Make Them Stop . . .

flanzer

Big Balls wrote:

Xenons, unlike anything else, move with the car so more than anything they will adjust to ensure the don't blind oncoming drivers, if you look AT them fair enough, they're bright but you're meant to be looking at the road.

The exact same can be said for fog lights on a far lesser scale! And I'm not talking about looking at them close up, I mean generally from 400 meters Xenons can be dazzling but by the time the driver passes me I'm over the whole situation and don't feel obliged to start a rant thread about any sort of lights!

Big Balls wrote:

Why would they when they're perfectly legal? :rolleyes:

That's my point. They ARE legal and have more dazzling properties than standard fog lights!

Drax

Mathew Reilly wrote:

way i look at it is that there a lot of assholes on the roads that have no clue how to drive or make an attempt to read the rules of the roads..so if u can't beat them join them and be an asshole as well.

Yea, good attitude there. No wonder there are so many tossers on the roads. :mad:

fletch

Seanie M wrote:

You know guys, the combined power of dipped plus fogs is as great in luminosity as hi-beams.

The "combined power" may be the same, however their range/angle/direction are not.

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

Big Balls wrote:

Come 'ere you fool, if the actual light was pointed towards the road nobody would see in the fog. If they light up nothing but in front of the car and don't pose any problems for drivers then why;

let me explain in simple terms for you...

the reason they are pointed down toward the road is so one doesnt get the refection from the little water droplets in the fog ( yes a fog is made up of water droplets)
just like if you put on your head lights in foggy conditions all you see is a white hase in front of the car...well that's the light form you car refection back from the little water droplets...
dims seem better in fog because you don't get as much reflection coming back to the driver as your dims are facing down...
and proper fogs lights are best of all because they are so low to the ground and do not shine up, therefore reducing the reelection even more...

and it funny you should say
"if the actual light was pointed towards the road nobody would see in the fog" because that is exactly why they are pointed towards the road and not up into the fog....say like full beams...

and it also funny you should say "Come 'ere you fool"
because that is exactly what you have just made your self out to be...

go back to school and learn a bit of physics even better try this experiment...
drive around in foggy conditions with your full beams on and see how long you last, then switch to dims and you will see much better even with the lower light...

kikel

I only use foglights front and back during fog. But i don't see what the big deal is with people complaining about their use. Correctly focused lights don't dazzle anybody. Incorrectly focused dims, fogs lights and foreign cars on our roads dazzle other drivers.

If people want to use them, let them on. lets learn to accept them. If their lights are incorrectly adjusted/focuede slow down as is advised in the rules of the road.

Seanie M

Look guys, those that deliberately drive with their foglights on - it is illegal, ESPECIALLY at night, if weather conditions do not require them (NOT DRIVING CONDITIONS). It does dazzle in the rear view mirror no matter what angle the lights are at, so stop splitting hairs about that!

To those that must maintain that I put mine on all the time and I don't care, thank you for taking away part of the pleasure of driving by wrecking our field of vision with extra glare into our rear view and side mirrors. Your advice of flick your mirror to the other position is sound advice.

Tossers.

WizZard

Wow, this is heated. I intensely dislike it when people use fog lights when there is no fog, but I put it down to ignorance mainly. Just because you are not dazzled/startled/distracted by someone else's lights doesn't mean they're not dazzled by yours.
In any case I didn't know it was illegal til now, but I'm glad I now know that when I'm explaining to friends/others that fog lights during the day are bad.

I do think that dipped headlights should be used 24/7 in this country though.

ninty9er

If you don't Believe they improve visability, stop on a dark road some night and switch them on, then off. You'll notice a difference in the ditches and directly infront of the car

AND THEY POINT DOWN, so if you're getting dazzled GET AN EYE TEST

WizZard

Stop shouting.
5 feet of extra visibility to the side (and front) might be quite useful on a dark night on a country road, but not at midday in the 'burbs.
I've had an eye test thank you, and I have pretty much 20/20 vision.
Have you ever heard of reflection? Look it up - it can happen from a wet road when someone has their fog lights on.
Is it just not cool enough to use your dipped headlights to be visible?

With dipped headlights you are more visible to others, so why not use them as opposed to fog lights which are not designed to be used without fog/snow.

digweed

iirc fog lights are designed so that you can be seen better in fog (ever had the expierence of a car coming at you in the fog without them on). the reflection pattern from the lens is designed to throw light out and away from it and its not focused like a dip beam is. its worse when they are not aligned properly.

peasant

Well ...here's what wikipedia knows:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting#Front_fog_lamps

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

overdriver

fletch wrote:

Kool, no arguing with the facts I suppose....will be leaving them off in future but I still maintain that they do not dazzle other road users during the day

maintain what you like. Why do people complain about them then? They DO dazzle.

Let's have a poll!

WizZard

Ah I like this quote:

Nobody thinks your car is cool because it has fog lamps, and glare is dangerous, so do yourself and everyone a favor: choose them carefully, aim them properly, use them thoughtfully, and leave them off except when they're genuinely necessary.

From here

Hotblack Desiato

The comments about people complaining about glare "needing to have their eyes tested" etc. are complete rubbish.

Just as different people have better eyesight than others, some people are more sensitive to glare than others, but the two things are NOT the same.

Actually, the poorer your vision the less focused dazzling lights will be on your retina, so it's probably LESS likely to bother you, if anything.

Also, people with cataracts probably won't be complaining about it either...

Anyway. Message to all foglight users - Quit being so damn selfish. What good does it do you anyway, if someone dazzled or distracted by your stupid foglights is more likely to crash into you as a result? Anything that distracts or discomforts other road users is a danger to them and anyone in their vicinity, and that includes you.

Oh and not everyone has dipping rear mirrors, I'm a biker. Also in daylight dipping your mirror leaves you with practically no rear view at all. On my way home from work this evening (on the bike) I was being dazzled by some tw@t's foglights a good few hundred metres behind me. Very distracting and made any unlit cars coming along in the other lane VERY hard to see.

Dipped headlights on cars are OK (and legally required) in poor visibility but in good daylight I'd rather cars were unlit. Bikers use dipped headlights because car drivers have a hard time seeing us, if everyone is lit up during the day then what chance do we have. Same goes for cyclists and pedestrians too.

maidhc

ninja900 wrote:

Dipped headlights on cars are OK (and legally required) in poor visibility but in good daylight I'd rather cars were unlit. Bikers use dipped headlights because car drivers have a hard time seeing us, if everyone is lit up during the day then what chance do we have. Same goes for cyclists and pedestrians too.

Arguments on fog lights aside (for it is a boring argument), I don't see how a car using dipped headlights can make bikers less visible. Actually I nearly had a biker on my bonnet yesterday, a car left me out into traffic and the idiot came flying up between lanes as I was about merge. Anyhow, for another thread, maybe.

Hotblack Desiato

maidhc wrote:

Arguments on fog lights aside (for it is a boring argument), I don't see how a car using dipped headlights can make bikers less visible.

When lots of cars start using lights in daytime, then bikes using lights in daytime will no longer stand out. "Sorry mate I didn't see you" is so common it has an acronym, SMIDSY.

Actually I nearly had a biker on my bonnet yesterday, a car left me out into traffic and the idiot came flying up between lanes as I was about merge. Anyhow, for another thread, maybe.

From the perspective of a car stuck in traffic, a bike doing 15mph looks like it's "flying". In any case you're obliged to yield to all traffic when merging and that includes bikes. If you want to get a biker's perspective on this (and most of us drive cars too) then bring it up in the bikes forum.

ninty9er

WizZard wrote:

Stop shouting.
5 feet of extra visibility to the side (and front) might be quite useful on a dark night on a country road, but not at midday in the 'burbs.
I've had an eye test thank you, and I have pretty much 20/20 vision.
Have you ever heard of reflection? Look it up - it can happen from a wet road when someone has their fog lights on.
Is it just not cool enough to use your dipped headlights to be visible?

With dipped headlights you are more visible to others, so why not use them as opposed to fog lights which are not designed to be used without fog/snow.

I don't have fog lights, I just don't find them dazzling. The Xenons on the run-out Omegas can be a bit distracting though.

Oh and I have 20/20 vision 2

mike65

Baby Jesus cries when someone starts another fog lights thread.

Mike.

ninty9er

mike65 wrote:

Baby Jesus cries when someone starts another fog lights thread.

Mike.

Lock it up Dano.

It's been beaten to death

C_Breeze

This isn't communism. If i want to have my fog lights on because i think it makes me look cool i'll put them on. If the law forbids me then i'll switch them off.

..besides , just because you dont think its cool doesnt mean its not cool to younger glanza driving schmucks.... those are the guys i'm trying to impress not YOU! . thye have a 'tscchh' sound and i have 4 lights , hence i am cool.

mike65

ninty9er thanks for the prompt.

Mike.