Not having a go at Alan, (who had legitimately left his Fogs on by accident)

I think it's blatantly obvious why Fog lights blind other road users (or at least completely ruin my night vision). Lights on dipped are angled *away* from oncoming traffic (ie to the left) Fog lights are not.

Saying 'well there not that bright' etc means nothing, they may not look bright to you in the daytime or in town but on a completely dark road it's a different matter.

Gary

 

PS Lewis

Your post doesn't read like it was foggy and you had left them on (twice!) so I presumed you regularly used them - why deny ever having them on if it was foggy?

Sorry for any offence

Paul

 

Seem to have sparked bit of a debate here! Anyway have written to the local Traffic Branch Commander - if anything it gets it off my chest. My contention is that the police followed me into the service station, saw that my fogs were on (by my own admission not now required as visibility OK) and drove on without a word. Thereafter they follow for further 3 miles before pulling me over and giving ticket. Surely a friendly word of advice in the petrol station would have been more appropriate rather than actually willing me to drive on further so that they could hand out a ticket - and potentially "dazzle" oncoming traffic for a further 3 miles. That's not helping road safety. I'll take the fine and won't do it again - but that kind of treatment only serves to alienate the traffic police because of a couple of over-zealous individuals.

Over and out,

Alan

 

I had a slightly different experience with Plod. They kindly switched on a sign to say turn your foglights off. I don't know about other people, but being tall it's difficult to see the fog-lamp button on the Scooby, and after driving in foggy conditions for a half hour it's easy to forget. a terrible excuse I know, then again I don't really see how they dazzle other users, half of all cars in London seem to have them on these days - just wear sunglasses

 

Good Luck Alan...


I had a similar thing in my Golf, I did tend to drive with them on quite alot.. My problem with what the police did was not booking me for having the fogs on it was the way they did it. They started following me after they saw me tear round a roundabout, I spotted the unmarked car so started behaving myself. ( And turned the front fogs off )

They followed me for over 2 miles then stopped me. Told me I had been stopped for not wearing my seatbelt. They could see it swinging from behind. They gave up on that when I told them I had a 4 point harness on... One of them checked it out and the other wrote out a FPT for the fogs!

One thing that grated tho' was the copper said " We saw you come round that roundabout and thought - ahh game on!"


I wrote to the commisioner asking for it to be forgotten but it didn't get me anywhere! But I had the satisfaction of wasting some of their time!


I have now taken the fogs off the car!


Scott!

 

Alan,

Just out of interest, were the officers that stopped you Traffic (driving T5/Range Rover etc)?

Seems a bit OTT to me

 

As the fogs are reaaly poo, I often drive with just my side and fog lights on as I think the Scoob looks great like this.
However, I have angled the lamps down and put lower wattage bulbs in so as not to dazzle anyone else. Never been stopped yet.

Stef.

 

Sorry for any offence

Paul

Ok Paul - kiss and make up?

I meant that the fogs were on in fog - on a long journey one can easily forget that they are on and the fog has now lifted .... when stopped by the police its quite simple to scan the dash to find out whats wrong - speed? nah ... fogs? .. yep - off they go see?

Cheers

Pete

 

BarryK,

what a stupid idea, half the pile ups on motorways are caused by ***** driving too fast/too close for the conditions, so how can you reason that fog lights should switch off at 30mph because visibility must be satisfactory?

Kris, cheers mate but i do feel rather strongly about it - it was nothing short of racial prejudice

Sunil

 

Re: Seem to have sparked bit of a debate here!

Alan,

nice summary of the situation (and how it _should_ have been). Let's hope that the big Cheese has a word with the little Dairilees (sp) and everyone learns from the experience!

mb

 

pnebbs,
I totally agree with you,you seem to be the only one talking sense.

fog light users in normal weather are w@nkers and should get points as well as fines,people should think about other road users.

paul

[This message has been edited by paul w (edited 02 October 2000).]

[This message has been edited by paul w (edited 02 October 2000).]

 

Sorry Sunil

What a dopey response, it doesn't have to be 30. It can be any sensible speed generally agreed.

What has driving like a *** in any conditions got to do with fog lights?

 

I was going to reply to Paul's original post about Impreza driver being one of the worst offenders for having their foglights on - I can't remember the last time I saw another Impreza with its foglights on in 'normal' conditions - then I get followed tonight by a silver V reg turbo with his fogs on - lit up like a christmas tree

 

Stuart H - It was the traffic polis and not plod - 5-series estate with the usual traffic markings.

Alan

 

I may be wrong but isn't everyone missing the point. No matter what the lights are, if they are fitted below a certain height they may only be used in conditions of reduced visiblity ie fog, snow etc. end of story.

Next question is why so many manufacturers fit illegal lamps. I had a Peugeot GTI, standard in the lighting department, whose low level lights were wired to come on with main beam and no option to turn them off!

Next question is how to I reply to a post without "Quote". Really am a bit of a novice at this.



[This message has been edited by NBS (edited 03 October 2000).]

 

I may be wrong but isn't everyone missing the point. No matter what the lights are, if they are fitted below a certain height they may only be used in conditions of reduced visiblity ie fog, snow etc. end of story.

Next question is why so many manufacturers fit illegal lamps. I had a Peugeot GTI, standard in the lighting department, whose low level lights were wired to come on with main beam and no option to turn them off!

Next question is how to I reply to a post without "Quote". Really am a bit of a novice at this.

 

Just answered my last question all by myself.
Just pressed the very large button marked "Reply!

 

Having your fog lights on in a petrol station is NO offence so why would the police come over and want to speak to you. I`m sure if they did you would be writing another thread entitled `Nosey old coppers sticking it in where its not wanted ` or something like that. I thought they were quite kind to give you three miles to realise....AND still you didnt.
The only solution is that they reset when you switch all your lights off.

K

 

On my MY00, the rear fog light resets to off when you switch the main lights off, but the fronts don't. I'd be happy for both front & rear fogs to reset to off when I turn the lights off as I've forgotten to turn them off on more than one occasion.

 

DavidRB,

good point. I have NEVER had cause to use my MY00 front fog-lights (in 8 months), but twice now i have driven with them switched on. Why? Because when the car was serviced, the garage *left* them on!

I felt very embarrassed, but at least no fixed penalty !

Fog lights _should_, by law, have warning lights IN THE INSTRUMENT DISPLAY (not on the switch) and should cancel on ignition off.

That way the Police could concentrate on the real pratts!

mb