Foggy days – use your lights!

54-11 said :

Good on you, Al. Hit two of my pet peeves in one – morons who don’t turn their lights on when they should and other morons who turn their supplementary lights on when they shouldn’t.

Makes you wonder about the mentality of the people we have to share the roads with.

You should always remember that 50% of the worlds population is of below average intelligence.

Therefore, on any given day, half the cars you pass on the road are likely to be driven by stupid people. Some of them are right down on the bottom of the IQ bell curve, and would be classified as extremely stupid people, but they are still able to drive (and vote and procreate), just like the intelligent folks. Just keep at the forefront of your thoughts while on the road that there are huge numbers of very thick boofheads around you, and they will continuously do lots and lots of really stupid things.

This one simple concept explains most of what you see on the roads every day. In fact it explains most of what goes on in the whole world every day.

caak said :

What about all the nuckle heads who drive around at dusk (close to dark) under street lights with no lights on at all. This has got to be more dangerous then someone leaving fog lights on when there is no fog.

Almost every evening you can see examples of this.

Dunno about that. As I posted once before I have been startled a few times by cars using fog lights when there is no fog. So would probably put them on a par as driving without anylights.

qbngeek has made me seriously horny.

I drove to work swearing at the barely visibles too. And turning on your lights in heavy rain is good too.

What about all the nuckle heads who drive around at dusk (close to dark) under street lights with no lights on at all. This has got to be more dangerous then someone leaving fog lights on when there is no fog.

Almost every evening you can see examples of this.

The same people who don’t turn their brain on in the morning have their brains on overdrive at night… they put ALL the lights on + high beams… AT ALL TIMES… everywhere…

Some useful tips from VicRoad (as neither ACT nor NSW bother to offer any):

“Front fog lights are designed to better illuminate the road in fog, snowfall, rainstorms or dust clouds. They can be recognised by the narrow pattern of light emitted.
Road Rule 217 states that drivers must not use front or rear fog lights unless driving in fog or other hazardous weather conditions that cause reduced visibility.”

http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/SafetyAndRules/SaferVehicles/VehicleDesignStandardsAndAccessories/FogAndDrivingLights.htm

Fog lights emit a horizontally narrow beam slightly downwards to illuminate the road while minimising light bounce. Great when you have dense fog, not so much when it’s clear and you blinding other drivers.

As for this morning, glad to see about 3/4 of drivers had their regular lights on around 9am driving into the City. However given by that time of the morning, visibility had improved to about 300m, really no need for fogs on like a dozen or so people still had, sometimes without regular lights on too.

Rawhide Kid Part3 said :

I always thought fog lights the amber type) were only effective in night driving, that is for the driver to see the road in front of them.

And normal low beam head lights in daylight fog is adequate to be seen by others. Correct me if I’m wrong here.

Your half right. These days fog lights don’t have to be yellowish and are normally white. Your also right that fog lights do nothing to improve what you can see in fog like we have today, it either has to be much thicker or as you said dark for the lights to be of use to you. However they do make you stand out more to other vehicles which is half the battle so clearly of use of normal beam with our without fog lights in fog like we experienced today is a good thing. Use of parkers or no lights at all is pure stupidity.

As to the mentality of people when they drive it makes me wonder. The other night I was eating at Phnom Phen restaurant in Belconnen with a clear high view over the roundabout and I was pissed and amazed at what I saw in the hour that I was there, could well be the basis of another thread. The clincher though was when we left, at about 8pm so pitch black and when I got to the roundabout a dark blue Mistushiti Magna came through with headlights off. I then followed said car down Southern Cross drive (because thats where we were headed might I add) and it wasn’t until he was near Kippax that he realised his lights were off and decided to turn them on. Really makes you wonder, as clearly the whole way down he mustn’t have took one look at his dash and realise something was amis!

qbngeek said :

In addition to the points above I have several homosexual friends, two of which I work with, and neither of them are female genitalia.

Quote of the year contender there….

It’s funny reading the comments about having light on during the day. I was suprised when I drove to Perth to see signs saying to turn your lights on during the day to enhance visibility.

Although they may be a bit different to us, as I was told not to incidate while forming 1 lane in WA as it gives driver the sh*ts, supposedly.

qbngeek said :

And it got even better for me, as I came past the airport, which was particularly soupy, heading towards Monaro Highway from Queanbeyan I came up behind another car. We pulled up to the lights side by side and the delightful young chappy wound (is that the right word for an electric window) his passenger window down and yelledout to me ‘Turn ya fog lights off you stupid f$$k, do they make ya sh!77y car look cool or something, ya g@y c**t ‘. I was so dumbfounded as his stupidity adn language skills that I shook my head in disbelief and continued on my way.

Well young man, no they do not make my car look cool, what they do do however is make the car easier to see (something which my HID headlights seem to be rubbish at in the fog) and therefore less likely to be hit by an oncoming car. Please note that once I was on the Monaro and past Fyshwick where the bad fog had cleared I turned them off and just left my headlights on.

Also my ‘sh!77y’ car is 18 months old and cost a considerable sum of money. Which I was willing to pay for the reliability and the 5 star safety rating which protect your family (a big buying point for me as this car replaced the one I was in when someone fell asleep at the wheel and hit me head on). I suspect your VN cost about $1500 and about as safe as tickling a lions nutsack with a feather while wering a suit made of sausages.

In addition to the points above I have several homosexual friends, two of which I work with, and neither of them are female genetalia. They are however kind caring people and the best mates one could hope for, unlike your bogan mates who would never have the stones to come out of the closet and barely manage to remember to keep breathing and not drool on themselvesl at the same time.

My suggestion to you, young sir, is that you pull your goddamn head in, learn to keep you mouth shut and I am guessing that you need some education in correct manners as well. The sad thing is I would have picked you about 4-6 years younger than myself and if I ever spoke to someone like that I would expect to be punched in the face.

Now would you kindly f**k off back to Kambah or Belcrompton and leave the decent folk alone. I hear there are some nature reserves you can go play in at the moment, make sure you dress as a Kangaroo and do us all a favour.

I apologise for the rant but I have been contemplating making a new post all day, but this seems an appropriate outlet. And before you ask, no I did not report it to the cops as I did not consider it a road rage incident worth investigating.

Don’t apologise. That was pure gold.

Rawhide Kid Part3 said :

I always thought fog lights the amber type) were only effective in night driving, that is for the driver to see the road in front of them.

And normal low beam head lights in daylight fog is adequate to be seen by others. Correct me if I’m wrong here.

Depends, Rawhide. One of my conveyances has what it’s manufacturer calls ‘combination headlamps’. They have a fog lamp built into them that is actionable once parkers are switched up. The light produced is a sharp cut-off pattern that is very flat, low and broad. The theory being that fog is rarely actually sitting down on the ground.

I have, at night, ran in fog with just them on and no head lights. I was visible to anyone else and I could see. In daylight, they are also hi-vis for other motorists. Generally, though, in that car, I run both low beam and fogs on mornings like today.

Jivrashia said :

qbngeek said :

Now would you kindly f**k off back to Kambah or Belcrompton and leave the decent folk alone.

He could very well be from a bung-hole called Queanbeyan.

Unlikely, we produce a better class of bogon

That’s totally wrong, blinding everyone at night and blinding yourself in fog isn’t very safe.

Living in Europe, where headlights are required at all times, no matter the weather (you high beam it up on highways at night or foggy weather), we find that no-one has a problem with the “I say old bean could you turn your gosh-darn lights off you son of a motherless goat” kinda crowd.

Guess it depends what the culture is…..

Yeah, they are pretty bad. I encountered a white ute heading towards Cooma this morning without his lights on… Either that or it was the Driving Dutchman.

I always thought fog lights the amber type) were only effective in night driving, that is for the driver to see the road in front of them. And normal low beam head lights in daylight fog is adequate to be seen by others. Correct me if I’m wrong here.

qbngeek said :

Now would you kindly f**k off back to Kambah or Belcrompton and leave the decent folk alone.

He could very well be from a bung-hole called Queanbeyan.

hoody said :

Reminds me of a letter to editor in that old open road magazine (NRMA monthly) a long time ago. “I’ve been turing my lights on during the day so that my car is more visible on the road. It must be working because everyone is flashing their lights at me now”

Well low beams on during normal daylight hours is no bad thing in my book.

Anyway, I agree with Gungahlin Al. Worse than no foglights, though, are those that actually make the effort to switch on lights, but only turn on their parkers/sidelights. I most cases this makes SFA difference until you’re nice and close.

When driving in foggy conditions it’s pretty simple: low beams, foglights or GTFO, haha!

qbngeek said :

And it got even better for me, as I came past the airport, which was particularly soupy, heading towards Monaro Highway from Queanbeyan I came up behind another car. We pulled up to the lights side by side and the delightful young chappy wound (is that the right word for an electric window) his passenger window down and yelledout to me ‘Turn ya fog lights off you stupid f$$k, do they make ya sh!77y car look cool or something, ya g@y c**t ‘. I was so dumbfounded as his stupidity adn language skills that I shook my head in disbelief and continued on my way.

Well young man, no they do not make my car look cool, what they do do however is make the car easier to see (something which my HID headlights seem to be rubbish at in the fog) and therefore less likely to be hit by an oncoming car. Please note that once I was on the Monaro and past Fyshwick where the bad fog had cleared I turned them off and just left my headlights on.

Also my ‘sh!77y’ car is 18 months old and cost a considerable sum of money. Which I was willing to pay for the reliability and the 5 star safety rating which protect your family (a big buying point for me as this car replaced the one I was in when someone fell asleep at the wheel and hit me head on). I suspect your VN cost about $1500 and about as safe as tickling a lions nutsack with a feather while wering a suit made of sausages.

In addition to the points above I have several homosexual friends, two of which I work with, and neither of them are female genetalia. They are however kind caring people and the best mates one could hope for, unlike your bogan mates who would never have the stones to come out of the closet and barely manage to remember to keep breathing and not drool on themselvesl at the same time.

My suggestion to you, young sir, is that you pull your goddamn head in, learn to keep you mouth shut and I am guessing that you need some education in correct manners as well. The sad thing is I would have picked you about 4-6 years younger than myself and if I ever spoke to someone like that I would expect to be punched in the face.

Now would you kindly f**k off back to Kambah or Belcrompton and leave the decent folk alone. I hear there are some nature reserves you can go play in at the moment, make sure you dress as a Kangaroo and do us all a favour.

I apologise for the rant but I have been contemplating making a new post all day, but this seems an appropriate outlet. And before you ask, no I did not report it to the cops as I did not consider it a road rage incident worth investigating.

Not only did he get his point across, but it’s left you thinking about it all day, burning in your memory – It’s even cost you time.

I’d say that he is clearly the one who has won here.

Reminds me of a letter to editor in that old open road magazine (NRMA monthly) a long time ago. “I’ve been turing my lights on during the day so that my car is more visible on the road. It must be working because everyone is flashing their lights at me now”

qbngeek said :

And it got even better for me, as I came past the airport, which was particularly soupy, heading towards Monaro Highway from Queanbeyan I came up behind another car. We pulled up to the lights side by side and the delightful young chappy wound (is that the right word for an electric window) his passenger window down and yelledout to me ‘Turn ya fog lights off you stupid f$$k, do they make ya sh!77y car look cool or something, ya g@y c**t ‘. I was so dumbfounded as his stupidity adn language skills that I shook my head in disbelief and continued on my way.

Well young man, no they do not make my car look cool, what they do do however is make the car easier to see (something which my HID headlights seem to be rubbish at in the fog) and therefore less likely to be hit by an oncoming car. Please note that once I was on the Monaro and past Fyshwick where the bad fog had cleared I turned them off and just left my headlights on.

Also my ‘sh!77y’ car is 18 months old and cost a considerable sum of money. Which I was willing to pay for the reliability and the 5 star safety rating which protect your family (a big buying point for me as this car replaced the one I was in when someone fell asleep at the wheel and hit me head on). I suspect your VN cost about $1500 and about as safe as tickling a lions nutsack with a feather while wering a suit made of sausages.

In addition to the points above I have several homosexual friends, two of which I work with, and neither of them are female genetalia. They are however kind caring people and the best mates one could hope for, unlike your bogan mates who would never have the stones to come out of the closet and barely manage to remember to keep breathing and not drool on themselvesl at the same time.

My suggestion to you, young sir, is that you pull your goddamn head in, learn to keep you mouth shut and I am guessing that you need some education in correct manners as well. The sad thing is I would have picked you about 4-6 years younger than myself and if I ever spoke to someone like that I would expect to be punched in the face.

Now would you kindly f**k off back to Kambah or Belcrompton and leave the decent folk alone. I hear there are some nature reserves you can go play in at the moment, make sure you dress as a Kangaroo and do us all a favour.

I apologise for the rant but I have been contemplating making a new post all day, but this seems an appropriate outlet. And before you ask, no I did not report it to the cops as I did not consider it a road rage incident worth investigating.

You have not had a good day!! Lets hope the weekend is better!

Great post Al – and a good reminder to everyone to turn their damn lights on!!!!!

Good on you, Al. Hit two of my pet peeves in one – morons who don’t turn their lights on when they should and other morons who turn their supplementary lights on when they shouldn’t.

Makes you wonder about the mentality of the people we have to share the roads with.

Solidarity said :

My car has no electrics, good thing it’s carburetted.

Problem?

I guess it might be when the sun goes down.

My car has no electrics, good thing it’s carburetted.

Problem?

Felix the Cat said :

I’m sure these are the same morons that drive around on fine sunny days with their fog lights on.

That was my observation of this morning’s efforts, Felix. Still the same ‘control group’ out there though (silver / grey or black cars that, it seems, all have ultra violet lighting systems. No need to ever turn anything on irrespective of ambient light conditions with them. I suppose since they can see OK . . .).

And it got even better for me, as I came past the airport, which was particularly soupy, heading towards Monaro Highway from Queanbeyan I came up behind another car. We pulled up to the lights side by side and the delightful young chappy wound (is that the right word for an electric window) his passenger window down and yelledout to me ‘Turn ya fog lights off you stupid f$$k, do they make ya sh!77y car look cool or something, ya g@y c**t ‘. I was so dumbfounded as his stupidity adn language skills that I shook my head in disbelief and continued on my way.

Well young man, no they do not make my car look cool, what they do do however is make the car easier to see (something which my HID headlights seem to be rubbish at in the fog) and therefore less likely to be hit by an oncoming car. Please note that once I was on the Monaro and past Fyshwick where the bad fog had cleared I turned them off and just left my headlights on.

Also my ‘sh!77y’ car is 18 months old and cost a considerable sum of money. Which I was willing to pay for the reliability and the 5 star safety rating which protect your family (a big buying point for me as this car replaced the one I was in when someone fell asleep at the wheel and hit me head on). I suspect your VN cost about $1500 and about as safe as tickling a lions nutsack with a feather while wering a suit made of sausages.

In addition to the points above I have several homosexual friends, two of which I work with, and neither of them are female genetalia. They are however kind caring people and the best mates one could hope for, unlike your bogan mates who would never have the stones to come out of the closet and barely manage to remember to keep breathing and not drool on themselvesl at the same time.

My suggestion to you, young sir, is that you pull your goddamn head in, learn to keep you mouth shut and I am guessing that you need some education in correct manners as well. The sad thing is I would have picked you about 4-6 years younger than myself and if I ever spoke to someone like that I would expect to be punched in the face.

Now would you kindly f**k off back to Kambah or Belcrompton and leave the decent folk alone. I hear there are some nature reserves you can go play in at the moment, make sure you dress as a Kangaroo and do us all a favour.

I apologise for the rant but I have been contemplating making a new post all day, but this seems an appropriate outlet. And before you ask, no I did not report it to the cops as I did not consider it a road rage incident worth investigating.

I’m sure these are the same morons that drive around on fine sunny days with their fog lights on.