The merest hint of mist at this time of year is enough for motorists to switch on that most irritating of Christmastime lights – the rear fog lamp.
This car doesn’t have two sets of brake lights
In theory fog lamps make perfect sense. In practice they appear flawed for the following reasons:
- There are no regulations to stipulate that a fog lamp must be a single light positioned centrally so as not to be confused with brake lights. When there are two fog lamps and they are positioned beneath or as part of the rear light cluster, which is commonly the case, they are bright enough to be indistinguishable from brake lights.
- There is a risk that fog lamps give drivers a false sense of security that encourages them to drive at speed in fog. If fog is thick enough to warrant fog lamps, surely it makes sense to slow to a speed at which tail lights are visible.
- The Highway Code states a driver must not use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced, but this is subjective and drivers switch them on too readily.
What is your winter driving gripe?
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John
Fog lights bad, but drivers peering out from cars with steamed/iced up windows is worse
Jim Scott
It’s annoying but hardly more so than the common practice of running with glaring dipped headlights in broad daylight. My Volkswagen has daylight running lights though sadly it doesn’t allow me to light the rear lights without turning on the sidelights (too dim) or headlights (far too bright except when it’s dark).
I find the glare from headlights so intolerable that I now avoid night driving when possible.
John Heathcote
Check with your optician that you are not developing cataract. Sadly, one becomes more troubled by glare as one’s eyes get older.
John Faulkner
Unfortunately, some drivers forget to switch foglights off when visibility improves, and they are dazzling when you are immediately behind. Nonetheless, I can’t agree with your suggestion that one should drive more slowly as an ALTERNATIVE to using fog lights; in really bad conditions, you need the fog lights because they help to protect you from the speeding driver behind, and going more slowly will not protect you against that risk.
Yannick Read
You make a fair point, John, but my concern is that the speeding driver behind you feels that fog lamps give them licence to drive faster than is safe
Mary
How do you know that people feel that fog lamps give them a licence to speed?
It might be so but have ou asked them?
Yannick Read
I don’t know, it’s simply a risk that I’m concerned about. However, risk compensation (also referred to as Peltzman effect or risk homeostasis) is an observed effect whereby people tend to adjust their behavior in response to perceived level of risk, behaving less cautiously where they feel more protected and more cautiously where they feel a higher level of risk. The theory emerged out of road safety research after it was observed that many interventions failed to achieve the expected level of benefits. Notable examples include observations of increased levels of risky behaviour by road users following the introduction of compulsory seat belts and bicycle helmet and motorists driving faster and following more closely behind the vehicle in front following the introduction of anti-lock brakes.
Whobiggs
I want to know where to buy the radar that some drivers must be using. Otherwise they couldn’t possible know whats ahead in the bends/dark/fog/snow etc at the speed they travel! 🙂
ROBERT GOOD
Just like any other piece of vehicle equipment fog lamps have their place. Drivers should use them in reduced visibility but be aware there is an ‘off’ switch when visibility improves!
Tony
Fog lights back and front can be a pain, but what really irritates me are the drivers of automatic cars who, at night, wait at traffic lights or in queues with their foot on the brake as the stop lights annoy the driver behind. ‘Foreign’ cars are the worst with the brightest brake lights, in particular Mercedes, Audi & BWM’s. PLEASE, USE YOUR HANDBRAKE!
Tony
Sue Titmuss
I agree, but we have another problem. I live in a county where the number of RTA’s isn’t particularly higher than average but far more of them are fatal. Why? Because Lincolnshire is a rural county, with long straight Roman roads and roads which run alongside long straight dykes, a similar environment to Holland. People increase their speed and then suddenly find themselves approaching bends or dips and are unable to slow down in time. We frequently have fatalities where vehicles have gone into a dyke and the passengers have drowned. PLEASE LEAVE EARLIER AND DRIVE MORE SLOWLY.
peter crossley
i don’t know how to turn on my fog lights, never used them in 10 years of owning the car. I just drive slowly with normal lights. Perhaps they should be banned. Simple. No fog lights, no problem.
John Benson
It’s in the Name!
Fog Lights…
They should be used in fog, too many drivers either use them at the mearest hint of reduced visibility (rain, cloudy grey flat light etc) rather than a mist where visibility is foreshortened or as a macho statement.
As for the speed issue, in proper fog you have to drive slowly, common sense dictates that if you can only see 100m, 50m or less, speed or time is not the priority, getting around each bend safely is the priority.
However, day time running lights are a brilliant idea, the more visible you are the less lightly you will be involved in a bump!… Unless you are speeding, texting or looking at the Sat Nav!
Chris Drewery
I am old enough to remenber driving before rear fog lamps. There were many deadly pile-ups on motorways, especially into the backs of lorries. In some conditions eg heavy rain, normal rear lights are completely invisible. On front fog lights many drivers always use them in any conditions and they are a menace especially on wet roads. They should be stopped by the police. Not much chance of that I fear. Maybe if everyone flashed these people they might get the idea that they are not appreciated.
John Heathcote
One-eyed cars, or even worse people driving on just side-lights, thinking that they are visible.
jonathan alexander
One big gripe amongst many are those ‘Tank Commanders’ out there who seem to think nothing of clearing a letterbox size of frost from their windscreen and setting of. No consideration for anyone who doesn’t surround themselves with a steel cage on wheels (pedestrians/cyclists/horse riders etc).
Anthony Powell
I’ll go with the fogged up windows, they’re also a pain to be behind – you clear them with the back of your glove and they end up smeary, or you wait with the heater blasting full force of (not far off freezing) air to clear them. And sometimes the ice on the windscreen is a solidly adherent block – that’s no fun to clear using the environment-friendly scraper. That’s all if you haven’t found your locks iced up. All things you don’t have to consider on a bike!
And then there’s people who think that side lights make them more visible – rubbish, get your headlights on!
And all through the year, people who leave their car running while parked – doing 0 mpg. (While bikes can go past doing 0 gpm).
Sorry for my Meldrew moment!
Cliff
I attended a very good road safety lecture recently. The gentleman running the course was one of that rare breed that knew what he was talking about and really engaged with his audience. His view on rear fog lights? BAN THEM. Nuff said.