put it down to the moronic attitude of a vast number of ACT motorists who either have…
a.) no knowledge of the road rules
b.) simply couldn’t care less as they believe the rules don’t apply to them, or
c.) plain incompetent

Just add it to the list of being able to stop wherever you like, ignore traffic lights, fail to give way to traffic ALREADY ON THE ROUNDABOUT, performing U-Turns at traffic lights or indeed where-ever you want……….

I put it down to the distinct lack of policing here in the ACT compared to other states.

When was the last time you heard of anyone copping a ticket for the improper use of fog lights? I doubt you have and I doubt that you will, even if those foglights, combined with poorly adjusted headlights, dazzle and blind oncoming traffic.

If you’re referring to those low-mounted lights, I don’t think they’re fog lights, are they? Aren’t fog lights yellow?

There is one non fog time when they are handy to have on and that’s when you are driving in the national park at night, they help show up the rabbits, foxes and wombats.

It is silly to drive with them on with no fog, I agree.

But I don’t think many people realise they have them switched on, or even that it is illegal/not required

There are too many gadgets/indicators lights, etc. on modern cars I believe. I think it is difficult for a lot of drivers to know exactly what they have in operation.

Very annoying for sure.

JC said :

Maybe the drivers think they look cool.

Maybe they think it is the High Beam.

I did say ‘choose’ to have them on, in your case it would appear to be accidental which I doubt is the case for most. Besides even if they did accidentally turn them on it should be obvious (except in daylight) that they are on even more so because the law states that there should be a light on the dash, just like high beams to warn the driver.

Out of interest for the past 2 weeks I have been driving my wife to work at the airport at around 4:30am and I would say that probably 10-20% of all vehicles at that hour are running around with them on for no good reason. Maybe the drivers think they look cool.