Attack of the Fog...

faceman

I dont think there were any threads on the fog at the weekend so hopefully Im not repeating previous comments...

I had to take a lengthy drive on Saturday on main roads and back roads in the fog. Visibility was very very poor, worst Ive seen in a long time. Yet it amazed me the large number of motorists driving with no lights or just their parking lights on. (not to mention those with no fog lights on) Now, I know there is always a percentage of people doing this kind of thing, but i counted at least half the drivers I encountered with inadequate lighting.

Im not trying to start a thread to rally some high horsing about, at this stage Im wondering what can be done to raise driver awareness in the first place.

We all remember the tragedy on the M7 some years ago with the massive pile up. What should we, as the motoring community, do to raise awareness?

Voodoomelon

Well if the roundabout TV campaign is anything to go by, increasing awareness of the rules of the road and general common sense driving is a waste of time.

Virtually every single driver error is down to a rubbish driving education system. There is no point tackling every single error one at a time when its the system that is the root cause of all the sh*te driving out there.

biko

People don't recognise the fact that they themselves can't be seen.
As long as they can see others they're happy.
M2c

DRL ftw, sooner is better

polyfusion

I see the opposite, front fogs when there is no need for them. Maybe 1/3 of the cars I encountered last night driving on the N4; no fog, full moon, good driving conditions, front fogs on. If they're behind me, they don't take too well to my rear fogs going on.

How many here drive with their front fogs constantly on?

EPM

Oh dear...

Cuddlesworth

Funny story, fellow in his Micra with his whole family on board going down the M50. Visibility 50-70 feet and no lights on his car at all. Pulled up level with him and tried to get his attention but he was eyes glued in front with no peripheral awareness.

I don't think no lights made him a bad driver, I just think he was a bad driver in general.

Cookie_Monster

Was listening to newstalk at about 5.30 on saturday and they were highlighting traffic every so often. After every report the two sports guys would remind everyone that due to the fog they should have their side light on to increase visibility. Never mind the fact that its dark at 5.30 :rolleyes:

Cookie_Monster

Actually when is this EU law for DRLs coming into effect?

When it does come in will it mean cars without DRLs will have to have at least parking light on at all times?
Can only be a good thing if so, i've taken to always having at least the side lights on regardless of time of day and conditions

OldmanMondeo

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Actually when is this EU law for DRLs coming into effect?

When it does come in will it mean cars without DRLs will have to have at least parking light on at all times?
Can only be a good thing if so, i've taken to always having at least the side lights on regardless of time of day and conditions

I think it is only to do with fitting them on new cars.

kayos

I was driving up the M6 on saturday and I would say the majority of cars had either no lights (crazy bad) or no fog lights on (bad).

The fog was so thick even fog lights were hard to make out yet there were plenty flaking along at top speed with nothing on. Oh and a car sitting in the right hand lane doing 60mpg with no lights... by sitting there I mean nothing was moving them to the left hand lane!

Then you get onto the M4 and there was a crash near one of the exits. Traffic backed up and you had cars reversing up the motor way to get back to the exit so they could skip the crash. Then coming down the slip road some twats parked up to take a look at what happend. All this going on while the guards were there. /facepalm

neilthefunkeone

polyfusion wrote: »

How many here drive with their front fogs constantly on?

I do.. Simple fact.. Front fogs are low on your front bumper, mine are quite low, they do not interfere in rear view mirrors..( unless thay are mountred incorrectly by some chance and are pointing up).. I will agree on rear fogs though as most are placed higher than the bumper, usually around the rear cluster.. these are on your eye level and very bright..

But completely disagree about front fogs..

To original topic, drove from dub - Lisburn and back on saturday.. was a lot of patches fog all the way up and back but i didnt encounter any bad enough to warrent rear fog...

-Chris-

Fog light threds are against the charter.

Keep it above the belt people!

peasant

Just one more foglight post (pulling ex-mod priviledges here, mkay?)

Foglights do not make you more visible in a fog than normal dipped lights.

Foglights have one and only one reason for existing and it is this:

If there is a real pea-super, a really dense fog, your normal dipped lights will not penetrate that. Instead the tiny water particles in the fog reflect the light and all you see is a white wall and nothing else, leaving you disorientated. This is where your foglights come in. Because they are mounted low and because their beam pattern is different, they don't so much shine into the fog, but under it. They illuminate a wide, short band in front of the car. In a real pea-super they allow you to just about make out the edge of the road and possible the next bit of white line so you can crawl along semi-safely.

That's all they do and that's the only time they should be used (or in really heavy snowfalls which can have the same effect as dense fog)

fullstop

neilthefunkeone wrote: »

they do not interfere in rear view mirrors..

Incorrect, they drive me insane.

-Chris-

Enough!